Take a look at these two sentences:
"Fronting is what we use to shift the focus of a sentence" vs. "We use fronting to shift the focus of a sentence."
The first sentence itself is an example of fronting. As the name suggests, fronting means bringing something to the front. But what is that something, and what is the reason for fronting? Keep on reading to find out more!
Fronting Meaning
The term fronting is used in both English grammar and phonology, but each has different meanings and purposes in communication.
The study of grammar focuses on word structure and formation and the rules we follow to create meaningful sentences. On the other hand, the study of phonology looks at the speech sounds in a language. We will mainly focus on fronting in grammar but will also briefly cover fronting in phonology towards the end of the article!
Fronting in Grammar
Let's focus on fronting in grammar - take a look at the definition below:
In English grammar, fronting refers to when a group of words that would usually appear after a verb (such as an object, complement, adverbial or prepositional phrase) is placed at the front of a sentence instead. In some cases, the verb itself appears at the front of the sentence. Fronting is usually done to place emphasis on something important or essential in the sentence.
For example:
Non-fronted sentence: "A mug of coffee was on the bench."
Fronted sentence: "On the bench was a mug of coffee."
Here, "on the bench" has been placed before the verb "was."
Fig. 1 - "A mug of coffee was on the bench" is non-fronted, whereas "On the bench was a mug of coffee" is fronted.
In case you need reminding:
The typical word order for sentences in English is subject verb object (SVO), but an object isn't the only thing that can follow a verb.
Elements that usually follow the verb in a sentence include:
- Object - a person or thing that receives the action of the verb, e.g., "the man kicked the ball."
- Complement - extra information that is necessary for the meaning of the sentence, e.g., "the cake looks weird."
- Adverbial - extra optional information that is not needed to understand a sentence's meaning, e.g., "she sang karaoke all day."
- Prepositional phrase - a group of words containing a preposition, an object, and other modifiers, e.g., "the milk is out of date."
Fronting Examples
When fronting takes place, the word order changes to give emphasis to a certain piece of information. This typically means anything that appears after the verb is moved to the front of the sentence. For example:
"We went to a party last night. A great party it was too!"
The typical word order would be:
"We went to a party last night. It was a great party too!"
However, the word order has been rearranged, instead placing the focus at the beginning of the sentence. This has been done to add emphasis to the clause.
Although not as common, in some cases, the verb itself can be moved to the beginning of the sentence, for example:
"Gone are the days of flip phones and tiny screens" instead of "The days of flip phones and tiny screens are gone."
"Waiting in the car was Harry's dad and his new puppy" instead of "Harry's dad and his new puppy were waiting in the car."
Bear in mind that fronting does not drastically change the entire meaning of the sentence; it shifts the focus of the sentence and alters the way it could be interpreted.
Fronting Speech
Fronting is often used in speech (as well as written communication) to add emphasis to certain elements of an utterance and help ideas flow well. It can also be used for dramatic effect to make something more engaging.
Some more examples of fronting are as follows, along with the typical word order:
| Fronting | Typical word order |
| Buried in the sand were three turtle eggs. | Three turtle eggs were buried in the sand. |
| For seven hours, the students studied. | The students studied for seven hours. |
| Standing before me was my old school friend. | My old school friend was standing before me. |
| Those books over there, I want to buy those. | I want to buy those books over there. |
| Before my very eyes was the biggest spider I had ever seen. | The biggest spider I had ever seen was before my very eyes. |
| Horror movies I like, but romance movies I dislike. | I like horror movies, but I dislike romance movies. |
| Behind the curtains hid my little sister. | My little sister hid behind the curtains. |
| In the box, you will see a golden ring. | You will see a golden ring in the box. |
| That TV show you told me about, I watched it last night. | I watched that TV show you told me about last night. |
| At the end of the story, the main characters fall in love. | The main characters fall in love at the end of the story. |
Fig. 2 - "Hiding behind the fence was a cat" is an example of fronting.
Inversion
Another grammatical term often confused with fronting is inversion. Both terms are similar as they each involve rearranging the order of sentences. However, there are a few key differences between them. Check out the definition of inversion below:
Inversion refers to when the SVO (subject-verb-object) word order of a sentence is reversed.
When inversion happens, sometimes the verb comes before the subject. For example, to turn a statement into a question, you put the verb before the subject.
"she can dance" turns into "can she dance?"
Alternatively, adverbs with negative meanings can come before the subject, e.g., "I have never been on holiday" becomes "never have I been on holiday."
Fronting Phonological Process
It is important to remember that fronting in phonology differs from fronting in grammar. Check out a definition of fronting in linguistics below:
In phonology, fronting refers to when a certain sound in a word is pronounced further forward in the mouth when it should be pronounced towards the back of the mouth. This often happens when children are learning a language, as they can find it difficult to make certain sounds when they are younger.
Fronting in phonology can be broken down into two types:
1. Velar fronting
2. Palatal fronting
Velar fronting is concerned with velar consonant sounds, which are sounds made at the back of the mouth (such as /g/ and /k/). When velar fronting occurs, the velar consonants are replaced with sounds made towards the front of the mouth (such as /d/ and /t/). For example:
A young child may say "dold" instead of "cold."
In this instance, the /k/ sound in "cold," which is made at the back of the mouth, is swapped for the /d/ sound, which is made towards the front of the mouth.
Palatal fronting is concerned with the substitution of the consonant sounds /sh/, /ch/, /zh/, and /j/. For example:
A young child may say "seep" instead of "sheep."
In this instance, the /s/ sound has been used in place of the /sh/ sound. The /sh/ sound is made with the tongue further back in the mouth than the /s/ sound, making it slightly more difficult to pronounce.
Fronting - Key takeaways
- In English grammar, fronting is when a group of words (e.g., an object, complement, adverbial or prepositional phrase) that would usually appear after a verb is placed at the front of a sentence instead. In some cases, the verb itself could come first.
- Fronting usually occurs when we want to emphasize some important information in the sentence.
- The typical word order for sentences in English is subject, verb, object (SVO). When fronting happens, this order is rearranged.
- Inversion refers to when the SVO word order of a sentence is reversed.
- In phonology, fronting refers to when a certain sound in a word is pronounced further forward in the mouth when it should be pronounced towards the back of the mouth.
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