subject and verbs

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Forgorin
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:40 am
Location: Japan

subject and verbs

Post by Forgorin » Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:40 am

Just a quickie,

This sentence, "These animals show their tongues more clearly than do humans."

My question is; why is 'do' before 'humans'? Shouldn't it come after? "These animals show their tongues more clearly than humans do."

Cheers,
Forgorin

fluffyhamster
Posts: 3031
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

Post by fluffyhamster » Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:38 am

As this fragment (from Googling " ~ ", which produces only one hit) appears to come from a grammar exercise for Japanese high school students, and the inverted (postposed?) subject isn't complex or heavy enough to warrant such positioning, I wouldn't worry too much about the whys and wherefores - just explain what the default word order should be, and that the marked word order is apparently unnecessary and perhaps therefore a little strange in this instance.

Forgorin
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:40 am
Location: Japan

Post by Forgorin » Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:12 am

Thanks again Fluffy!

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