Is it possible to use a verb directly after a prepositional phrase? For example,
Is the sentence of "In this picture are some wonderful details" correct?
thanks
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Hi Lee, I'm glad that you find my answer helpful. But please don't accept it too hastily. Read this thread on meta.– Mohd Zulkanien SarbiniCommented Feb 7, 2020 at 13:25
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1Dear @user178049 so many thanks for attention. I think your answer is complete, on top of that when I faced with "inversion" suddenly I remember this sentence which I forgot "On the table was all the money we had lost". Moreover, your score is so high, hence It seems your answer should be right, am I right?– leeCommented Feb 7, 2020 at 13:45
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It doesn't have to have inversion. Consider "There are many activities on the beach for kids including riding donkeys", where "including" is a prep and "riding" is a verb. Note that prepositions can take clauses as complement as well as NPs.– BillJCommented Feb 7, 2020 at 14:42
1 Answer
Yes. It is called the subject-dependent inversion. Here's another example taken from Huddleston & Pullum (2002):
Up in my room, on the nightstand, is a pinkish-reddish envelope that has to go out immediately.
However, keep in mind that the inverted version is less common than the non-inverted one, some wonderful details are in this picture. Or some speakers may opt for the existential version there are some wonderful details in this picture. Since there are some pragmatic constraints that cannot be violated, writers don't invert the order for no reason.