Changing the order of verb and subject in declarative sentences

Question

I was reading a passage and encountered the following sentences:

The advent of the mechanical clock meant that although it could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours, it was naturally sited to keeping equal ones. With these, however, arose the question of when to begin counting.

In the second sentence arose is an intransitive verb so "the question of when to begin counting" can not be its object. I think it is its subject and the typical word order is:

With these, however, the question of when to begin counting arose.

Why the author have changed the order of verb and subject in here?

Is this order changing grammatically correct?

Answer 1

You are correct that the phrase is the subject of arose. The word order is grammatically correct, and it's an option for the writer in that sentence. It has the effect of placing when to begin counting alone at the end of the sentence, in a position of emphasis.