Retained Germanic verb placement?

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UC - 31 Oct 2006 18:36 GMT

Note how the verb comes at the end here:

"The farther away the new abutment is located from the existing
abutment, the higher the construction costs for the new abutment and
the associated sheet piling become."

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Prai Jei - 31 Oct 2006 21:44 GMT

UC (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
<1162316174.219117.101810@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

> Note how the verb comes at the end here:
>
> "The farther away the new abutment is located from the existing
> abutment, the higher the construction costs for the new abutment and
> the associated sheet piling become."

No problem. The whole expression "the construction costs ... sheet piling"
is the subject of the verb. Since "become" is intransitive here, there is
no object, so its the end of the sentence. "the higher" is an adjectival
phrase which would normally come after the verb, but it is moved to the
beginning of the clause for emphasis to parallel "the farther".

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UC - 31 Oct 2006 21:53 GMT

> UC (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
> <1162316174.219117.101810@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> phrase which would normally come after the verb, but it is moved to the
> beginning of the clause for emphasis to parallel "the farther".

I realized the same thing after I posted.

> --
> Warning: keel away from child for hot bulb
>
> Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / October 2006

Retained Germanic verb placement?