204 French Grammar in Context
- Present participles: explosant (line 7); ornant (line 35); accentuant (line 82); and gerunds: tout
en facilitant (line 50); En étudiant (line 54) (see Chapter 22) - No article with nouns in apposition: Anne Egger, docteur en histoire de l’art et spécialiste du
sujet (lines 17–18) (see Chapter 13) - Demonstrative adjectives: cette vision (line 10); ces édifices (line 48); and demonstrative
pronouns: Celle aussi du temple (line 63); celui d’un moine allemand (lines 78–9) (see Chapter 14) - Adjective agreements: many examples in the text (see Chapter 16)
- Adverbs: allégrement (line 9); entièrement (line 15); notamment (line 24); En particulier
(line 78) (see Chapter 17)
Discover more about word order
a In formal speech and writing, inversion of subject and verb occurs in clauses which begin with
one of the following adverbs (see also Chapter 17): à peine; aussi (so, therefore); du moins;
peut-être; sans doute; toujours (nevertheless):
e.g. Peut-être arriveront-ils plus tard
Note that with a noun subject, complex inversion is necessary:
e.g. Sans doute les résultats arriveront-ils demain
In less formal French, inversion is avoided simply by placing the adverb in parenthesis after
the subject and verb:
e.g. Vous direz, peut-être, que j’aurais dû vous prévenir
Alternatively, when peut-être and sans doute occur at the beginning of a clause, inversion may
be avoided by use of que followed by normal word order (subject, verb, complement):
e.g. Peut-être que vous direz que j’aurais dû vous prévenir
b Inversion of subject and verb occurs in short parenthetical expressions, when directly quoting
thoughts as well as speech, and also in the expressions paraît-il and semble-t-il:
e.g. «Pourquoi nous raconte-t-il cela?» se demandait-elle
Ils ont, semble-t-il, renoncé à leurs droits
c Inversion of subject and verb occurs in the expression of wishes, using the subjunctive of vivre,
venir:
e.g. Vive la France! Long live France!/ Three cheers for France!
Vienne la fin du mois Come the end of the month
d Inversion of the subject and the verb être occurs after adjectives such as tel, rare, placed at the
beginning of a sentence:
e.g. Telle est notre situation
Rares sont ceux qui peuvent se permettre ce luxe
e Inversion of a noun subject and verb may occur after adverbs or adverbial phrases placed for
emphasis at the beginning of a sentence:
e.g. Ensuite arriva le cortège
De là découlent grand nombre de nos problèmes