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"Right dislocation" construction in English

 
 
Reply Sat 2 Jan, 2016 11:41 pm
Hi, all:

I'm a native Chinese speaker learning English as a foreign language, and I'm interested in word order of English. I have a doubt considering the use of an "unusal" sentence pattern. What follow are two sentences: (1) is the direct statement, whereas (2) is a sentence involving "right dislocation" construction.

(1) "Sarah made the cookies."
(2) "She made the cookies, Sarah did."

Both mean the same thing. I'd like to ask native speakers of English:

1. When do you use (2)? (On what occasions? Written or spoken?)
2. Why do you use the pattern rather than say (1) directly? Are there pragmatic or semantic concerns?

Thank you for reply.
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FBM
 
  1  
Reply Sat 2 Jan, 2016 11:49 pm
@Williamdenew,
Hi, and welcome. American native speaker here. I never use pattern 2). I hear it from British English native speakers sometimes, though. Not often. As far as I can tell, it's used to emphasize either the truth of the statement or surprise at what happened. A BrE speaker can give you a better answer, I think.
Williamdenew
 
  1  
Reply Sat 2 Jan, 2016 11:55 pm
@FBM,
Thank you for reply.
I will take varieties of English, such as American English and British English, into considertation. Smile
FBM
 
  1  
Reply Sat 2 Jan, 2016 11:58 pm
@Williamdenew,
No sweat. Yeah, even within the US and England, there are strong regional variations. I imagine it's the same in China, eh?
Williamdenew
 
  1  
Reply Sun 3 Jan, 2016 12:04 am
@FBM,
Sure. Mandarin Chinese has its varieties. I'm from Taiwan, where Taipei 101 is located.
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roger
 
  2  
Reply Sun 3 Jan, 2016 12:10 am
@FBM,
FBM wrote:

Hi, and welcome. American native speaker here. I never use pattern 2). I hear it from British English native speakers sometimes, though.


Heard it from Yoda, we have. (language students please disregard)
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Tes yeux noirs
 
  1  
Reply Sun 3 Jan, 2016 05:30 am
@FBM,
Quote:
A BrE speaker can give you a better answer, I think.

Additional phrases added for emphasis are certainly readily understood in BrE. These parentheticals, tacked on to the ends of sentences, have the same role as the markers used to declare truth or strong intent, emphasise or focus e.g. 'truly' or 'in truth' or 'the facts of the matter are' which are usually put before the main sentence.

She hit me, she did!
I heard him say it, I did!
I'll eat all the cakes, I will!
I'll report him to the police, so help me God!/you see if I don't!/etc

I think it is chiefly regional/colloquial/conversational; it is a cliché that Northern Irish people say "so I did", "so he would", etc after an utterance. People from the North West of England might say "It is very warm, is our house" I am doubtful that such forms are confined to BrE though; I am sure that some N American colloquial forms have them.

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