Although most sentences follow one of the five patterns listed at the beginning of section 47, variations of these patterns commonly occur in questions, commands, sentences with delayed subjects, and passive transformations.

Questions and commands

Questions are sometimes patterned in normal word order, with the subject preceding the verb.

Often, the pattern of a question is inverted, with the subject appearing between the helping verb and the main verb or after the verb.

In commands, the subject of the sentence is an understood you.

Sentences with delayed subjects

Writers sometimes choose to delay the subject of a sentence to achieve a special effect such as suspense or humor.

The subject of the sentence is also delayed in sentences opening with the expletive There or It. When used as expletives, the words There and It have no strict grammatical function; they serve merely to get the sentence started.

The subject in the second example is an infinitive phrase. (See 48b.)

Passive transformations

Transitive verbs, those that can take direct objects, usually appear in the active voice. In the active voice, the subject does the action, and a direct object receives the action.

Sentences in the active voice may be transformed into the passive voice, with the subject receiving the action instead.

What was once the direct object (the viewers on the Esplanade) has become the subject in the passive-voice transformation, and the original subject appears in a prepositional phrase beginning with by. The by phrase is frequently omitted in passive-voice constructions.

Verbs in the passive voice can be identified by their form alone. The main verb is always a past participle, such as dazzled (see 46c), preceded by a form of be (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been): were dazzled. Sometimes adverbs intervene (were usually dazzled).

tip: Avoid using the passive voice when the active voice would be more appropriate (see 8a).