The main verb phrase is the most emphatic element in a sentence.
The second most emphatic element is the last phrase of a sentence, and generally the emphasis increases as a sentence nears its end. Note that this is the exact opposite of emphasis patterns in spoken English in which the speaker's sentences tend to tail off and are frequently never really finished.
For example the first sentence on this page, '
The main verb phrase is the most emphatic element in a sentence' could be made more emphatic by reversing the order of the elements: 'The most emphatic element in a sentence is the main verb phrase.' This would also be more appropriate as the subject of the sentence is also the subject under discussion: we are ranking sentence elements according to emphasis, not giving a list of characteristics of main verb phrases.Apply these principles to the four sentences about SETs to check that your initial assessment was correct. Then
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© 2002 Martin Paterson