A strict SVO language?

[leke]

1) I gave a book to my wife.
2) A book, I gave to my wife.
3) To my wife, I gave a book.

I'm confused about some parts of English grammar. It's a SVO language, but are those rules strict? For example, the subject in example 1 is "I", but what about the other examples? Is it still "I"?

Thanks

 

[lauralie2]

The subjects are underlined:

1) I gave a book to my wife.


2) A book, I gave to my wife.

• The noun phrase "a book" is topicalized: moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis, or topic.

​

3) To my wife, I gave a book.

• The prepositional phrase "to my wife" is topicalized: moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis, or topic.

 

[TheParser]

1) I gave a book to my wife.
2) A book, I gave to my wife.
3) To my wife, I gave a book.

I'm confused about some parts of English grammar. It's a SVO language, but are those rules strict? For example, the subject in example 1 is "I", but what about the other examples? Is it still "I"?

Thanks

***** NOT A TEACHER *****



(1) I think that occasionally the object may come first -- especially

if you want to be humorous or sarcastic.

(2) Let's say that I am a little overweight and you offer me some

candy. I might smile and reply:

Candy I don't need!!!

(3) Let's say that you want to hurt someone's feelings. You

could say, "I do not like you" or (even stronger and crueler):

You I don't like!!!


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[leke]

I really must get the instant email notification fixed. Anyway, thanks for introducing to topicalisation.
If anyone is interested... Topic-comment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia