About Me
- Satima Flavell
- Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.
The Dagger of Dresnia
The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance. 
My Blog List
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Places I've lived: Manchester, UK
Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia
Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia
Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW
Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ
Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park
Places I've lived: High View, WV
Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK
Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland
Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
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Sunday, 17 July 2011
Yoda lives - in English
Sunday, July 17, 2011 | 
Posted by
Satima Flavell
This post is really about substantive verbs, sometimes called "linking verbs". The verb “to be” is sometimes called The Substantive Verb, and some people just call it a substantive, not a verb at all. Be is not the only verb in this category, though. There are several others, notably become, feel, go, remain, stay, stand.
A substantive verb does not have an object. You can turn the sentence back-to-front, Yoda-like, and it will still have the same meaning, although it will probably read like something from a nineteenth century poem or novel if you do.
Look at these examples:
The air sits heavy in monsoon season: if we invert it we get “Heavy sits the air in monsoon season”
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown: inverted: The head that wears a crown lies uneasy.
John became a doctor - A doctor John became
The grass remains dry - Dry remains the grass
She felt unhappy - Unhappy she felt
The woman went crazy - Crazy went the woman
The athlete will become a coach – A coach the athlete will become.
He remained a lawyer – A lawyer he remained
Mary stays at home – At home stays Mary
Bill stood still – Still stood Bill
These sound rather poetic, don’t they – or maybe rather like Yoda on a bad day – but we do sometimes use this form of expression, even in speech: for instance “He always wanted to be a farmer, and a farmer he became”.
A substantive verb does not have an object. You can turn the sentence back-to-front, Yoda-like, and it will still have the same meaning, although it will probably read like something from a nineteenth century poem or novel if you do.
Look at these examples:
The air sits heavy in monsoon season: if we invert it we get “Heavy sits the air in monsoon season”
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown: inverted: The head that wears a crown lies uneasy.
John became a doctor - A doctor John became
The grass remains dry - Dry remains the grass
She felt unhappy - Unhappy she felt
The woman went crazy - Crazy went the woman
The athlete will become a coach – A coach the athlete will become.
He remained a lawyer – A lawyer he remained
Mary stays at home – At home stays Mary
Bill stood still – Still stood Bill
These sound rather poetic, don’t they – or maybe rather like Yoda on a bad day – but we do sometimes use this form of expression, even in speech: for instance “He always wanted to be a farmer, and a farmer he became”.
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7 comments:
I'd never really figured Yoda's speech until now, I see how it is achieved.
Funny thing is, in some languages - German, for instance - Yoda-ese would resemble a perfectly acceptable construction - and not just for substantives, but for all verbs.
Maybe that's why I had trouble learning German many years ago. Latin languages I can do, but not Teutonic.
Aha, Jo! "Latin languages I can do..." :-) Very nicely Yoda!
It does sound like poetry.
But Yoda really twists the sentences. "When nine hundred years old you are, so good you will not look."
Ouch! But I did like: "Do or do not - there is no try!" I use that one whenever someone irritates me with, "Well, I don't know, I'll try" and means "I have no intention of even trying." :-)
"Do or do not - there is no try!" I reckon I should stick that one on my computer so I see it every day!
I have often used that particular phrase, do or do not, so many people say they will try and do something which is really a stupid thing to say although we all do it. Didn’t realise I had used a classic Yoda phrase when I said Latin languages I can do.
Just goes to show, Jo, that the inverted substantive is not dead! We tend to use it for emphasis, as you did in your second comment.