经常读外刊的同学可能会注意到，作者在引述人物说法时会有says XX或者argues XX这样的用法，比如最近《经济学人》文章里面出现了这样一个句子：
Every part of entertainment stands to be affected by generative AI, which digests inputs of text, image, audio or video to create new outputs of the same. But the games business will change the most, argues Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital (VC) firm.
（娱乐行业的方方面面都会受到生成式人工智能的影响，它可以消化文本、图像、音频或视频的输入信息，创造出同样格式的新输出内容。但风险投资公司Andreessen Horowitz认为，游戏行业将迎来最大变化。）
第二个句子里面所以要写argues Andreessen Horowitz是因为Andreessen Horowitz后面紧跟着一个同位语a venture-capital (VC) firm，如果argue不倒装，写成 Andreessen Horowitz argues，那么后面的同位语就接不上了。
有些人可能会问，那为什么不把句子写成：But Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital (VC) firm, argues that the games business will change the most.
这样写语法上虽然也可以，但是失去了强调功能。原句将But the games business will change…这部分内容放在句子最前面是为了强调这一信息，如果将它们放在后面语气就减弱了。
下面句子中believe的用法也是相同的道理：
AI represents an “explosion of opportunity”, believes Steve Collins, technology chief of King, which makes “Candy Crush Saga”, a hit mobile game.
句子中believes Steve Collins后面紧跟着同位语technology chief of King，同时使用这一结构还可以强调AI represents an “explosion of opportunity”这一信息。
上面argues XX以及believes XX都属于英文倒装句用法。这类倒装在外刊文章里面非常多，平时如果遇到了我们可以多思考为何作者要这样写，如果换一种写法行不行，这样的思考能让我们更好地理解作者的意图。又比如下面这个句子：
Cambridge creative-arts graduates earn £11,000 more at age 26 than do those from Wrexham Glyndwr University, whose arts alumni are the lowest-earning in Britain.
这个倒装句还原后相当于Cambridge creative-arts graduates earn £11,000 more at age 26 than those from Wrexham Glyndwr University do，这里之所以要用倒装是因为考虑到后面的定语从句whose arts… 将do提到前面可以让先行词Wrexham Glyndwr University和关系词whose尽量靠近。
再举个例子：
The scandals that demolished Italy’s post-war political order in the early 1990s brought a new generation into public life. Among them was Giorgia Meloni, who at the age of 15 chose to join the youth branch of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the direct heirs of the Fascist Party and its leader, Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy as a dictator until 1943.
第二个句子中who at the age of…until 1943这一部分都用来修饰主语Giorgia Meloni，如果不使用倒装，句子将会变成：
Giorgia Meloni, who at the age of…until 1943, was among them.
这样句子会变得头重脚轻，读者也难以抓住重点，因此使用倒装是很有必要的。
推荐阅读：外刊总是读不下去应该怎么办？
点击下面名片关注“英文悦读”