3 ms·

It's called topicalization, and it's more common in some dialects of English than others. It's especially common in urban areas of the US Northeast. I'm from Lo

• gojomo 13y ago
  Interesting concept - I didn't know the word for this! Though, the examples atop the Topicalization article still have all the words necessary for a more traditional grammar, just out of order. As highlighted in this article, the author has also dropped the implied "is". I find this more common in spoken language, used by the speaker to inject a bit of variety and emphasis. I didn't realize it was a US-northeasternism, but I'm also not surprised to find in writing that's attempting an informal, spoken-word-like tone. It tends to set the observation off to the side, as if delivered in a different voice (stepping aside from the podium for a moment), or (as in some textbooks) like a comment printed in the side margin. To answer the GP's question, it seems acceptable to me in an informal 'chatty' context, but you probably wouldn't find it in an academic/historical/neutral-journalistic composition. (I didn't read it as a specific attempt to invoke Yoda-style-speech.)