有一读者问：有这样一句话：
(1)He hung on the wall the photo he had taken at the seaside.
为什么不将 on the wall 置于句首或句尾？
你也可以将这里的状语 on the wall 置于句首，如果要予以强调的话。英语中将状语置于句首的情况是很多的，这里举一二例即可见一斑：
(2)At the airport last night two events took place.
(3)In cotton China now leads the world.
但在这里绝不可将状语 on the wall 置于句尾，原因很简单：如将这个介词短语置于句尾，它岂不成了定语从句 he had taken...中的一部分了吗？
像上述句（1）中将状语置于谓语（及物动词 hung）与宾语 (the photo)之间的情况在英语里是屡见不鲜的，再如下面句子中的画线部分：
(4)Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. （由于需要将 what 从句置于句末，以示强调）
(5)He took from his pocket a handkerchief and handed it to her. （由于强调 the handkerchief 并使之接近于其后的 it）
(6)He saw one behind the other in the washing queue faces he know — the hostages. （与上述句[1] 相类似，也是由于宾语 faces 后有定语从句）
(7)He could find for his purpose nothing better than a broken wire rack which had been used for vegetables. （宾语 nothing 后有很长的定语）
有时状语从句亦可置于谓语与宾语之间，如：
(8)They will train with or might play for, if they are good enough , Manchester United's youth team, and will stay there for two and half months. （they 指代两个年轻的中国足球运动员。这里将 if 从句置于宾语之前也是为了侧重宾语）
有时还可将状语从句插入完成时态之中，如：
(9)The value of romantic literature, which has been, so far as the Middle Ages are concerned , unjustly depreciated, does not depend upon beauty of words or beauty of fact.
状语置于谓语动词之前的情况，也值得中国学生注意，如：
(10)The young girl to please the king accepts that knight. （如将 to please the king 置于句首或句末，就会被不适当地强调了）
有时可以在谓语动词之前插入很长的状语部分，如：
(11)Klipspringer's black counterpart, as if dancing for his life, which in a way he was, for he had arranged this meeting on sufferance of my interim appointees , made expansive ushering gestures toward the black official Cadillac which had been specially borrowed from the running dogs of Sahel for the occasion.
总之，在英语里，状语的位置确是比较灵活，但绝非可以将任何状语置于句子中的任何位置上。
