In Noun phrases^x, Direct objects^x, Conversations^x

Fronting the direct object is much more common in conversation than most people realize. It's definitely not restricted to writing. I think people just start a sentence thinking the first noun phrase is going to be the subject, and then suddenly a different verb comes to mind than they...

A phone conversation: A: I hope...(trails off) B: What do you hope? A: I hope to see you soon! B did not say "How do you hope?" B said "What do you hope?" It requires an object - it's not an intransitive verb in this case. So the infinitive is a noun phrase, and is...