On 2010-09-03, at 10:20 PM, Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar wrote:

> Here's one piece of evidence that "Behind the table" is an actual
> subject in the sentence under discussion: the verb "is" moves in front
> of it to form a yes-no question:
> 
> Is behind the table where I looked?
> 
> Contrast that with the case with an unquestionable instance of inversion:
> 
> On the table is my book.
> *Is on the table my book?

But we teachers don't want to be bothered by evidence. We have rules that we give to students (PPs are never subjects), and we don't want to give those up. It's not a matter of whether it is demonstrably false or not. It's a matter of what we've always done. We'd rather contort the interpretations to fit the rules. That's how academia works: stake our your theory and entrench when presented with any count-evidence. Never allow that you were wrong.

Best,
Brett

-----------------------
Brett Reynolds
English Language Centre
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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