In English, syntax is very flexible, but people generally expect sentences to follow certain patterns: they expect sentences to begin with a subject followed by a verb. When you stray from conventional syntax, you run counter to the listener’s or reader’s expectations, placing an added burden on your audience to decipher your intended meaning. Following are a few examples of sentences with syntax issues:
Sailing he was to the shores of Iceland.
The Titanic an iceberg sank.
To Natalie my tennis racket I gave.
Reading the sentences, you probably figured out their intended meaning, but your job would have been much easier if they followed conventional subject-verb syntax:
He was sailing to the shores of Iceland.
An iceberg sank the Titanic.
I gave Natalie my tennis racket.
PRACTICAL POINT
If you’re writing poetry (verse), you have much greater freedom to experiment with syntax in order to develop rhythm and rhyme, but when writing prose, stick with more conventional word order.