La réflexion que faisait . . . mon ami. The inversion of

the regular order of noun subject and verb in adjectival and adverbial sentences is a great aid to the clearness and force of the French sentence. The inversion usually takes place when the regular order (as here) would throw the verb too far from the subject ; or when the verb is too light, being in a simple tense or without an object, for the emphatic close of the sentence. “ Zwanenburger-straat, où est sa demeure ”4, 7; “Ce Page. Line. que vit Cornélius justifiait bien le cri,” 12, 16.