在復(fù)合句子中，英語的主句為主要部分，一般放在句首，即重心在前。而漢語則一般按照邏輯和時(shí)間順序，將主要部分放在句尾，形成后中心。例如：
1. Nothing has happened since we parted.
自我們別后沒發(fā)生什么事情。
2. I went out for a walk after I had my dinner.
晚飯后我出去散步。
3. He has to stay at home because he is ill.
他病了只得呆在家里。
4. He cannot he operated upon as he is very weak.
他身體很弱不能動(dòng)手術(shù)。
5. Tragedies can be written in literature since there is tragedy in life.
生活中既有悲劇，文學(xué)作品就可以寫悲劇。
又如：
6. His chief contribution was making me realize how much more than knowledge I had been getting from him.
他使我認(rèn)識(shí)到，我從他那里學(xué)到的，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不只是知識(shí)，這是他最大的貢獻(xiàn)。

在英語中先出現(xiàn)His chief contribution，然后出現(xiàn)具體的分析，也就是先提出主要的結(jié)論，再加以闡述。而漢語則不然，先進(jìn)行闡述，后進(jìn)行歸納。

從上述例句可以說明，漢語如果有敘事部分，有表態(tài)部分，往往先把事物或情況講清楚，最后來一個(gè)簡短的表態(tài)或評(píng)論。英語則相反，先表態(tài)，然后才說發(fā)生了什么事情。再舉一個(gè)典型句子加以說明：
7. It was a keen disappointment when I had to postpone the visit which I intended to pay to China in January.
我原來打算在今年一月訪問中國，后來不得不推遲，這使我非常失望。