An applied analysis of word order should consider four distinct aspects:
1. Form: Which element is first and which is postponed?
2. Syntax: How are subject, predicate, verb, agent, and object related?
3. Context: What does the audience know or expect?
4. Rhetorical effect: Does the order produce suspense, restriction, reinforcement, changed scope, or sound pattern?
In iyyaka na‘budu, the object comes first and worship is restricted to it. In al-hilalu zahara, an initial subject precedes a verbal predicate and can reinforce the assertion. Both involve fronting, but they do not serve identical ends.
The next chapter turns to definiteness and indefiniteness and their effects on expression.