أَعَمْرًا عَرَفْتَ
Was it ʿAmr whom you recognised?
Here ʿAmran is a fronted object of ʿarafta. The issue may be the identity of the person recognised, rather than the bare occurrence of recognition.
If it is already understood that the addressee recognised someone, but unclear whether that person was ʿAmr, fronting the object makes the relevant identity prominent. Syntax thus signals the focus of the question.
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Istifhām: Conception, Assent, and the Interrogative Hamza
أَعَمْرًا عَرَفْتَ
Was it ʿAmr whom you recognised?
Here ʿAmran is a fronted object of ʿarafta. The issue may be the identity of the person recognised, rather than the bare occurrence of recognition.
If it is already understood that the addressee recognised someone, but unclear whether that person was ʿAmr, fronting the object makes the relevant identity prominent. Syntax thus signals the focus of the question.