أَضَرَبْتَ زَيْدًا؟ / أَأَنْتَ ضَرَبْتَ؟ / أَزَيْدًا ضَرَبْتَ؟
Did you strike Zayd? / Was it you who struck? / Was it Zayd whom you struck?
In taqrīr, identifying a demand for acknowledgment is not enough: one must identify the constituent being pressed upon the listener. The element immediately following the interrogative hamza gains special prominence.
A-ḍarabta Zaydan foregrounds the event, a-anta ḍarabta the agent, and a-Zaydan ḍarabta the object. The same general event thus becomes rhetorically different according to the constituent placed under the listener's acknowledgment.
FormFocus of acknowledgment
A-ḍarabta Zaydan?The act of striking
A-anta ḍarabta?The agent, you
A-Zaydan ḍarabta?The object, Zayd