Fronting

It is also a term used in TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR referring to any transformation which transposes a CONSTITUENT from the middle or end of a STRING to initial position. For example, the rule of ‘Wh-fronting’ places a WH-PHRASE (e.g. where, which books) in initial position, transposing it from the underlying non-initial position (cf. John walked there ⇒ John walked where ⇒ where did John walk).