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The following sentence appeared in a documentary about Germans settling in Switzerland:

Das Schweizbild in Deutschland oszilliert zwischen den bösartigen Cliches von diesem Fluchtgeld-Eldorado und diesem unendlich spießigen, dann aber auch verklärten Bild einer nahezu idealen Heidiwelt. Die reale Schweiz ist weder das eine noch das andere, obwohl es Elemente von diesen Cliches natürlich hat, und da gibt es eine Konfrontation mit der Realität, die teilweise zu nicht ganz sanften Landungen führt, eben weil die Deutschen hohe Erwartungen verknüpfen mit ihrem Einwandern in die Schweiz.

Here, the highlighted part has a verb verknüpfen not at the end of the sentence. Is this valid? I thought it should have been:

...eben weil die Deutschen hohe Erwartungen mit ihrem Einwandern in die Schweiz verknüpfen.

Isn't this what the subordinate clause rule all about? :)

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  • Rules are rules until the exception rears its ugly head....
    – Stephie
    Mar 11, 2015 at 14:02
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    What exception? Yes, technically this is grammatically incorrect. It's done a lot in spoken German, though, and even creeps into written language now and again, as you can see.
    – Ingmar
    Mar 11, 2015 at 14:21
  • "obwohl es Elemente von diesen Clichees natürlich hat" ist falsch, denn "es" kann sich nicht auf die Schweiz beziehen, die weiblich ist. "obwohl sie Elemente von diesen Cliches natürlich hat" muss es lauten.
    – user unknown
    Mar 11, 2015 at 23:57
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    To my mind, it does not even seem incorrect.
    – Cacambo
    Jan 4, 2020 at 17:10

1 Answer 1

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It's a prepositional phrase in the Nachfeld. That is grammatically correct, though one could argue whether this concrete phrase is complex enough to warrant being put after the verb. One could make a case that it's used for emphasis by the author. This happens in journalistic texts more frequently than in other texts.

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  • I get a general feeling that I am gettling more emotionally detached from German because I liked German due to its rather 'formulaic' beauty. Now the introduction of this rule makes me dizzy :P
    – Josh
    Mar 12, 2015 at 9:25
  • I think the sentence isn't that long enough to apply this rule! anyway above sentence was used colloquially so while talking all sorts of things can happen for sure.
    – Josh
    Mar 12, 2015 at 9:27

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