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How should the phrase social disparity be used in a sentence?

There was great social disparity between A and B.

The social disparity was great between A and B.

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You can say either.

I just find The social disparity was great between A and B strange because I wouldn't split disparity and between A and B (So I'd say The social disparity between A and B was great). I can't explain why though and not being a native speaker of English I might be wrong here.

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I agree, word order is less standard in that one. It is OK but lays some extra emphasis on great. It's hard to explain. – Cerberus Oct 29 '11 at 16:30
I think that "great" can more easily be misinterpreted as "outstanding" or "excellent" (vs. "large") in the second version than in the first. – jwpat7 Oct 29 '11 at 19:02

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