Word order is very important in English because it is so lightly inflected.
The core SVO sequence is usually obligatory in declarative sentences, and there are fixed transformations for negatives and interrogatives.
But your MPT pieces are 'Adjuncts' - not part of the core sequence - and may move around. Moves to the front of the sentence are common:
I bought a boat last summer. ... Last summer I bought a boat.
We take taxis a lot in New York. ... In New York we take taxis a lot.
He finished the job as quickly as he could. ... As quickly as he could, he finished the job.
And a 'light' Adjunct (one of few words) may sometimes be moved to the inside of the core sequence:
I quickly polished off the sandwiches.
Note that "✲I polished off quickly the sandwiches" is not acceptable (although as Russell Borogove points out, it's perfectly understandable). However, a light adjunct may occupy that position if the Object is markedly heavier:
We found to our dismay that he had already started working.
Such intrusions are often set off with pauses in speech, and commas in writing:
We found, to our dismay, that he had already started working.
ADDED:
As far as emphasis goes, we tend in English to rely more on vocal stress than on sentence position; position is more likely to be determined by contextual rhythm, what the previous sentence was or the previous speaker said. In both writing and we speech we also have 'information packaging' strategies that throw the focus of the sentence onto a specific piece of information: It was last summer that I bought a boat. What I bought last summer was a boat.
It's a very complicated subject about which many fat books have been written. By and large, if you keep your SVO together, your listeners will figure out what you mean pretty easily.
Where in the world are you?
What in the world are you doing here?
These are simple sentences, in the sense that that they each contain exactly one clause. The interrogative mode is marked by subject/operator inversion.
Who in the world do you think [that] you are?
This is a complex sentence, in the sense that a matrix clause contains a subordinate clause. The matrix clause is interrogative, as marked by subject/auxiliary inversion. The subordinate clause is not interrogative and does not have subject/operator inversion. Instead, the indicative subordinate clause acts as the direct object of the verb "do think".
In all three questions, there is only one instance of subject/verb inversion, and that instance is part of the clause which asks a question. The clause which doesn't ask a question doesn't show inversion.
Best Answer
Confer is monotransitive: it takes only a direct object, not an indirect object, and the recipient of what is conferred must be expressed with a preposition phrase, usually headed by on or upon, although to and with are found in very old writings.
Consequently only the direct object, the degree, may stand as the subject of a passive construction.
If you need to make he the subject of a passive construction, you must use another verb such as grant or award:
Of course you may make he the subject of an active verb such as earn
ADDED: Arrowfar points out that your variant be conferred with has appeared in a number of Irish, Australian and South Asian sources: He was conferred with a degree. The active version is much rarer however; I take this to be an error derived from confusion with the use of confer with in the sense have a discussion with.