Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

    • 159 views

    Inversion

    Uploaded by

    L.
    The document discusses different situations where inversion is used in English sentences. It explains that inversion means putting the verb before the subject. Inversion is commonly used in questions, and also with negative adverbs or adverb phrases at the beginning of sentences to add emphasis. Some other cases where inversion is used include conditionals with 'had', 'were' and 'should', sentences beginning with an adverbial expression of place, and after 'so + adjective' constructions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Inversion

    Uploaded by

    L.
    159 views4 pages
    The document discusses different situations where inversion is used in English sentences. It explains that inversion means putting the verb before the subject. Inversion is commonly used in questions, and also with negative adverbs or adverb phrases at the beginning of sentences to add emphasis. Some other cases where inversion is used include conditionals with 'had', 'were' and 'should', sentences beginning with an adverbial expression of place, and after 'so + adjective' constructions.

    Original Description:

    inversion

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses different situations where inversion is used in English sentences. It explains that inversion means putting the verb before the subject. Inversion is commonly used in questions, and also with negative adverbs or adverb phrases at the beginning of sentences to add emphasis. Some other cases where inversion is used include conditionals with 'had', 'were' and 'should', sentences beginning with an adverbial expression of place, and after 'so + adjective' constructions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    159 views4 pages

    Inversion

    Uploaded by

    L.
    The document discusses different situations where inversion is used in English sentences. It explains that inversion means putting the verb before the subject. Inversion is commonly used in questions, and also with negative adverbs or adverb phrases at the beginning of sentences to add emphasis. Some other cases where inversion is used include conditionals with 'had', 'were' and 'should', sentences beginning with an adverbial expression of place, and after 'so + adjective' constructions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 4
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    The passage discusses different situations where inversion is used in English grammar, including with negative adverbs or adverb phrases at the beginning of a sentence, in conditionals with 'had', 'were' and 'should', when an adverbial expression of place is at the beginning, and after 'so + adjective...that'.

    Inversion is also sometimes used with negative adverbs or adverb phrases at the beginning of a sentence to emphasize what is being said. It can also be used instead of 'if' in conditionals with 'had', 'were' and 'should', which makes the sentence more formal. Inversion is used if an adverbial expression of place is at the beginning of a sentence, making it formal or literary.

    Some negative adverbs or adverb phrases that are often used with inversion include: hardly, never, seldom, rarely, only then, not only...but, no sooner, scarcely, only later, nowhere, little, only in this way, in no way, on no account.

    Inversion

    We use inversion in several different situations in English. Inversion just means putting the
    verb before the subject. We usually do it in question forms:

     Normal sentence: You are tired. (The subject is ‘you’. It’s before the verb ‘are’.)
     Question form: Are you tired? (The verb ‘are’ is before the subject ‘you’. They have changed
    places. This is called ‘inversion’.)

    When do we use inversion?


    Of course, we use inversion in questions. But we also sometimes use inversion in other cases,
    when we are not making a question.

    1. When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of the sentence.

    Usually, we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence to emphasise what we’re saying. It
    makes our sentence sound surprising or striking or unusual. It also sounds quite formal.

     I have seldom seen such beautiful work.


    (‘Seldom’ is in the normal place, so we don’t use inversion. This is a normal sentence with
    no special emphasis.)

     Seldom have I seen such beautiful work.


    (‘Seldom’ is at the beginning, so we use inversion. This sentence emphasizes what beautiful
    work it is.)

    Here are some negative adverbs and adverb phrases that we often use with inversion:

    Hardly Hardly had I got into bed when the telephone rang.
    Never Never had she seen such a beautiful sight before.
    Seldom Seldom do we see such an amazing display of dance
    Rarely Rarely will you hear such beautiful music.
    Only then Only then did I understand why the tragedy had happened.
    Not only … but Not only does he love chocolate and sweets but he also smokes.
    No sooner No sooner had we arrived home than the police rang the doorbell.
    Scarcely Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the back of a car.
    Only later Only later did she really think about the situation.
    Nowhere Nowhere have I ever had such bad service.
    Little Little did he know!
    Only in this way Only in this way could John earn enough money to survive.
    In no way In no way do I agree with what you’re saying.
    On no account On no account should you do anything without asking me first
    In the following expressions, the inversion comes in the second part of the sentence:

    Not until Not until I saw John with my own eyes did I really believe he was safe.
    Not since Not since Lucy left college had she had such a wonderful time.
    Only after Only after I’d seen her flat did I understand why she wanted to live there.
    Only when Only when we’d all arrived home did I feel calm.
    Only by Only by working extremely hard could we afford to eat.

    2. We can use inversion instead of ‘if’ in conditionals with ‘had’ ‘were’ and ‘should’. This is
    quite formal:

    Normal conditional: If I had been there, this problem wouldn’t have happened.
    Conditional with inversion: Had I been there, this problem wouldn’t have happened.

    Normal conditional: If we had arrived sooner, we could have prevented this tragedy!
    Conditional with inversion: Had we arrived sooner, we could have prevented this tragedy!

    3. We can use inversion if we put an adverbial expression of place at the beginning on the
    sentence. This is also quite formal or literary:

     On the table was all the money we had lost. (Normal sentence: All the money we had lost
    was on the table.)
     Round the corner came the knights. (Normal sentence: The knights came round the corner.)

    4. We can use inversion after ‘so + adjective … that’:

    So beautiful was the girl that nobody could talk of anything else. (Normal sentence:
    The girl was so beautiful that nobody could talk of anything else.)

    So delicious was the food that we ate every last bite. (Normal sentence: The food
    was so delicious that we ate every last bite.)
    © 2014 www.perfect-english-grammar.com
    May be freely copied for personal or classroom use.

    You might also like