Negative inversion

Negative inversion

We use negative and limiting adverbs at the beginning of a sentence to emphasize something. It often makes our writing more formal

Order

The word order following negative and limiting adverbs follows the pattern of a question with the auxiliary verb and the subject inverted.

NORMAL SENTENCE ORDER:I had never met someone interesting

INVERSION:ADVERB+AUXILIARY VERB+SUBJECTNever had I met someone interesting

In cases where the tense does not use an auxiliary verb in the affirmative, such as the present simple or the past simple, one must be added (do, does or did)

Normal sentence order I rarely go outside INVERSION: Add an auxiliary verb Rarely do I go outside

Normal sentence order She seldom worked very hard INVERSION: Add an auxiliary verb Seldom did she work very hard

With be and modal verbs, we use the auxiliary that is already there (e.g. is/are/should, will...) in the appropriate tense.

Normal sentence order She will never go back to that restaurant INVERSION: Add an auxiliary verb Never will she go back to that restaurant

NEGATIVE ADVERBIALS never; nowhere; nothing; not often; not for nothing; not once; no way; never once; never before; on no account; no sooner … than; not only … but (also); under no circumstances LIMITING ADVERBIALS Hardly; seldom; rarely; little; hardly ever; scarcely ever; only now; only occasionally; only once; only rarely;