INVERSION

inversion

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INVERSION WITH A NEGATIVE ELEMENT

Negative elements and phrases introduced by "no" or "not" can be placed at the beginning of the clause for emphasis.An inversion of the subject and the operator would be needed.

I will never make such mistakeNever will I make such mistake

NeverHardly / barely (ever) Seldom Not only... but also Not for one moment Not until Not since On no account

Under no circumstances No sooner Only later/with/then/now/in Only if/when/once/after Little So + adjective Such

Never have I been to LondonNot only was he the best student, but also an amazing person On no account must we allow that to happen Under no circumstances must we allow that to happen No sooner had we arrived than the meeting started* (used with the past perfect simple) Only then did they realise it was a mistake Such was the damage to the phone that it was impossible to fix it

inversion third conditional

IF + SUBJECT + AUXILIARY VERB + PAST PARTICIPLEAUXILIARY VERB + SUBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE

If I had known she was cheating on you, I would have told youHad I known she was cheating on you, I would have told you

OTHER formal INVERSIONS

IF + SUBJECT + WERE TO + BARE INFINITIVEWERE + SUBJECT + TO + BARE INFINITIVE

If we were to give up the fight now, we would loseWere we to give up the fight now, we would lose

IF + SUBJECT + SHOULD + BARE INFINITIVESHOULD + SUBJECT + BARE INFINITIVE

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