INVERSION

inversion

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. Present Simple: ‘I rarely go outside.’ becomes ‘Rarely do I go outside.’ Past Simple: We never went to the shopping centre.' becomes 'At no time/never did we go to the shopping centre.' Some negative or limiting adverbials require you to complete a whole clause before the inversion takes place. ‘I didn’t know what to do until I saw what had happened.’ becomes ‘Not until I saw what had happened did I know what to do.’ In this case, ‘Not until I saw what happened’ is the adverbial clause. The inversion takes place after this, in the main clause. 'Hardly' puts the inversion in the adverbial clause. It uses 'than' and 'when' to connect with the main clause. ‘Hardly had I got home than the dog started barking.’' Hardly had he got into the bath when the phone rang.’ Little did they know means they didn't know. ‘Little did they know that he had stolen all of their money.’ (They didn't know he had stolen all of their money)' Little did he know that they would never meet again.' (He didn't know that they would never meet again.)

INVERSION happens in English for emphasis, dramatic purpose or formality. This type of inversion uses negative and limiting adverbs. To invert a sentence move the adverbial to the beginning of the sentence and invert the subject and auxiliary verb: ‘I had never met someone so interesting.’ becomes ‘Never had I met someone so interesting.’ Notice that if the auxiliary verb is negative in the first sentence, it becomes affirmative in the inverted sentence and the 'not' moves to the front.

In the following expressions, the inversion comes in the second part of the sentence:

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

We can use inversion instead of 'if' in conditionals.

• 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!

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

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

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

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