Scribd
Upload
7 views4 pages

Inversion in English Grammar Explained

The document discusses the use of inversion in English grammar, highlighting various expressions and structures that require inversion, such as 'hardly,' 'never,' and 'seldom.' It also explains how inversion can replace conditional statements and be used with adverbial expressions of place. Additionally, it provides examples to illustrate these grammatical concepts.

Uploaded by

Madina Gumarova
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
7 views4 pages

Inversion in English Grammar Explained

The document discusses the use of inversion in English grammar, highlighting various expressions and structures that require inversion, such as 'hardly,' 'never,' and 'seldom.' It also explains how inversion can replace conditional statements and be used with adverbial expressions of place. Additionally, it provides examples to illustrate these grammatical concepts.

Uploaded by

Madina Gumarova
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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
Not only does he love chocolate and sweets but he also
only ...
smokes.
but

No sooner had we arrived home than the police rang the


No sooner
doorbell.

Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the back of
Scarcely
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
Only in this way could John earn enough money to survive.
this way

In no way In no way do I agree with what you're saying.

On no On no account should you do anything without asking me


account first.

Inversion

 In the following expressions, the


inversion comes in the second part of
the sentence:

Not Not until I saw John with my own eyes did


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

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!

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.

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.)

You might also like