Structure III
Inversion
Presented by: Group 9
1. Nurjannah (A1B014034)
2. Afrian Reastu Prayogi (A1B014036)
3. Melya Zahana (A1B014038)
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.
Example:
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’. This is called
‘inversion’)
In most English verb tenses, when we want to
use inversion, we just move the verb to before
the subject.
Tenses Inversion
Present continuous:
S + Be1 + V-ing + (O) Be1 + S + V-ing + (O)
John is driving the truck. Is John driving the truck?
Past continuous:
S + Be2 + V-ing + (O) Be2 + S + V-ing + (O)
Rani was giving the money to me. Was Rani giving the money to
me?
Present perfect:
S + has/have + V3 + (O) Has/have + S + V3 +(O)
Roy has drunk the coffee. Has Roy drunk the coffee?
Present perfect continuous:
S + has/have + Be3 + V-ing + (O) Has/have + S + Be3 + V-ing + (O)
They have been joining the Have they been joining the
competition. competition?
Past perfect:
S + had + V3 + (O) Had + S + V3 + (O)
Gary had swum in the beach. Had Gary swum in the beach?
Tenses Inversion
Past perfect continuous:
S + had + Be3 + V-ing + (O) Had + S + Be3 + V-ing + (O)
Nero had been burning the city. Had Nero been burning the city?
Future simple:
S + will/shall + V1 + (O) Will/shall + S + V1 + (O)
Ren will go to Bali. Will Ren go to Bali?
Future continuous:
S + will/shall + be + V-ing Will/shall + S + be + V-ing
Neni will be sending a mail. Will Neni be sending a mail?
Future perfect:
S + will/shall + have + V3 + (O) Will/shall + S + have + V3 + (O)
Aoyama will have given a car. Will Aoyama have given a car?
Future perfect continuous:
S + will/shall + have + Be3 + V-ing Will/shall + S + have + Be3 + V-ing
+ (O) + (O)
Reni will have been running in the Will Reni have been running in the
field. field?
Modal verbs:
S + Modal verbs + V1 + (O) Modal verbs + S + V1 + (O)
She can ride the bike. Can she ride the bike?
There are two tenses where we need to add
do/does/did to make the question form.
Tenses Inversion
Present simple:
S + V1 + (O) Do/does + S + V1 + (O)
Jack works in the bank. Does Jack work in the bank?
Past simple:
S + V2 + (O) Did + S + V2 + (O)
Tony killed the monkey. Did Tony killed the monkey?
When do we use inversion?
We use inversion in question. However, 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.
Example:
Normal sentence: I have seldom seen such beautiful
work.
Inversion: Seldom have I seen such beautiful work.
We put a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the
beginning of the sentence to emphasize what we are
saying. It makes our sentence sound surprising or striking
or unusual. It also sounds quite formal.
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 . . . Not only does he love chocolate and sweets but he also
but 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 Only in this way could John earn enough money to
way 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
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.
Example:
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 of the
sentence. This is also quite formal.
Example:
Normal sentence: All the money we had lost
was on the table.
Inversion: On the table was all the money
we had lost.
Normal sentence: The knights came round the
corner.
Inversion: Round the corner came the
knights.
4. We can use inversion after ‘so +
adjective . . . that’.
Example:
Normal sentence: The girl was so beautiful
that nobody could talk of anything else.
Inversion: So beautiful was the girl that
nobody could talk of anything else.
Normal sentence: The food was so delicious
that we ate every last bite.
Inversion: So delicious was the food that we
ate every last bite.
Exercises
Direction: Change the sentences so that they use
inversion. For example:
We had hardly arrived when Julie burst into the house.
→ Hardly had we arrived when Julie burst into the house.
1. John had never been to such a fantastic restaurant.
Answer: Never had John been to such a fantastic
restaurant.
2. I in no way want to be associated with this project.
Answer: In no way do I want to be associated with
this project.
3. They had no sooner eaten dinner than the
ceiling crashed onto the dining table.
Answer: No sooner had they eaten dinner
than the ceiling crashed onto the dining
table.
4. I had scarcely finished writing my essay
when examiner announced the end of the
exam.
Answer: Scarcely had I finished writing my
essay when the examiner announced the
end of the exam.
5. I seldom leave my house so early.
Answer: Seldom do I leave my house so
early.