INVERSION
Negative and limiting adverbials
➢ What’s the difference in emphasis between these sentences?
• It occurred to me later that I had made a big mistake.
• Not until then did it occur to me that I had made a big mistake.
In the first sentence the emphasis is on the fact that a mistake had been made.
The second sentence emphasises the time, the delay in realising that s/he had made a
mistake
➢ When we use inversion, we change the order of the subject and (auxiliary) verb.
COMPARE:
• She had never seen such an impressive performance.
• Never had she seen such an impressive performance.
➢ In formal English, especially in writing, we sometimes change the normal word
order to make the sentence more emphatic or dramatic in more formal
situations (news, speeches, literature…). Some native speakers may also do it
occasionally in day-to-day conversation.
• Rarely do we see this kind of weather in our area.
• People are wondering about the future of the euro, particularly in Germany.
Not only is the unthinkable now being thought, it is in fact being said out
loud. What would happen if the euro collapsed, if the Greek domino knocked
down its Italian neighbor, and that the French one?
➢ In the present simple and past simple tense, rather than simply inverting the
subject and verb we use do/does/did + subject + main verb.
NOT Not only forgot you to shut the window.
• Not only did you forget to shut the window, (but) you also forgot to lock the
door!
• Not until you become a parent yourself do you understand what it really
means.
➢ This structure is common:
1. After negative adverbial expressions:
o Under no circumstances can we accept cheques.
o Not only is my brother lazy, (but) he’s also very selfish.
o Not until you can behave like an adult will we treat you like an adult.
o Never have I heard such a ridiculous argument.
o No sooner had the football match started than it began to snow heavily.
2. After seldom, rarely, hardly/ scarcely:
o Seldom have I seen such a beautiful view.
o Rarely did he pay anyone a compliment.
o Hardly had I sat down when the train began to move.
o Scarcely had she finished reading when she fell asleep.
3. After adverbial expressions beginning with 'only'.
o Only after the meeting did I realize the importance of the subject.
o The train began to move. Only then was I able to relax.
o Only when you leave home do you realize how expensive everything is.
