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Inversion

Inversion occurs when the typical subject-verb word order is reversed in a sentence, usually for emphasis or effect. It makes sentences sound more formal, striking, or unusual. There are several situations where inversion is used in English: 1) When a negative adverb or phrase like "seldom" or "never" begins the sentence. 2) In conditional sentences using "had", "were", or "should" instead of "if". 3) After expressions like "so + adjective" that something was, such as "so beautiful was the view".

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113 views

Inversion

Inversion occurs when the typical subject-verb word order is reversed in a sentence, usually for emphasis or effect. It makes sentences sound more formal, striking, or unusual. There are several situations where inversion is used in English: 1) When a negative adverb or phrase like "seldom" or "never" begins the sentence. 2) In conditional sentences using "had", "were", or "should" instead of "if". 3) After expressions like "so + adjective" that something was, such as "so beautiful was the view".

Uploaded by

Carolina Clavero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Inversion happens when we reverse (invert) the normal word order

inversion?
of a structure, most commonly the subject-verb word order. It is a
What is
literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed,
generally for emphasis or special effect. It makes a sentence sound
striking or unusual. It also sounds quite formal.

We use inversion in several different situations in English.

✓ When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of


the sentence.

Usually, we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence to


emphasise what we're saying. It makes our sentence sound
surprising or striking or unusual. It also sounds quite formal. If you
don't want to give this impression, you can put the negative
expression later in the sentence in the normal way:

➢ Seldom have I seen such beautiful work.


('Seldom' is at the beginning, so we use inversion. This sentence
emphasizes what beautiful work it is.)
➢ I have seldom seen such beautiful work.
('Seldom' is in the normal place, so we don't use inversion. This is a
normal sentence with no special emphasis.)

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 did I understand why the tragedy had


Only then
happened.

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

No sooner had we arrived home than the police rang


No sooner
the doorbell.

Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the
Scarcely
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 On no account should you do anything without asking


account me first.

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
Not until
was safe.

Not since Lucy left college had she had such a wonderful
Not since
time.

Only Only after I'd seen her flat did I understand why she wanted
after to live there.

Only
Only when we'd all arrived home did I feel calm.
when

Only by Only by working extremely hard could we afford to eat.

We only use inversion when the adverb modifies the whole phrase and not
when it modifies the noun:

Hardly anyone passed the exam. (No inversion.)

✓ 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 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.)

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