INVERTED SENTENCES

What is sentence inversion?
1. Inversion just means putting the verb before the subject. We use it in several different situations in English.
  1. Normal sentence: You are tired. Question form: Are You tired?
Structure
1. Verb + Subject + Complement
  1. - Present simple with "be" : am I / are you / is he. - Past simple with "be’" were you / was she.
  2. - Present simple with any verb except "be" (add ‘do’ or ‘does’): do you go / does he go. - Past simple with any verb except ‘be’ (add ‘did’): did we go / did they go
2. Auxiliary verb + subject + verb + complement (With other verb tenses, we change the place of the subject and the auxiliary verb.)
  1. - Present continuous: am I going / are you going. - Past continuous: was he going / were they going.
  2. - present perfect: have we gone / has she gone - Present perfect continuous: has she been going / have they been going.
  3. - Past perfect: had you gone - Past perfect continuous: had he been going
  4. - Future simple: will they go. - Future continuous: will you be going.
  5. . Future perfect: will they have gone. - Future perfect continuous: will she have been going.
  6. - Modal verbs: should I go / would you go
When do we use it?
1. 1. When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of the sentence.
  1. I have seldom seen such beautiful work. (This is a normal sentence with no special emphasis.)
2. 2. We can use inversion after ‘so + adjective … that’:
  1. Normal sentence: the girl was so beautiful that nobody could talk of anything else. Inverted sentence: So beautiful was the girl that nobody could talk of anything else.
3. 3. So+ adjective can be replaced with such:
  1. Such was the wind that we couldn't open the window.
4. 4. Neither/nor +auxiliary +subject is added to a negative statement to express agreement.
  1. Maria: I am not going to Ana's party tonight. Marianella: Neither/nor is Sharoll.
5. 5. We can use inversion instead of ‘if’ in conditionals with ‘had’ ‘were’ and ‘should’. This is quite formal:
  1. Normal sentence: If I were you, I would not move to a new flat. Conditional with inversion: Were I you, I would not move to a new flat
6. 6. With only after, only by, only if, only when and not until when these expressions come at the beginning of the sentence, the inversion doesn't come right after, but in the main clause.
  1. Only after he updated his skills was he able to get a job.

Next up

INVERTED SENTENCES

Description

Resource summary

Media attachments

0 comments

Similar

	Created by Ana Pacheco over 3 years ago