seen in class

1. INVERSION
 NA 2 Unit 3B
What?!!!
© Dulce

2. INVERSION
Quite often in English, certain expressions with a
restrictive or negative meaning are placed at the
beginning of a sentence…
On no account should people smoke here.
Never had I met such an impolite person
before.
* The ‘common’ way to say these in spoken English
is…
•People on no account should smoke here.
•I had never met such an impolite person before.

3. The reason for doing so is to emphasize
the point that you want to make…
It is striking, original or surprising in some
way. And whenever you make such a
statement, inversion is necessary. So, it has
to be:
 'Only at night do bats leave their cave.'
 'Only after I had returned home did I
realize that I had left my watch in
Emma's bathroom.'

4. Inversion is quite often used after
the ‘not only ... but also’
construction:
 'Not only did we visit Cuba's capital,
Havana, (but) we also spent three
days exploring the Galapagos Islands
off the coast of Ecuador.'

5. Inversion is also found in expressions
containing the word 'no', when placed at the
beginning of the sentence:
 'Under no circumstances are
you allowed to walk home from
school alone.'
 'In no way will I agree to sharing
an office with Ben’.

6. The same rule operates for 'seldom', 'hardly',
'scarcely', 'rarely', 'never', 'never before' and
'no sooner':
 'Never (before) had I seen such realistic dinosaurs
as there were in the BBC television series.'
 'No sooner had I arrived at the station than the
train came in.'
 'Rarely do we see such brightly-coloured birds.'
 'Seldom do we walk on such green grass.'
 'Scarcely had we finished lunch when the bell
rang for afternoon classes.'
© Dulce EOI

7. Let’s practise! Invert the following sentences:
 1) John had never been to such a fantastic restaurant .
 2) I in no way want to be associated with this project .
 3) They had no sooner eaten dinner than the ceiling
crashed onto the dining table .
 4) I had scarcely finished writing my essay when the
examiner announced the end of the exam .
 5) I seldom leave my house so early .
 6) People rarely appreciate this musician’s talent .
 7) We would understand what had happened that night
only later .
 8) They had met such rude people nowhere before .
 9) He understood little about the situation .
 10) The children should on no account go on their own

8. Check!
 1) Never had John been to such a fantastic restaurant .
 2) In no way do I want to be associated with this project .
 3) No sooner had they eaten dinner than the ceiling
crashed onto the dining table .
 4) Scarcely had I finished writing my essay when the
examiner announced the end of the exam .
 5) Seldom do I leave my house so early .
 6) Rarely do people appreciate this musician’s talent .
 7) Only later would we understand what had happened
that night .
 8) Nowhere had they met such rude people before .
 9) Little did he understand about the situation .
 10) On no account should the children go on their own.