Inverting means putting the verb before the subject. This is sometimes used to emphasize or dramatize a sentence in written English.
- Inversions after negative or semi-negative adverbials at the beginning of the sentence.
- No sooner …than (the main verb is always in the past perfect)
- Hardly … when
- Scarcely … when
- Barely … when
- Not until
- Seldom/rarely
- Little
- Not only …but also
- Never
- Neither
- In vain
- Only then/Only when/Only later
- Under no circumstances
- At no time/point
- On no account
- In no way
Click on the slider below to see example usage:
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If there is no auxiliary or modal verb, we use do/does/did.
- I understood her at that moment.
→ Only then did I understand her. - I didn’t know what to do until I spoke to him.
→ Not until I spoke to him did I know what to do.
Inversion is used in the main clause. (Not until I spoke to him is the adverbial clause, did I know what to do is the main clause).
- He bought the car after he had been promoted.
→ Only after he had been promoted, did he buy the car. - I have seldom seen a better performance.
→ Seldom have I seen a better performance. - Mary was not only late, but she hadn’t done the homework
→ Not only was Mary late, but she hadn’t done the homework. - I don’t eat meat very often.
→ Seldom do I eat meat. - She didn’t play a lot of volleyball.
→ Little did she play volleyball. - I haven’t ever felt so exhausted.
→ Never have I felt so exhausted. - I rarely go to the theatre.
→ Rarely do I go to the theatre. - He bought the car after he had been promoted.
→ Only after he had been promoted did he buy the car. - She forgave him after he had told the truth.
→ Not before he told the truth did she forgive him. - I had hardly got home when I realised I had left my glasses in the office.
→ Only when I had got home did I realise I had left my glasses in the office.
- He bought the car after he had been promoted.
- In conditional clauses with ‘should,’ ‘were,’ and ‘had.’
In conditional clauses using ‘should’, ‘were’, and ‘had’, the conjunction ‘if’ can be omitted and the subject and verb order can be changed for a more formal style.
→ If you should need my help, you can call me.
→ If he were more hardworking, he would get a promotion.
→If he had arrived earlier, he wouldn’t have missed the train.
- Inversion can be used after short answers such as: ‘so’, ‘nor’, ‘neither’.
- He enjoys swimming. So do I.
- I don’t like him. Neither/Nor do I.
- After ‘as’, ’so’ and ‘such’.
- I was fed up with the manager’s behaviour, as were my colleagues.
- So late it was that there was no one in the street.
- Such a charming girl was she that everyone liked her.
- So loud was the music that I couldn’t concentrate on my work.
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