Subject/ Verb Inversion

Inversion means putting verb before subject.

Usages


  • Question formation
  • Normal sentence: I understood the lessons.
  • Inversion: Did you understand the lessons?
  • Normal sentence: You like shopping.
  • Inversion: Do you like shopping?
  • Negative adverbs

Never

Never have I been in such an embarrassing situation before.

Seldom

Seldom does he calls me.

Hardly

Hardly could I believe that he was a thief.

Rarely

Rarely can she eat such delicious food.

  • Adverbs phrases

Not only … but also

Not only did he write the book but he also designed the cover.

No sooner … than

No sooner had he arrived home than it rained.

Only when

Only when he needs me does he calls me.

  • Here and there

Here

Here comes the teacher!

There

There stood a statue.

  • Conditional sentences
  • Normal sentence: If he had informed me earlier, I would have helped him.
  • Inversion: Had he informed me earlier, I would have helped him.
  • Normal sentence: If she had left sooner, she wouldn’t have got wet in the rain.
  • Inversion: Had she left sooner, she wouldn’t have got wet in the rain.
  • Structure: “So + Adj … that”
  • Normal sentence: Jim was so kind that everybody loved him.
  • Inversion: So kind was Jim that everybody loved him.
  • Normal sentence: The cartoon was so funny that all the kids laughed.
  • Inversion: So funny was the cartoon that all the kids laughed.

 

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