Inversions in English

1. Isabel Bastida & Ana Mena
Nivel Avanzado C1

2. WHAT’S INVERSION?
• Inversion implies a change in the normal word
order of a sentence.
• Normal statement word order is
SUBJECT+VERB
• Inversion is the word order in questions, but we
can also use it for emphasis in statementsfor emphasis in statements:
“He was late and he didn’t apologise”
“Not only was he late, but he didn’t apologise”

3. SUBJECT-AUXILIARY INVERSION
• We invert the auxiliary/modal verb and subject after these phrases:
NEGATIVE AND RESTRICTIVE EXPRESSIONSNEGATIVE AND RESTRICTIVE EXPRESSIONS
• Under no circumstances will our team play the final at Wembley.
• Not only did the team get thrashed, but one player was also sent off
and won’t play the final.
• Never before his retirement was Maradona out of shape.
• No sooner had the defender touched him than he dived to provoke a
penalty.
• Not a single free kick did the referee give, despite the numerous
fouls.
NONO PHRASES
UNDER NO
CIRCUMSTANCES
AT NO TIME
ON NO OCASSION
NO SOONER … THAN
ON NO CONDITION
NOT/ONLYNOT/ONLY
NOT UNTIL MUCH LATER
NOT UNTIL
ONLY THEN, ONLY AFTER,
ONLY IF/ ONLY WHEN
NOT ONLY …, BUT (ALSO)
NOT + OBJECT
ADVERBSADVERBS
HARDLY, SELDOM,
RARELY, SCARCELY
LITTLE
NEVER, NEVER BEFORE

4. CLAUSES BEGINNING WITHCLAUSES BEGINNING WITH
“NEITHER / NOR/ SO”“NEITHER / NOR/ SO”
• My husband is totally uncoordinated and so am I.
• She would never give up trekking, and neither would
her boyfriend.
• I couldn’t finish the race nor could my other team
mates.
• (express agreement)
A: I have never been to New York.
B: Neither have I.
A: That’s why I’m really looking forward to it!
B: So am I!

5. CLAUSES BEGINNING WITHCLAUSES BEGINNING WITH MAYMAY
(STRONG WISH)(STRONG WISH)
May he live to regret that decision!
May your dreams come true.

6. SUBJECT-VERB INVERSION
• We occasionally invert a main verb and subject
after prepositional phrases, adverbs of place
and adverbs of time. We can use a form of the
verb to be or verbs of place and movement
before the subject:
 Here lies the body of our beloved Frank.
 All along the wall climbed a beautiful white cat.
 For the first hour the teams seemed evenly matched.
Then came the turning point as Ed scored.
(we don’t use inversion when the subject is a pronoun)

7. SOSO + ADJECTIVE ++ ADJECTIVE + THAT CLAUSETHAT CLAUSE
• So interesting was the match that nobody
left before the last whistle.
SUCHSUCH + NOUN PHRASE ++ NOUN PHRASE + THAT CLAUSETHAT CLAUSE
• Such was the intensity of the match, that both
deserved to win.

8. INVERSION IN CONDITIONALINVERSION IN CONDITIONAL
SENTENCESSENTENCES
 Had he scored the penalty, they might have won the match.
 Were he doped, he would be disqualified.
 Should you sprain your ankle, contact your physiotherapist.
FIRST CONDITIONALFIRST CONDITIONAL
To make the first conditional more formal and the conditional a little less
likely, we can omit IF and use SHOULD before the subject.
SECOND & THIRD CONDITIONALSECOND & THIRD CONDITIONAL
For a more formal or literary style, we can omit IF and use inversion.