This presentation is about one of English Grammar for advanced level theory which is Inverted Subject Verb

1. Inverted
Subject-Verb
GROUP 9
MAYA
ELOK ROFIQOH NUGRAHANI
INDRIANA
NUR LAILIYAH JAMIL

2. What is it?
Normal Sentence : You are tired.
(The verb follows the subject)
Question form : Are you tired?
(The verb precedes the subject)
In statement, it is usual for the verb to follow
the subject, but sometimes this word order is
reversed. We can refer to this as inversion.

3. The Fuctions
To make the sentences more interesting.
To put more emphasis on the front word or
phrase.
To provide a logical transition from the
previous sentence to the current sentence.
to provide a smooth and vivid transition to a
topic that is closely related to the context.
to link two clauses and require inversion.
to create a more formal alternative for
conditionals.

4. Types of Inversion
There are two main types of inversion :
V + S
• e.g In the door way stood her father.
Auxiliary + S + V that follows S
• e.g Rarely had he seen such a sunset.

5. Where does it occur?
Adverbial Fronting
• With place expressions
• Participle phrases
• Adjective verbs
• Comparison phrases
• With negatives
• Conjunctive adverbs
• Conditional inversion
Questions
There Sentences

6. With Place Expression
e.g
–Into the room a king penguin ran.
Into the room ran a king penguin.
–All the money we had lost was on the
table.
On the table was all the money we had
lost.
The subject-verb inversion occurs if the place
expression occurs first in the sentence.

7. NOTE : The inversion is necessary only if the
place expression is needed to complete the
sentence.
Take a look at these examples.
– In the forest are many exotic birds.
Normal form : Many exotic birds are in the
forest.
“In the forest” is needed to complete the
sentence, so it cannot be omitted.
– In the forest I walked for many hours.
Normal form : I walked for many hours in
the forest.
“In the forest” can be omitted from the
sentence. So it becomes : I walked for many
hours

8. With Negatives
The subject and verb are inverted when negative
expressions and words that act like negatives
come at the beginning of a sentence.
• Time adverbials
• Only as time expression
• Negative expressions
• Expressions starting with Not
• Little with negative meaning

9. e.g
– I barely understood the material given
yesterday.
Barely did I understand the material given
yesterday.
– The phone started ringing soon after he had
locked the door.
No sooner had he locked the door than the
phone started ringing.
Time Adverbials
Never(before), rarely, seldom;
barely/hardly/scarcely...; no sooner...than

10. e.g
– She only sat down and tried to relax when
the last person had left.
Only when the last person had left did she
sit down and try to relax.
– You can only play after lunch.
Only after lunch can you play.
Only as time expression
Only when, only after ...

11. e.g
– You cannot inform the staff about the
imminent changes in any circumstances.
Under no circumstances can you inform the
staff about the imminent changes.
– I am not related to the suspect in any way.
In no way am I related to the suspect.
Negative Expressions
Under/In no circumstances, In no way ...

12. e.g
– You were not only late, but you also did not
have a good excuse either.
Not only were you late , but also you didn’t
even have a good excuse.
– You cannot get all the swimming gear out of
the drawers until June.
Not until June can you get all the swimming
gear out of the drawers.
Expression starting with Not
Not + a noun, not only...but also, not until....

13. e.g
– She didn’t really understand what the
conversation was about.
Little did she understand what the
conversation was about.
– Michael doesn’t really know that his
daughter has been failing all her subjects at
school.
Little does Michael know that his daughter
has been failing all her sucjects at school.
Little with negative meaning
Little

14. e.g
– Sally does not want to go. Jack also does not
want to go. (neither)
Sally does not want to go, and neither does
Jack.
– The secretary is not attending the meeting.
Her boss is not attending the meeting, too.
(nor)
The secretary is not attending, nor is her
The subject and verb are also inverted when
negative expressions (neither, nor) appear in
front of a subject and verb in the middle of a
sentence.

15. With Conditionals
In conditional sentence, we can omit the word
“if” and invert the following subject and
auxiliary (had, were, should) to create a more
formal alternative.
There are three conditional types which invertion
of subject-verb can be applied. The two of them
(type 2 and 3) are hypothetical conditionals,
which is, contrary-to-fact conditionals.

16. • Conditional type 1
In formal context, we can omit “if” and start
the sentence with should.
e.g
–If you need more information, contact our
unit in Green City.
Should you need more information,
contact our unit in Green City.
–If you don’t change your mind, please let
me know.
Should you not change your mind, please
let me know.

17. • Conditional type 2
We use be to to in a formal way to express
condition. It suggests that the speaker has no
influence over whether the condition will be
fulfilled nor not. In a conditional sentence, we
can omit “if” and start the sentence with were.
e.g
– If the vote were to go against me, I would
resign.
Were the vote to go against me, I would
resign.
– If you were to agree, he would probably
become the next coach.
Were he to agree, he would probably become
the next coach.

18. e.g
– If you were a brighter fellow, you would go
along with the scheme.
Were you a brighter fellow , you would go
along with the scheme.
– If I were you, I would stop smoking.
Were I you, I would stop smoking.
• Conditional type 2
If + S + were + O = Were + S + O

19. • Conditional type 3
We use Past Perfect in the if-clause when we
are thinking about how things might have been
different. In this type of conditional, we can
omit if and start the sentence with had.
e.g
– If I had believed her for once, I wouldn’t
have refused to help.
Had I believed her for once, I wouldn’t have
refused to help.
– If I had known about Mr. Smith’s behaviour
sooner, I would have fired him immediately.
Had I known about Mr. Smith’s behaviour
sooner, I would have fired him immediately.

20. e.g
– If the people had not been informed, the
situation would have been much worse.
False : Hadn’t the people been informed, the
situation would have been much worse.
True : Had the people not been informed ,
the situation would have been much worse.
– If it had been for your grade, mother would
have bought a computer for you.
False : Had been it for your grade, mother
would have bought a computer for you.
True : Had it been for your grade, mother
would have bought a computer for you.

21. With Comparisons
In formal written language, we commonly use
inversion after as and than in comparisons.
e.g
– The cake was excellent. The cake was as
excellent as the cake.
The cake was excellent, as was the coffee.
– Research shows that parents watch more
television than their children do.
Research shows that parents watch more
television than do their children.

22. NOTE :
When the subject is pronoun, we cannot invert it
with the verb.
e.g
– We now know a lot about the Universe. We
didn’t know this much ten years ago.
We now know a lot more about the
Universe than we did ten years ago.
– She used to meet him everyday, but now she
only meets him twice a week.
She meets him less frequent these days than
she used to do.

23. THANK YOU
FROM : GROUP 9