Inversion in questions

In an affirmative sentence, the verb goes after the subject. However, the auxiliary verb can go before the subject of a clause in several different structures. This is called inversion. Inversion is quite common in questions. In linguistics, inversion is any of several grammatical constructions where two expressions switch their canonical order of appearance, that is, they invert. The most frequent type of inversion in English is subject auxiliary inversion, where an auxiliary verb changes places with its subject! this often occurs in questions, such as "re you coming#, where the subject you is switched with the auxiliary are. In many other languages especially those with freer word order than English inversion can ta$e place with a variety of verbs %not just auxiliaries& and with other syntactic categories as well. 1 In most questions there is inversion of the subject and auxiliary. Statement 'ou are leaving today. The train has got a buffet. (e can sit here.

Question "re you leaving today# Has the train got a buffet# (here can we sit#

If there is more than one auxiliary verb %e.g. could have&, then only the first one comes before the subject. Statement I could have reserved a seat. Question )ould I have reserved a seat#

2 In simple tenses we use the auxiliary verb do. Statement 'ou do li$e train journeys. They did arrive at six. Question *o you li$e train journeys# *id they arrive at six#

3 e on its own as an ordinary verb can also come before the subject. Statement The train was late. +y tic$et is somewhere. !ore examples"

Question (as the train late# (here is my tic$et#

,he is wor$ing at the moment. -- Is she wor$ing at the moment#

He goes to wor$ every day. -- *oes he go to wor$ every day# They live in .aris. -- *o they live in .aris#