C1 Course

Unit 3: Grammar
Course Instructor: Faridoon T.S. Hussainzada
Contents

INVERSION FUTURE IN THE PAST NARRATIVE TENSES

Inversion
Section 1
 • Inversion means inverted word
order in sentences.
• Have I told instead of I have
Inversion told
• Or
• Did Putin kill instead of Putin
killed/Putin did kill
Inversion

• We use inversion for many reasons.

• The most common one is to create
questions.

• Ex:
// James worked hard.
// Did James work hard?
Inversion after negative or restrictive adverbials

When we want to emphasize an event because it is…

• Unexpected
• Sudden
• Impossible
• Etc.
we use negative or restrictive adverbials followed by inverted word order.
• Negative (rest.) adverbial + aux. verb + subject + main verb …
• Negative (rest.) adverbial + BE (main verb) + subject …
Inversion after negative or restrictive
adverbials
Examples (Adverbial, Verb, Subject)
// Never once was he the boss of this institution. Why did you ever
listen to him?

// Under no circumstances were you ever allowed to arrest that man.

You have no jurisdiction or authority.
Note
• Inversion structures (excluding questions) are
formal.
• We use them more in written texts (narratives) and
in formal speeches (presentations).
*This table can be found on page 142 of the Cambridge Empower C1 Student’s book.
Inversion after negative or restrictive adverbials

We use conjunctions than and when after the following adverbials:

• Barely
• Hardly
• Scarcely
• No sooner

// Barely had he touched his food than his father came and took him.
// No sooner did he start playing the game when he beat all his friends.
Choose the best answer, 1 or 2, to follow a and b in each pair.
Check your answers.

2 3 4 5
•a 2 •a 1 •a 1 •a 2
•b 1 •b 2 •b 2 •b 1
 Grammar focus 3A: Exercises b and c
Homework on page 142. (C1 student’s book)
Future in the past
Section 2
Future in the past
We use the past tenses of future forms to say what …
• Plans
• Intentions
• Predictions
we had at a point in the past.
*This table can be found on page 143 of the Cambridge Empower C1 Student’s book.
“Did it happen?”
“What does would mean?”
Narrative tenses
Section 3
Narrative tenses

We use certain tenses to narrate in

English.

Those tenses and their uses are on

the next slides.
Setting the scene

We use the …
• Past perfect
• Past perfect continuous
• Past continuous
to give the background to events in the past.

// We left around 5 in the morning. Everybody had eaten their breakfasts, so they all had the
energy to hike.
Setting the scene

We use the …
• Past perfect
• Past perfect continuous
to say how long something continued until
a time in the past.

// By the time Taylor Swift sang her new

song, I had been singing her older ones for
hours and hours.
Sequence of events
• We use the past simple for actions in sequence in a narrative.
• We use the past continuous for background actions or actions that
are interrupted.
Sequence of events
• We use the past perfect to refer back to an earlier time in the
sequence.
Sequence of events
• We use past perfect and past perfect continuous to (often) explain
the main action or give relevant background.
Choose the best verb form.
Check your answers.
2 would be getting
3 was to have paid
4 had been planning to make
5 wondered
6 was driving
7 had been crying
8 got
9 had been going to give
10 would
 Homework
Grammar focus 3B: Exercises b and c on page 143. (C1 student’s book)
Thank you

Any questions?