• The normal word order for English sentences

is :

Subject+verb Example : ‘She is laughing .’

• We cannot change the word order .

• We cannot say : ‘Laughing she is’ nor ‘Is she laughing’ (at
least not in an affirmative sentence)
 • But in certain cases we can change the word order to
Verb+Subject
and this is called

INVERSION

‘Off walked the dragon into the sunset’

->The normal word order is : ‘The dragon walked off into the sunset’

‘Never have I heard such a ridiculous story’

->The normal word order is : ‘I have never heard such a ridiculous
story’
 When do we use
inversion?
• For emphasis
• To make the sentence more dramatic
• In literary or formal language (especially
negative sentences)
 Emphasis
Dramatizing in a story
Examples :

• The night is tender .

-> ‘Tender is the night’ (poetic)

• His real plan is to take over the world.

-> ‘To take over the world is his real plan .’
• Look at these sentences

Seldom have I worked so hard in all my life.

Never have I experienced such cold weather.
Rarely do we start working before 9 in the morning.

• What kind of word comes first in each sentence?

• Are all the words at the beginning of the sentences
negative?
• Where is the subject?
• What is the ‘normal’ word order in each of the
sentences ?
 • What kind of word comes first in each sentence?
 An adverb

• Are all the words at the beginning of the sentences

negative?
 Well , yes . A word like ‘rarely’ has a ‘restrictive’ meaning and is
in a way negative .

• Where is the subject?

 After the auxiliary verb

• What is the ‘normal’ word order in each of these

sentences ?

1. I have seldom worked so hard...

2. I have never experienced such cold weather .
3. We rarely start working before 9 in the morning
 • Words we use for negative inversion.

• Never..... / Rarely-Seldom.... / Little.... Under no

circumstances/ On no account

E.G. Little does he know who is waiting for him.

• Phrases we use for negative inversion.

• Hardly/Barely/Scarcely...........when...
• No sooner....................................than...
• Not only........................but...also..............
• On no account........... / Under no circumstances......
• At no time/point...
• On no other day.....
• Only (now, then, occasionally, in the last few days......)

E.G. Under no circumstances must you talk to him about it .

• Now try and correct these sentences (if
they are wrong!)

• At no point we were asked our opinion.

• Little they knew he was a spy.
• Seldom we see each other .
• On no other day would the weather be so
good .
• At no point were we asked our opinion.
• Little did they knew he was a spy.
• Seldom do/did we see each other .
• On no other day would the weather be so
good .(CORRECT)
• If is omitted to sound more formal

• Use the auxilliary verb (be, have, modals) at the

beginning of the sentence

If the sky should be clear tonight, you will see Jupiter.

If I were you, I would watch „The Big Bang Theory“

If she had been outside, she would have seen you.

 • Not until & only
Examples :

• Not until the sun came up did we stop drinking

notice that the auxiliary is in the middle of the sentence.
Why?

• Only in Mataró do they have such traffic

problems .
 Is ‘only’ a negative word?
 • Not until the sun came up did we stop drinking

notice that the auxiliary is in the middle of the sentence. Why?

Because ‘Not until’ first needs a complement .

It cannot stand on its own . So ‘Not until the
sun came up’ is like an adverb – an adverbial phrase.

• Only in Mataró do they have such traffic problems.

 Is ’only’ a negative word?

Well , ‘only’ excludes other possibilities . Only this ,

not that or the other one . So it is , in a sense , negative .
• Join these sentences using the words in
brackets .

• He saw the photographs . He realised

what had happened (Only)
• The police came . She stopped screaming
. (Not until)
• You will give up smoking . You will feel
better . (Not until)
• Only when he saw the photographs did he
realize what had happened
• Not until the police came did she stop
screaming .
• Not until you give up smoking will you feel
better .
• In short answers and other similar
structures using SO, NEITHER, NOR
“I’m a plumber”. “Really? So am I”

• After AS, SO, SUCH

“So late was it that there was no one in the
office”

• In conditional sentences
“Had I known it, I’d have left the room”
Ready are you? What know you of
ready? For eight hundred years have I
trained Jedi. My own counsel will I
keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi
must have the deepest commitment,
the most serious mind. This one a
long time have I watched. All his life
has he looked away... to the future, to
the horizon. Never his mind on where
he was. Hmm? What he was doing.
Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement.
Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.
You are reckless. 

YOUR TASK GIVE SOME ADVICE TO SAVE

AN ANIMAL FROM EXTINCTION TALKING
AS MASTER YODA