EMPHATIC STRUCTURES: INVERSION

dr. Asta Balčiūnaitienė,

Institute of Foreign Languages, VMU
 INVERSION

• Inversion is the displacement of the predicate

(complete inversion) or with the displacement
of secondary members of the sentence (partial
inversion) and their shift into the front,
opening position in the sentence.
• Inversion aims at attaching logical stress or
emotional colouring to the surface meaning of
the utterance.
INVERSION

We can use:
Question word + is/was it + that in questions
Question word + subject + verb + is/was
E.g. Who was it that sent you the flowers?
We can ask emphatic questions with ever expressing admiration,
anger, concern, etc.
E.g. Wherever did you find it? Whatever are you doing there?
In the Present Simple, Past Simple or Imperative we use:
Do/does/did + bare infinitive
E.g. I do like this painting/ I did enjoy the movie
 INVERSION

Inversion is used after the expressions:

Only after, only then…, only when…, only if,
not till/until, not since Hardly/Scarcely…
Rarely…
After so, such, to such a degree (in result
clauses) when they are at the beginning of a
sentence
e.g. So careful is he.
With should , were, had in conditionals when if is
omitted
 INVERSION

• Type 1: Should you see him,

• Type 2: Were I you,
• Type 3: Had it been up to me,
• After so, neither, nor when expressing
agreement
E.g. I enjoy romantic films. So do I.
She hasn’t returned the call. Neither/nor has her
husband.
 INVERSION

• The subject and the main verb are usually

inverted in the following structures:
After adverbs of place
E.g. Here comes the bride! Away he ran!
In Direct Speech when reporting verb comes after
the quote and the subject is a noun.
E.g. “I’ve never seen him”, said Justa.
 INVERSION
• Not until you can believe,
• Never have I heard,
• No sooner had the movie started than,
• Not only did you forget to do sth,
• Only then was I able to relax,
• Only when you leave home do you realize,
• Hardly had I sat down when/before,
• Rarely have I met a more talented artist,
• Not only is the play great.
 INVERSION

The following patterns of stylistic inversion are most

frequently met:
1)The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence:
Talent Mr. Micamber has. Capital Mr. Micamber has not.
Verbs has and has not get a fuller volume of stress than
they would in uninverted word order.
2) The attribute is placed after the word it modifies. This
model is used when there is more than one attribute:
With ideas strange and funny.
3) The predicative precedes the subject:
A good prayer it was.
 INVERSION

4)The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning

of the sentence:
Eagerly I wished holidays.
My dearest, at your feet I fall.
5) In went Mr. Pickwick. Down dropped the breeze.
 Rewrite the sentences making them more emphatic

1. I didn’t realize my mistake until later.

Not until…
2. We had never seen such a good movie.
Never…
3. They not only disliked her, but also hated her dog.
Not only ….
4. We only understood what they had really suffered when we watched
the film “Poor things”.
Only when …
5. We had just started to eat when we heard a knock on the door.
Hardly …
Rewrite the sentences making them more emphatic

6. I have rarely read such a badly written novel.

Rarely…
7. Until you have tried to write a novel yourself, you don’t realize
how hard it is.
Not until…
8. The hotel was dirty, and it was cold as well.
Not only…
9. We only light the fire when it is cold.
Only when
10. Shortly after he had gone to sleep, the phone rang.
No sooner…
Rewrite the sentences making them more emphatic

11. I only realized the full scale of the disaster when I watched
the news.
I watched the news. Only then …
12.He has never regretted the decision he took on that day.
Never…
13. I spoke to the manager and the problem was solved.
Only when…
14. He had scarcely had time to destroy the evidence before the
police arrived.
Scarcely ….