INVERSION - created from Mind Map

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Inversion just means putting the verb before the subject.

We usually do it in question forms

We have two verb tenses, in which we only change the places of the verb and the subject:

When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of the sentence.

We can use inversion instead of 'if' in conditionals with 'had' 'were' and 'should'. This is quite formal:

We can use inversion if we put an adverbial expression of place at the beginning on the sentence. This is also quite formal or literary:

We can use inversion after 'so + adjective...that':

Question form:

ARE YOU CRYING?

(The verb 'are' is before the subject 'you'. They have changed places. This is called INVERSION.)

Present simple with 'be': am I / are you / is he Past simple with 'be': were you / was she

With other verbs tenses, we change the place of the subject and the auxiliary verb (the first auxiliary verb if there is more than one). We don't move the other parts of the verb:

Present continuous ---> am I going / are you going

Past perfect ---> had you gone

Past continuous ---> was he going / were they going

Present perfect ---> have we gone / has she gone

Present perfect continuous ---> has she been going / have they been going

Future perfect continuous ---> will she have been going

Past perfect continuous ---> had he been going

Future simple ---> will they go

Future continuous ---> will you be going

Future perfect ---> will they have gone

Modal verbs: should I go / would you go

Usually, we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence to emphasise what we're saying.

Hardly ---> Hardly had I got into bed when the telephone rang.

Never ---> Never had she seen such a beautiful sight before.

Only then ---> Only then did I understand why the tragedy had happened.

Seldom ---> Seldom do we see such an amazing display of dance.

Rarely ---> Rarely will you hear such beautiful music.

Not only ... but ---> Not only does he love chocolate and sweets, but he also smokes.

No sooner ---> No sooner had we arrived home than the police rang the doorbell.

Scarcely ---> Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the back of a car.

Only later Only later did she really think about the situation.

° Normal conditional: If I had been there, this problem wouldn't have happened. ° Conditional with inversion: Had I been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.

On the table was all the money we had lost. (Normal sentence: All the money we had lost was on the table.) Round the corner came the knights. (Normal sentence: The knights came round the corner.)

So beautiful was the girl that nobody could talk of anything else. (Normal sentence: the girl was so beautiful that nobody could talk of anything else.) So delicious was the food that we ate every last bite. (Normal sentence: the food was so delicious that we ate every last bite.)