ADVANCED GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES FOR ESSAYS

❗️to be tailored according to topic

Conditionals with inversions instead of "If.."

Were the government to ...., we would ......
Were environmentally-friendly measures to be voted globally, we might witness a resurgence
of...
Had television not been invented, economic growth would have been slower.
Had the police implemented the law more strictly, fewer people would now be disabled.
Had this matter been brought to the public attention several decades ago, the damaging effects
of.....might not have been so prevalent.

Participle phrases and gerunds up front:

Having been released from prison, many people subsequently re-offend
Burning plastics produces dioxins.
Reducing the retirement age would create significant difficulties for pension funds.
Having been bullied at school, numerous teens understand how psychologically damaging this
can be.

Cleft sentences
What ecologists object to is ......
What many people would like to see is...
It is the ........ that civil society objects to.

Inversions
Not only are landfill sites unsightly but they are also a source of pollution.
Not only should this .... be discussed openly, but also it needs to...
Rarely do we see our political leaders riding bikes?

Passives
It is often forgotten that ...........
...... is considered to be ........
Juvenile delinquency has been attributed to .....
.....has been linked with .....
The conclusion to be drawn is that ........
The matter to be discussed is not only......but also...

The advanced use of 'so& such'

This is so grave an issue that ........
Such is the impact of .... that numerous individuals/ places are nowadays bearing the brunt of
the snowball effect lack of interest/ involvement has brought upon them.
How to write inverted conditionals
➡ ️Inverted conditionals contain inversion instead of if. Inversion means that we reverse the
order of the verb and the subject. This technique is typically seen in more formal contexts.

Inversion in the 1️⃣st conditional

✏ ️To invert sentences in the first conditional, we place the auxiliary should before the subject,
followed by the infinitive of the main verb: should + subject + infinitive
E.g. Should you book with us again, we will provide you with a 3% discount.
= If you book with us again, …

Inversion in the 2️⃣and conditional

❗️Generally speaking, it is uncommon to use inversion in second conditional sentences. 💡
Inverted second conditional if-clauses are often restricted to formal, written English.
💡In second conditionals, inversion is used to rewrite if-clauses that contain the verb be.
Use the structure were + subject
E.g. Were this my house, I would be ashamed of the mess!
= If this were my house, …
➡ ️When the if-clause refers to an unlikely future event, we use the inversion were + subject +
to + infinitive. We can use this structure with verbs other than being.
E.g. Were I to leave a review one day, it would be 1 star!
= If I left a review, … (at some point in the future)

Inversion in the 3️⃣rd conditional

✏ ️To invert third conditional if-clauses, use the structure had + subject + past participle
E.g. Had we known about the bed bug infestation, we never would have given you that room.
= If we had known about the bed bug infestation, …
❗️Do not use contractions in negative inverted conditionals.
E.g. Had the hotel not been so awful, I would have enjoyed myself.
not: Hadn’t the hotel been so awful, …