Inversion

Usually, we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence to emphasise

what we're saying. It makes our sentence sound surprising or striking or unusual.
It also sounds quite formal.
Ex.: - Jamie had never imagined that he would find himself in such a
situation.
- Never had Jamie imagined that he would find himself in such a
situation.
 Here are some negative adverbs and adverb phrases that we often
use with inversion:
1-Hardly: Hardly had I got into bed when the telephone rang.

2-Never: Never had she seen such a beautiful sight before.

3- Rarely: Rarely will you hear such beautiful music.
4- Only then: Only then did I understand why the tragedy had
happened.
5- Not only ... but: Not only does he love chocolate and sweets, but he also
smokes.
6- No sooner: No sooner had we arrived home than the police rang the
doorbell.
7- Scarcely: Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the back of a car.
8- Only later: Only later did she really think about the situation.

 In the following expressions, the inversion comes in the second part of

the sentence:
9- Not until: Not until I saw John with my own eyes did I really believe he was
safe.
10- Not since: Not since Lucy left college had she had such a wonderful time.
11- Only after: Only after I'd seen her flat did I understand why she wanted
to live there.
12- Only when: Only when we'd all arrived home did I feel calm.
  We can use inversion instead of 'if' in conditionals with 'had' 'were'
and 'should'. This is quite formal:
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.
Normal conditional: If we had arrived sooner, we could have prevented this
tragedy!
Conditional with inversion: Had we arrived sooner, we could have prevented this
tragedy!
 We can use inversion if we put an adverbial expression of place at the
beginning on the sentence.
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.)
 We can use inversion after 'so + adjective...that':
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.)
** Look at the following "skeleton' sentences and, using the appropriate
tenses, write a complete sentence from each skeleton as in the example,
Then rewrite each sentence beginning with the word(s) in bold type:
Eg: I/ no sooner / sit down / my seat | curtain rise / play begin
*I had no sooner sat down in my seat than the curtain rose and the play
began.
*No sooner had I sat down in my seat than the curtain rose and the
play began.

1- Lights / be / Rarely / on / in / museum / midnight, / so I / realise /

something strange / happen / that night
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2- It / be / Not Until / he / tell / Linda / his name / she / recognise / Eric,

/ who / use / be / school-friend / hers
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3 -Rollercoaster / No sooner / start / move / I know /I make / terrible
mistake / by / agree / get on
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4- Cathy's front door / Not only / stand wide open / when she / get /
home, / but /lock/ be /also / broken
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5 -We / Seldom / use / enjoy / visit / my grandparents / when I / be /
child because / they / be / often / strict / us
………………………………………………………………………………………………………