No idea what that is? You might want to study inversions first and do the exercise later. After all, only by studying inversions can you truly see how poetic the English language is.
What are Inversions?
Here’s a subject that’s more complicated to explain than to actually use it. Whe call inversions when we change the usual word order (subject + verb) to (verb + subject) for emphasis, formality, or literary effect. Below, we focus on three important cases:
Infographic
1. Inversion After Negative Expressions
When a sentence begins with negative adverbs such as never, rarely, seldom, little, hardly, no sooner, the subject and auxiliary verb switch places.
| Normal Sentence | Inverted Sentence |
|---|---|
| I have never seen such a beautiful view. | Never have I seen such a beautiful view. |
| He rarely goes to the cinema. | Rarely does he go to the cinema. |
| She little understands the problem. | Little does she understand the problem. |
| They had hardly started when it began to rain. | Hardly had they started when it began to rain. |
| The bus had no sooner left than it broke down. | No sooner had the bus left than it broke down. |
Key Rule: If the sentence has no auxiliary verb, add do/does/did before the subject.
2. Inversion After “Only” Expressions
When a sentence starts with expressions like only after, only when, only then, only by, we use inversion.
| Normal Sentence | Inverted Sentence |
|---|---|
| She realized the truth only after she left. | Only after she left did she realize the truth. |
| I understood my mistake only then. | Only then did I understand my mistake. |
| You can succeed only by working hard. | Only by working hard can you succeed. |
| He called me only when he needed help. | Only when he needed help did he call me. |
Key Rule: Move the “only” phrase to the front and invert the subject and auxiliary verb.
3. Inversion in Conditional Sentences (Without “If”)
We can make conditional sentences more formal by removing “if” and inverting the subject and verb.
| Normal Conditional | Inverted Conditional |
|---|---|
| If I were you, I would accept the job. | Were I you, I would accept the job. |
| If she had studied harder, she would have passed. | Had she studied harder, she would have passed. |
| If they had known the truth, they would have reacted differently. | Had they known the truth, they would have reacted differently. |
| If he had arrived earlier, he would have met her. | Had he arrived earlier, he would have met her. |
Feeling confused on Conditional sentences? Click here.
Key Rule:
- For past conditionals, replace “if” with “Had”.
- For present unreal conditionals, replace “if” with “Were”.
Inversions Exercises
PerfectEnglish | LearnEnglishToday | ESL-Lounge | LearnGrammar | ToLearnEnglish | TestEnglish1 | TestEnglish2 | TestEnglish3 | RandomIdea | OxfordUP | BritishCouncil | UsingEnglish | BusinessEnglish | EnglishRevealed | EnglishPages | GrammarBank | LearnGrammar | LiveWorksheets | Wordwall1 | Wordwall2