Do your texts feel simple and have grammar errors? Want to amp up your formal register in your academic writing and don’t know how? Well, you’re in luck: we’ll be going over the world of inversions!
Get ready to dive head-first into this grammar topic as we talk about its main operations and discuss the different types of inversions we can find, with quotes from famous personalities and writers. Let’s begin!
What Is an Inversion in Grammar?
In a nutshell, inversions cover two grammatical operations:
- They change the normal order of a sentence, which is subject-verb (e.g. “From the ashes rose the phoenix.”)
- They take the main verb and use its question form (e.g. “Not only did taxes fall, but also the inflation rate.”)
Inversions are not something we often hear in oral speech, but they are a great resource for any writer. This phenomenon is either used
- to emphasize a specific part of a sentence;
- to adhere to a formal register; or
- for dramatic purposes.
Different Types of Inversions in English Grammar
Let’s find out what they are and how you can use them.
Inversion after negative adverbs
Never, rarely, and seldom
This type of inversion in grammar features a negative adverb at the beginning of the sentence. A good example is the famous drinking game “Never have I ever,” in which the negative aspect is emphasized by placing the adverb never first.
Alongside rarely and seldom, these three time expressions usually appear with the present perfect or past perfect tenses, or perhaps with modals like can and could. Adverbs such as these can have a comparative meaning. Here are some famous quotes as an example:
“Never have I been frightened by circumstances. A little warmth, a little bread, my little ones with me, and life begins, happiness begins.”
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
“Rarely has reality needed so much to be imagined.”
Chris Marker
“Seldom if ever was knowledge given to keep, but always to impart. The grace of this rich jewel is lost in concealment.”
Bishop Hall
Hardly, barely, scarcely, and no sooner
Other time expressions that we can find in inversions are hardly, barely, scarcely, and no sooner, which are used to talk about a past event that happens right after another one. This second action appears in the second part of the sentence.
Pro tip: hardly, scarcely, and barely are followed by the word when, whereas no sooner is followed by than (this is because sooner is the comparative form of the adverb soon):
“No sooner have you feasted on beauty with your eyes than your mind tells you that beauty is vain and beauty passes.”
Virginia Woolf
Only
On the other hand, some restrictive adverbs that may appear in inversions are the ones headed by only. This word is usually combined with after, then, and when, and is featured in past simple sentences:
“The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature; only then can he see clearly.”
Julian Barnes
“Only when love takes the lead will the earth, and life on earth, be safe again. And not until then.”
Lewis Mumford
“Only after disaster can we be resurrected.”
Chuck Palahniuk
There is one exception to this rule. When only is used to identify an individual and not a moment or a condition, the inversion does not apply:
“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.”
Carol Burnett
No and not
Moving on, there are some fixed phrases that have a negative meaning thanks to the words no and not. These sentences are under no circumstances, on no account, at no time, in no way, on no condition, not until, not only… (but also), among others. Here are some quotes as an example:
“Under no circumstances should you lose hope.”
Dalai Lama
“On no account should you entertain being a victim of your own circumstances. When unexpected failure occurs, you can turn it into success.”
Israelmore Ayivor
“Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.”
Henry David Thoreau
Little
In inversions, little is an adverb that restricts the meaning of the verb:
“Little did I realize that my desire to add value to others would be the thing that added value to me!”
John C. Maxwell
Inversion after so and such + that
Not only do inversions use adverbs to change the order or the elements, but also adjectives. This is the case of so and such when they are the first word of a sentence and when the main verb is be. Here are two quotes that feature such and so:
“Such is life and life is such and after all it isn’t much. First a cradle. Then a hearse. It might have been better, but it could have been worse.”
Norman Wisdom
“So deep and sensitive was his aversion, that he refrained from going anywhere where he was likely to see or hear of Heathcliff.”
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë
Inversion after as
This type of inversion is frequent in a formal register and it usually appears in writing: “I knew the answer, as did my classmates.”
Inversion with neither, nor and so
Inversions such as these appear when commenting on someone else’s remark and it’s a way of “echoing” what the person has said:
- Person 1: “I love coffee.” Person 2: “So do I!”
- Person 1: “I don’t like spinach”. Person 2: “Neither do I.”
Here’s an excerpt from The Star Rover, by Jack London:
“I sharpened the knife on a flat piece of rock, and no barber was ever more careful of his favourite razor than was I of that knife. Nor did ever a miser prize his treasure as did I prize the knife.”
Inversion after expressions of place
Inversions can also be found at the beginning of a sentence when highlighting a specific place:
After expressions of place, the inversion of the subject and the verb (not an auxiliary) is possible when the expression starts the sentence. For example:
- “On that hill stood the knight.”
- “Into the room came the bride.”
Inverted conditional sentences without if
Now, there are many conditional phrases that use inversions either to use a more formal register or to highlight that the condition for something to occur is less likely. What inversions allow is to eliminate the if altogether, and we can divide them depending on the type of conditional we choose.
First conditional
First conditional sentences are used to describe likely future situations. The condition needs to be in the present tense and the result must be in a future tense (e.g. “If I practice my grammar skills, I will be a better writer.”) In order to invert a phrase, all we need to do is replace the if with should as an auxiliary verb and change the existing verb to its bare form, like so: “Should I practice my grammar skills, I will be a better writer”. Here’s a literary example:
“Should you ask me if I’m happy, I’ll answer that I’m not.”
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
You can also use this type of inversion in grammar for polite requests or offers: “Should you change your mind, you can return the gift within a 30-day period.”
Remember that the negative form of an inversion doesn’t allow contractions: “Should I not study, I will fail the exam tomorrow”.
Second conditional
This second type of conditional talks about an unlikely or imaginary event that would have a present or future consequence. These conditionals use if + past simple + would, could, or should + a verb in its bare form (e.g. “If I were rich, I would buy a house.”) To invert the normal order, we need to place the were before the subject and eliminate the if, like so: “Were I rich, I would buy a house.”
Just like with the first conditional, contractions aren’t allowed when inverting these type of sentences, like this example shows:
“Were I not a king, I would be a university man.”
King James I
Now, if we have a phrase that doesn’t have the verb were, we need to use it to replace the if by following this structure: Were + the subject + to + the main verb in the bare form. For instance, the phrase “If I became rich, I wouldn’t work” would be transformed into “Were I to become rich, I wouldn’t work.”
Third conditional
This type of past sentence talks about an event that didn’t happen, with the speaker wondering about the hypothetical consequences if it had actually happened. Its structure is If + past perfect + would, could, or should + past participle.
Inversions with the third conditional aren’t that different from those with the second conditional. The had has to be placed before the subject, and the if needs to be taken out. For instance, “If I had known you were coming, I would have cooked more food” would become “Had I known you were coming, I would have cooked more food.”
Negative contractions are not allowed in inversions with third conditionals as well:
“Had I not created my whole world, I would certainly have died in other people’s.”
Anaïs Nin
Conclusion
Does this grammar topic make you dizzy? Are you ready to start using inversions and to add new layers and possibilities to your written content? Even if they don’t suit your needs and goals right now, mastering them will give you more tools for your writing toolbox.
At Palabra we are experts in the art of academic and creative writing. If there’s a text that needs writing, we are up to the task! Feel free to get in touch with us and inquire about our services.
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