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Inversion - Be3

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17 views2 pages

Inversion - Be3

Uploaded by

patrik.brajan1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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INVERSION

No sooner has he hung up than Bill drops by his office


When the following words and phrases begin a sentence, the subject and verb are inverted.
under no circumstances no sooner at no time not until hardly scarcely
rarely seldom never (before) only little
Study the following pairs of sentences.
1. a) You should not smoke in this area under any circumstances.
b) Under no circumstances should you smoke in this area.
2. a) The company has never had such a successful year.
b) Never has the company had such a successful year.
Note that the second sentence of each pair is more emphatic than the first and that the subject
and auxiliary verb are inverted. Inversion is used mainly in formal English.
A. Look at the following sentences and decide whether they are correct on not.
Make the necessary changes if needed.
He isn’t qualified to give you advice, and neither I am.
Not until I got home did I realise that I’d left the cooker on.
Until you are told to, under no circumstances you should hit this button.
Little she realised that what she was predicting was her own death.
No sooner I had started work than the company went bankrupt.
We never would have survived it had not been for the help of a dolphin.
Never had I felt so short until I went to the Netherlands.
Not only he quit at a busy time but he persuaded two others to come with him.
So idiotic was his suggestion that everyone started laughing.
Only after he had checked the cleanliness of our hands we could start eating.
At no time should you moke while you are pregnant.
Please feel free to phone me you should have any problems.
We had to wait twice as long as usual, such the length of the queue was.
Hardly had I got to grips with the new job when I was transferred again.
On no account you can have a party in this house, even if no boys come.
I had not been warned of what was coming, I would have been terrified.
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2020
B.Make all the changes and additions necessary to produce correct sentences from the
following sets of words and phrases.
e.g. No sooner/I start/write/report/someone/telephoned/me.
No sooner had I started to write the report when someone telephoned me.

1 Hardly/I finish/phone/my boss/drop into/my


office. ..............................................................................................
2 Under no circumstances/manager/rely on/
memory/log/time. ...............................................................................................
3 Not until/two years
ago/company/begin/make/profits. ...............................................................................................
4 Only/after three hours’ negotiations/we succeed/reach agreement/the final
contract. ...............................................................................................
5 Rarely/our company/fail/meet/delivery dates.
..............................................................................................
C. Put the following words in the correct order, so as to make correct sentences. Begin
each sentence with the word underlined.
e.g. have efficient I met a more rarely manager.
Rarely have I met a more efficient manager.

1. been seldom after so I meeting have tired


a ...............................................................................................
2. I my office sooner no in arrive rang did telephone the
than ...............................................................................................
3. distributed no I be must circumstances
under ...............................................................................................
4. on did a only of lot the market put research after they the
product ...............................................................................................
5. any to relax does she rarely have
time ...............................................................................................
6. 1986 not factory our able to until were we buy
own ...............................................................................................
7. little redundant that soon he be made he realise does
will ................................................................................................
8. by boss dropped my hardly report started had the I
when ................................................................................................

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