![]() Not only was the car slow, it was also very uncomfortable. Only when the plane landed safely did he calm down. Only after the meeting did I realise the importance of the subject. NB: hardly, scarcely and barely are followed by when no sooner is followed by than.Īfter adverbial expressions beginning with 'only' and 'not only’ No sooner had I arrived than they all started to argue. Scarcely had we started our meal when the phone rang. Hardly had I begun to speak when I was interrupted. Little did he imagine how dangerous it would be.Īfter 'hardly', 'scarcely', 'barely', 'no sooner', when one thing happens after another Seldom have I seen such a beautiful view. Not until I heard my name did I believe I had won the race.Īfter 'seldom', 'rarely', 'never', and 'little' ![]() Under no circumstances can we accept credit cards. I can put a few below for you.Īfter negative adverbial expressions, especially those containing ‘no’ It's an unusual form which we most often use when the adjective describes our reaction and we use a comparative or superlative form, or else use 'so. This is an example of inversion using an adjective to begin the sentence. The fact that the collision between the robot Land Rover and the Tahoe was the only scrape in the entire competition was even more striking. The non-inverted word order would be something like this: Yes, there is inversion in this sentence. This sounds quite formal.ĭo this exercise to test your grammar again. In British English, do can also be used this way to make a command more emphatic. (You thought I didn't like it.)ī: That does make sense, actually. This works in both spoken and written English.Ī: I know you weren't keen on the exhibition.ī: I did like some of it. If there is no auxiliary verb, we can use do, does or did to add emphasis. In spoken English, we often stress the auxiliary verb to add emphasis.Ī: Why aren't you coming to my birthday party? Not a single positive comment did I hear from Will. No sooner had we got inside than the concert ended! (I didn't realise that the restaurant was about to close.) Little did I realise that the restaurant was about to close. Some other negative words and expressions used like this are little, no sooner, never and not. (They not only have live reptiles but you can also touch them.) Little, no sooner and not Not only do they have live reptiles but you can also touch them. If there is no auxiliary verb, we need to add one. (I have rarely read such an original story.) Rarely have I read such an original story. never, rarely, not only, etc.) at the beginning and change the normal position of the subject and the auxiliary verb. To invert a sentence, we put the adverbial (e.g. It has a more formal, persuasive and impressive effect. We can also use inversion to add emphasis. The game we played was what I liked the most. We can also put the what clause at the end of the sentence. How the kids did this is still unclear to me. This kind of cleft sentence can also begin with where, why, who, how, etc. What I found was that the films my friends liked were very different from the ones I liked. What drives me up the wall is people talking during the film. What I like best about going to the cinema is talking about the film afterwards. They emphasise the part of the sentence that is outside the what clause. What clauses + be are common in spoken English. It was the party that you invited me to yesterday.Įmphasis: the party (not another event) Cleft sentences beginning with what It was yesterday that you invited me to the party. It was you who invited me to the party yesterday. We can emphasise different elements of this sentence by 'fronting' them, that is, moving them to the front of the sentence after it + be. Here is a simple sentence with no particular emphasis. Cleft sentences are usually introduced by it or by a clause beginning with what. Cleft sentencesĬleft sentences allow us to emphasise different parts of the sentence, depending on which part is the most important. We can use different grammatical structures to add emphasis, either to a whole sentence or to highlight one particular part of it. I know it may surprise you, but I really do know quite a bit about this. Not only did she sing at the talent show, she also danced! What he loves about hiking is that it doesn't feel like exercise. ![]() Look at these examples to see how we use these structures.
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