Learn Inversion in 5 Minutes (Advanced English Grammar)

never have i made a video lesson about advanced english grammar until today if you're an advanced english learner or teacher then you need to know this today not only am i going to show you how to add more emphasis to the things you say but i will also show you how to sound more formal and i will show you how to do that using inversion first of all what in the world is inversion inversion simply means putting the verb before the subject we normally do this in question form let's have a look a normal sentence you are crazy my subject is you my verb is are okay you are crazy in a question form it would be are you crazy are you crazy my verb is r my subject is you the only difference is that in a normal sentence the subject is first then the verb okay and in an inversion or in this case a question that's the verb is first and then the subject got it and if there are two verbs in a sentence for example when a verb tense has an auxiliary verb we move the first verb for example you have been to china have you been to china we have two verbs have and been okay what you're going to do is move the first verb which is the auxiliary verb have move it before the subject have you been to china so we normally use inversion in questions but we can also use inversion to add emphasis to what we are saying add drama to what we are saying and to sound more formal take a look at these two sentences never have i seen such a beautiful sunset before i have never seen such a beautiful sunset before listen to them again never have i seen such a beautiful sunset before i have never seen such a beautiful sunset before which sentence sounds more emphasized and formal the first one right well in the first sentence never is in the beginning of the sentence so we use inversion this sentence emphasizes how beautiful the sunset is and in the second sentence never is in its normal place so we don't use inversion this is a normal sentence with no special emphasis the general formula for inversion is adverb plus auxiliary verb plus subject plus main verb all right let's compare the formula to our inversion up here never adverb have auxiliary verb i subject and seeing the main verb now let's look at these next two sentences number two rarely do i see bees these days rarely do i see bees these days what tense is this the simple present right so for inversion in the simple present we use the auxiliary do or does and the main verb has to be in infinitive form rarely do i see rarely do i watch rarely do i cook rarely does she cook rarely does he cook okay do or does main verb in infinity form all right now number three rarely did i see bees those days rarely did i see bees those days what tense is this the simple past right now for the simple past we use the auxiliary did and the ver the main verb is an infinitive form as well so for the simple past did and infinitive form for the main verb rarely did i see bees those days rarely did we see bees those days rarely did she see bees those days got it now for inversion we don't just use any kind of adverb we usually use negative adverbs or limiting adverbs and the inversion usually happens at the beginning of the sentence here's a list of the most common adverbs used for inversion at the beginning of the sentence hardly never seldom rarely only then not only but no sooner scarcely only later nowhere little only in this way in no way on no account now i have a challenge for you in the comments i want you to transform this sentence using inversion to make it sound more formal and emphasized this is the sentence i seldom go to sleep early i seldom go to sleep early can you transform it i'll be checking it out good luck

Channel: English With Fernando

Views: 7,388

Keywords: Learn English, advanced English grammar, Inversion, C1 English, Little did he know, aprende inglés en casa, Inglés paso a paso, fernando Gatica

Id: ZfkKD1pUHiU

Length: 5min 33sec (333 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 21 2020