Grammar Inversion and Fronting

8/12/2019 Grammar Inversion and Fronting

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inversion n frontinginversionThis involves using question word order after an adverbial wit h a negative or restrictive meaningcomes at the beginning of the sentence. These structures are normally only used in formai speech andwriting. Note that all of these adverbials can be used without inversion if they come in the normaiposition. never

I have never seen a more obvious case of cheating normai positionNever have I seen more obvious case of cheating

rarelyRarely does such rare painting come on the market.

seldomSeldom has scientific discovery had such an impact.

No sooner thanNo sooner had I shut the door than I realized I had left my keys inside.

Hardly ... whenHardly had the play started when there was disturbance in the audience.

Scarcely when than)Scarcely had they entered the cast/e when there was huge explosion.

Onlyafter, only when, only later, only then, onlyOnly Jane managed to finish the project on time. no inversionOnly in a city as large as this can you find sa many foreign restaurants.On/y after we had /eft the ship did we realize that the captain had remained.

On no condition, under no circumstances, on no account, at no time, in no wayUnder no circumstances is this door to be left unlocked.

Not untilNot until he stopped to rest did Jack realize that he had been wounded.Not until the building had been made safe co u/d anyone go back inside.

Not only but alsoNot only did he Jose alI the money, but he a/so found himself in debt.

LittleLittle did anyone suspect what was about to happen.

No sooner had I shut the door than I realized Ihad lef/; my keys inside.

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frontingT his in volves pu tting first a clause n ot n orm ally a t th e b egin ning o f the se nte nce. It m aya iso invo lvep uttin g th e verb in a n inve rte d p osition. R elative cla uses ca n be p laced first w hen they no rm ally follow ne gative ve rb s of un dersta nding ,

kn ow in g, etc. T his is no rm ally a spo ken fo rm .I h ave no idea who he iso Who he is, I have no idea.I really don t know what you mean. What you mean, I really don t know

Here, there, back, out, up, down, on, oft etc ca n be gin a sen tence or a clause , fo lio we d by a verb.Th is is usua lly come or go . The sen tence is o ften an exc lamation.A messenger came back with the answer. Back came messe ng er w ith th e a nswe r.H ere com es the rain O ut w ent the lightsDown went the ship to the bottom of the sea.As we were walking home, down came the rain, and we had to run for it.

In the sam e way, an adverbia I phrase can begin a sentence or a c1ause,folIow ed by a verb. This kindo f s en te nc e is c ommon in lite ra ry w ritin g.A group of armed men came along the street.Along the street came group of arm ed m en.While w were waiting to see what would happen next along the street came group of arm ed m en,w aving their guns in the air and shouting.Up the hill went the bus, creaking and groaning.Through the window jumped maske d man .

condit ional sentences as, though with may , m ig ht

It m ay sound unlikely, but it s true.Un/ikely as it may sound, it s trueT he car m ay be cheap, but it s in terrible condition.Cheap though the car m ay be, it s in terrible condition.

tryas (som eone) m ightT his con stru ction is use d to m ean tha t a lthou gh so meo ne trie d h ard, th ey co uldn t succe ed in w ha tthey were trying to do.She tried hard, but couldn t m ove the w ardrobe.Try as she m ight, she couldn t m ove the wardrobe.Try as he m ight, he couldn t pass his driving test.

were, ha d, should condit ional sentencesT hese a re high ly fo rm a , an d om it if , putting the auxiliary at the beginning of the sentence.If the governm ent w ere to resign, the situation m ight be resolved.W ere th e g ov ernm ent to res ign , the situa tio n m igh t be reso lve d.If proper m easures had been taken, this situation w ould not have occurred.Had proper m easures been taken, this situation would not have occurred.If an outb re ak o f fiu s ho uld tak e plac e, s pec ial m eas ures w ill b e in trod uc ed ..Should an outbreak of fIu take place, special m easures will be introduced.


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1 Underline the best w ord ar phrasea N ot only Rarely do you see top-rate cam eras which are also easy to use.b Should Were the strike go ahead, it could severely dam age the company.c Never I have seen Never have I seen su ch a dram atic end to a football m atch.d W hat he is talking about W hat is he talking about I have no idea.e Gnly the two members of the French team managed did they m an age to finish the race.t As it may seem strange /Strange as it may seem he is actually one of the richest men in the worldg Hardly had the train pulled out of the station when than there w as a loud screeching sound.h Suddenly, ran into the room into the room ran a huge dog.

Had we known Had we to have known in advance, we could have done som ething about it.j Not until the w reckage had been exam ined could wa s terro rism be ru led ou t.k Hardly Little did I know that it would be another three years before I saw her again.I Should Were the alarm to ring, leave the build ing immed iately.

2 C hoo se th e b est op tion A B a r C to com ple te the sen te ncea c:: how serious the situation w as.b Just as the players took their place s on the court, ..c my bag I really can t remember.d , everyone would probably have escaped from the building.e At no time on the pIane in any danger.t second thoughts, don t hesitate to phone m e.g Strange , I actually enjoy working underground.h Jane the train but aIso lost her luggage.

, w e m ight consider m aking another offer.j Without warning, onto the stage brandishing a knife.k Suddenly the sky went dark, and the rain.I is this piece of equipm ent to be rem oved from the building.a A L ittle anyone d id rea lizeb A did the rain pour downc A W here I ve leftd A Had it not been locked the fire doore A w er e t he p as se ng er st A Should have youg A as does it soundh A not only did she miss

A W ere it the situation to changej A did jump a mank A there dow n cam eI A O n no account

B L it tl e r ea li ze d a ny on eB dow n poured the rain.B W here have I leftB H ad not been locked the fire doorB th e p asse ng ers w ereB Should you haveB sound though it isB not only m issedB W ere a change in the situationB jumped a manB cam e downB Hardly

C L ittle did anyone rea lizeC did pour down the rainC W here left IC H ad the fire door not been lockedC w ere th ey th e p asse ng ersC Should you hadC as it may soundC not only did missC W ere the situation to changeC did a man jumpC down cam eC Rarely


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3 W rite a new sentence w ith the sam e m eaning, containing the w ord in capitals.a If w e took no action the situation w ould only becom e w orse.

/A,le.re.,we.,.. lo .lekec l \ .o? lc ,l iQ l 1 ., lhe .,Hs il?lel io l 1 .wouIJQ l 1 .I 1Qe.,c.ol 1, l.e. ,woCSe., ,b A m em ber of the governm ent rareIy adm its to m aking a serious m istake.

c Y ou a re not to Ieave this om u nd er a ny c ir cu m sta nc es .d The police only ater reveaIed the true identity of the thief.e A Ithough A ndrew tried hard he couldn t pass his driving test.f If you d consulted m e at the outset I could have given you the right advice.g If you offered m e a high er salary I w ould take the job.h If th e w eath er w orsen s th e m atc h w ill p ro bab Iy b e c an celle d.

It w as only after checking the accounts that they realized m oney w as m issing.The breach of security has not affected the exam ination results in any w ay.

4 Complete the text using one word in each gap.

W E R E

DOES

N ODI D

MIGHT

HA D

W E R E

SHOULD

DI D

Last yeat; we visited Brazil and saw the carnival in Rio. Strangeas it may aS~~t: A. H we just hadn t thought of visiting Brazilbefore, and we couldn t believe how fantastic it was. Rio is a greatcity, and it s sometimes hard to believe it s real W e really enjoyedthe carnival. W e had booked some events before we arrived, andb.. ... did we realize how lucky we were to have tickets forthe Samba show. No c had we taken our seats, thanthe show began. d .. . the stage came groups of dancers,one after the othet; for hours That was exhausting but there wasmore to come. N ot e ..H we stood and watched the carnivalparade did we realize how m any people were taking part Alongthe s treet f .. .HH dancers and m usicians, and everyoneclapped and cheered. g anyone told me I would endup dancing in the street ali night, I wouldn t have believed themThere were such amazing costumes and floats. h .. ..H in acity as diverse as this, could you see 50 m any u nu sua l sigh ts. Ne ve r

HHHHHHHHH have imagined what an amazing sight it would be.Only j we finally got home and looked at ali our photosk HHwe realize how incredible our holiday in Brazil hadbeen.I.HHHH anyone should want to go any where else for aholiday, I really don t know


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5 Complete the sentence sa that it means the same as the first sentence.a Twa armed policeman ran in to the room.

In tolJ1,e, ..rQQf Ana~lwQ.a~~dpQIic,e,f Ae,l l.b You can only really enjoy the view on a elear day like today.

Oniy ..c If the ship collided with an iceberg, the passengers would be in no danger.

Should ..d The case may be unusual, but such cases are not completely unheard of.

Unusual ..e Suddenly it started raining.

Suddenly down ..f govemment has rarely acted with such blat ant dishonesty.

Rarely ..g If you asked me again, I would give you the same answer as before.

Were ..h I have no idea what the matter iso

What ..If we had realized that the hurricane would hit the city, we would have evacuated theresidents in advance.Had ..Nobody had any suspicion that the police inspector was the murderer.Little ..

k The theft was only discovered when the accounts were checked.Oniy ..Paula had no sooner shut the door than she realized she had left her key inside.No saoner ..

6 Put one suitable word in each space.a Rarely ..clq we find students who are willing to think for themselves.b in the polar regions does the temperature fall to such a low level.eLittle .. anyone suppose that Mrs Robertson was an enemy agent.d Scarcely.. . everyone left the building when there was a huge explosion.e Seldom.. . so many people voted for such an unlikely candidate.f Not until doctors examined Brian later .. .... ..anyone realize that he had been shot.g No sooner had we reached the bottom of the mountain .... it starte d snowing

heavily.h ... no circumstances are bags to be taken into the libr ary.

Oniy.... the airline official checked again did she realize I had been given thewrong ticket.Not only did Harrison break into the house, .. he aIso attacked one of theoccupants.

k Never there be en a better time to buy a new car.I Not oniy she finish the test before the others in the elass, but she also got the

best marko


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7 Choose the best option A B or C for each gap.dysseus and the irensBefore the ship cam e to the island of the Sirens O dysseus ordered his m en to plug their earsw ith w ax and tie him to the m ast. U nder no circum stances a J3HH c ut m e f re e w h ate ve rhappens; he told them . b w e are elear of the island m ust I be set free: CH he didthis w as very sim ple. T he Sirens lured sailors to their deaths by their beautiful singing.d all the sailors to hear their songs they w ould lose their w ill to continue on theirjourney. O dysseus w anted to hear the beautiful singing but he w anted to survive Soon e .Happeared the island of the Sirens. The w om en w ere sitting on a bank of flow ers holding outtheir arm s to the ship and singing. N o sooner f them than O dysseus b ecam e m ad w ithlonging. g not been tied to the m ast he w ould have leapt into the w ater and sw um tothe shore. h he m ight he couldn t persuade his m en to untie him . Past the islandi the crew pulling at the oars. j the singing of the Sirens had died aw ay and theisland had passed out of sight did O dysseus regain his proper senses. H is m en untied himand they continued on their voyage

. . EXTENSION TIVITY

a you willb A Only a fte rC A Littled A Weree A than he had expectedf A he hea rd9 A Was heh A Try as

A did they wentA Not un til

B are you toB Not onlyB T yasBlfB had itB had he heardB Did heBlfB went the shipBln no way

C do youC NeverCWhyC ShouldC out of the mistC was he hearing themCHad heC Only a fte rC go Odysseus and his menC No sooner than

A W rite som e exam ples beginning:W ere m y c ou ntry Sho uld g lo ba l w arm ing ad I known


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Grammar Inversion and Fronting