Now you know how you make a question in English. For example you have a sentence
such as you "can ride a horse" and you want to make it into a question, all you
do is to take the pronoun you and the modal auxiliary verb CAN and swap them
around. "can you ride a horse?" That's easy "You have got a chocolate doughnut" switch
the pronoun and the modal auxiliary verb and you get, "have you got a chocolate
doughnut?" easy! But you knew that already didn't you?
And if there is no modal or auxiliary you add DO. "You like unicorns" becomes
"Do you like unicorns?" very easy, but did you know that this swapping around thing
we do we don't do just for questions and did you know that this swapping around
thing is called inversion. That's right inversion let's look at a
few more cases of when we use it. Stay tuned
Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk and today we're going to talk about
inversion. When you start a sentence with some negative phrases, when you want to
sound more dramatic or emphatic you use inversion let's look at a few cases. NOT
ONLY "Not only are you brilliant but you also beautiful"
Remember it's not "not only you are" but "not only are you" because of inversion.
"Not only was grandma a great pianist she also spoke Latin" correct my sentence;
"not only she is rich she is also nice"
that's right, "not only IS SHE rich she is also nice" correct my sentence; "not only
he speaks Chinese but also Japanese" no modal verb there so just like in a
question we add the verb DO in the third person so it becomes; "not only does he speak
Chinese but also Japanese." Remember if the verb is the same in the second part
of the sentence you don't need to repeat the verb a second time. So for example;
"Not only will I be here tomorrow but also next week" you could say; "not only
will I be here tomorrow but I will also be here next week" but, as I said, it's not
necessary to use WILL twice. By the way we have a video just on this subject of
NOT ONLY linke up here somewhere. Here are a few more phrases that use
inversion when they begin a sentence. "NEVER have I been so insulted" Can you
say "I have never been so insulted" Yes you can but using inversion gives it
some more oomph! and it shows an element of surprise "Never have I been so
insulted", Never have I've been so surprised as when I
saw your mother kissing Prince Harry."
After NOT ONCE "not once have you told me the truth." "You haven't once told me the
truth." That's perfectly but to add drama start the sentence we've NOT ONCE
"not once did you tell me the truth." Can you rewrite this sentence with INVERSION
"You didn't help me, not once" that's right "Not once did you help me" remember in
this and other negative sentences with inversion, inversion only applies when
you start the sentence with the negative phrase and not if it's within the phrase
so you say "You haven't once told me the truth" no inversion but "not once have you
told me the truth." "He is not only brilliant but also handsome" No inversion
but "not only is he brilliant but also handsome" NO SOONER "no sooner had I
arrived than he told me I was fired" NO WAY "No way am I going to eat those frog
legs I know your mother made them for me. I don't care" Can you make this
sentence using inversion "I won't let you borrow my car, no way" You got it "No way
will I let you borrow my car" well done brilliant
LITTLE DID I KNOW
LITTLE DID I KNOW or LITTLE DID YOU KNOW this is an interesting phrase and
again use it for dramatic effect but it doesn't mean you know a little it means
you know nothing. Nothing. "Little did I know that the murderer was sitting
opposite me on the train." "Little did she know that her life was about to be
turned upside down."
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES. "Under no circumstances
will you be allowed to enter the building site without a hard hat"
you might also find the version after these expressions: RARELY, BARELY
HARDLY, SCARCELY and SELDOM they are quite literally and not that common so I
won't be using them in this video but if you're reading, especially literature or
listening to a formal conversation do look out for them.
Next you use inversion
after neither and nor in two ways firstly with short replies when you
agree with a negative "I don't like aggressive people"
-neither do I (or nor do I)
I mustn't eat too many cakes
- nor must I/ neither must I
Also when nor on either introduces a second negative in a sentence let's have a look.
that's an example of that. "My friend doesn't like flying and neither do I" or
"nor do I" "I'm not here tomorrow and nor are you" Can you rewrite the sentence
using NEITHER or NOR. "John has never been to pakistan and his wife has never been
to Pakistan" quite a clumsy sentence so what do you think "John has never been to
Pakistan and nor has his wife." That's right
inversion works in the same way
after SO in short answers
"You like Korean pop music
- so do I"
and in sentences with two affirmatives
"Johnson will go to prison for the crime and so will Perkins."
"Doris is a vegetarian and so am I."
Now after some words that express surprise we use inversion
"Wow Is he clever." it's not a question it looks like a question by it's not, it's an
exclamation. "Boy! Am I tired", "Man! Do you look sick" again it's not a question. I'm
not asking if you're sick I'm telling you you're sick. I'm shocked by it. I'm using
the dramatic effect of inversion.
"Bloody hell! Is this difficult."
"Blimey! Am I tired"
"Oh my god! have I done something stupid."
now it's your turn.
"Phew it is hot today" with inversion:
"Phew is it hot today." Very good
Finally you
can use a new version with the first second and third conditionals when you
use another word instead of IF to make the conditional the first conditional
you can you SHOULD although this is very formal "if you see Jane on the high
street give her a kiss" so just replace the IF with SHOULD "Should you see Jane
on the high street then give her a kiss." You can use it it's a bit formal
but you can use it for the second conditional replace IF pronoun/noun WERE with
WERE pronoun without the IF.
"If grandma were alive today she would love BTS"
that becomes "were grandma like today she would love BTS."
Again this is very formal.
not so common but if you want to use it please do so. Personally I prefer to use the IF
version. Finally, the third conditional you can replace IF noun/pronoun HAD with
HAD noun/pronoun. For example.
"If I'd known you were coming I would have baked a cake,"
becomes, "Had I known you were coming I would have baked a cake."
Now unlike the first and second conditional examples this HAD I is used fairly often in everyday
conversation. Can you change this sentence to start to it with HAD
"If you had arrived one minute later you would have missed the train."
your turn. "Had you arrived one minute later you
would have missed the Train."