- lANGUAGEGRAMMARATWORK
INVERTED WORD ORDER
WannweichtmaninenglischenAussagesätzenvonderOblichenSatzstellungab?ANNAHOCHSlEDERerklärt.i hili!,,'Ward orderin positivestatements
As you willhave learnedinone ofyourearliestEnglish
lessons,thetypicalwordorder inaffirmative("positive")
statementsissubjed- verb-objectInsentencesbegin-
ningwithanadverbial,however,sUbjectandverbsomelimes
switchplaees:theyare"inverted~.Subject-auxiliaryinversion
Insenteneesbeginningwithanadverbialthathasa nega-
tivemeaning,thesubjectfollowstheauxiliaryverb.Asin
questionsandnegatedsentences,a formof"do"is insert-
edifanauxiliaryverbisnotaJreadypresent:- littledidI knowthattheyhadalreadymadeadeeision.
- Hardlyhadheleft,whentherewasanurgentphoneeall.
- NeverwasI morenervousthanonmyfirstdayatwork.
Thispatternis usedforemphasisandisnormallyfoundonly
informal,writtenEnglish.Ininformal,spakenEngJish,we
tendtousethenormalwordorder,withthenegativeadver-
bialinfront 01 themainverboraftertheinflected"be":- Hehadhardlyleftwhentherewasanurgentphonecall.
- Iwasnevermorenervousthanonmyfirstdayatwork.
"little"israrelyusedasa negativeadverbialininformal,
spakenEnglish.Sentencessuchaslhefirstoneaboveare
morelikelytobeexpressedsomethinglikethis:- Ihadnoldeathattheyhadalreadymadeadecision.
Negativeadverbials
Somenegativeadverbsandadverbialphrasescausesubject-
auxiliaryinversionif theyareatthebeginningofa sentence.Negativeadverbswithrestrictivemeaning:- barely,rarely,scarcely,seidom
Adverbialphraseswith"no":- Atnotimemustbaggagebeleftunattended.
- Nosoonerwasthedecisionannounced,thanheleft.
also:innoway,onnoaccount,undernocircumstances
"notonly"C.."butalso~):- Notonlydidhefinda newjob,butitwasalsobetterpaid.
"not"+timeexpression:- notsince,notuntil,ete.
"only"+timeexpression:- onlyafter,onlylater,oolythen,oolyonFridays,etc.
"only"+preposition:- onlybychance,onlywithluck,onlyinBritain,ete.
Subject-verbinversion
Anolhertypeofinvertedwardorderinvolvesa subjectand
a fullverb.WhentheyareplacedatIhestartofa dause.
semeadverbialsofplaeeortimecauseinversionofsubject
andverb(offena verbofmovementorlocation),suchas
~be",··stand",'·sit","lie":- Outsidethebuildingstooda long,blacklimousinewait-
ingfOftheguest. - Qpposite theconferenceroomare thetoiletsandthe
kitehen. - Thelaxistopped.andoutjumpe<!Richard,thenewhead
ofmarketing. - Megwasthefirst 10 speak.NexttarneBriantromthe
salesdepartment.
Thesubjectandverbcannotbeinvertedif thesubjectisa
pronoun:- Thetaxistopped,andouthejumped(not:~oot-twnped
"''').
Thistypeofinversionis mostlyfoundinformal,writtenand
literaryEnglish.withtheexceptionof"here"and"there",
whieharecommoointhespakenlanguage:- Herecomesmytaxi.Byenow!
- Uh-oh!Theregoesmybonus.
EXERCISE
Rewritethesesentences, startingwiththeadverblats
markedinbold.a) Shehadscarcelybegunthepresentationwhenlanfell
asleep.b) I seldomsawhirnangrierthanthedayhewasfired.cl Weareallowed 10 wearjeansoolyonFridays.d) Justasthephonebeganringing,mybossstormed
intotheroom.Answersonpage 87- BusinessSpotlightplushasmoreexercisesonthislopic
l~-ITrymoreexercisesatwww.business-spotiight.deJgrammar
ANNAHOCHSlEDERisa Munlch-basedteaeherof
Engtishasa 5econdlanguageandalsownteson
Janguagels.suesinSpotlightandBusinessSpotlight.
Contact:a.hochsiederOspotlight-verlag.de512009