Inversion with Negative Adverbs - English Grammar with Jennifer

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from  English with Jennifer. In this lesson,  

we're going to talk about inversion. Do  you know what it means to invert something?  

I'll give you a hint. What did I do  with the hourglass? I inverted it.

When you invert the hourglass, the  sand pours down into the bottom part.  

How about this photo? Can you see it properly?  

Probably not. Let me invert it. I'll rotate it  and put it right side up. Now can you see it?

In grammar, if we invert two parts of a  sentence, we reverse their positions. You  

already know how to do this. We invert the  subject and verb when we form questions.  

Have you ever seen such clear blue water?

Yes, I have. I've seen  beautiful water in the Bahamas.

We can also invert the subject  and verb in sentences that use  

negative adverbs. We do this when the  negative adverb is in the initial position.  

That means it starts the sentence. We  don't usually do this in spoken English.  

It's more typical of written English because it's  a more formal structure, so you can expect to see  

inversion with negative adverbs more in  academic writing and literary writing.

Let's practice together. Look at this  sentence. First, identify the negative adverb.

"Never." Right? We'll move it to the beginning of  the sentence. Next, we'll switch...we'll invert  

the subject and verb. Only the first part of  the verb. We'll use the helping verb first.

So, what's the new sentence? Never have  I seen such clear, beautiful water.

Try this one. Start with a negative  adverb. Invert the subject and verb.  

Is there a helping verb? It's  a modal verb. Put that first.

Then the subject.

And what's our new sentence?

Hardly could I believe that  such beauty existed underground.

Okay. Next one.

What are we going to start with?

"Seldom." There's no helping verb here,  

so we'll need to get one. If we change this  into a question, what helping verb would we use?

"Do." That's what we need. verb + subject

And what's the new sentence? Seldom do people have  the time to appreciate nature in our busy world.

Try this one. It's similar to the last one.

Rarely do I have the chance to unplug and enjoy  complete solitude. Here's your next challenge.

Let me give you a hint. "Not any" changes to "no."

Do you think you have it? Under no circumstances  should you touch fragile stalactites in a cave.

Here's the last sentence and your final challenge.

Before I give you the answer, I'll explain  that with conditional sentences that use  

"only if" or "only when," we use inversion  in the main clause not the if-clause.

I see two possible variations. Only if the  guide tells you it is safe can you take photos  

on this tour. Only when the guy tells you  it is safe can you take photos on this tour.

That's all for now. Please like the video  if you found it useful and interesting.  

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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