Grammar Topic 14 - Inversion of Subject-Verb Order

Grammar – Topic 14
Inversion of Subject-Verb Order

Some of the first sentences we teach in the English language follows the subject-verb order.

I am happy.

(Subject: I                    Verb: am)

Jack eats cookies.

(Subject: Jack              Verb: cookies)

The pair of brown boots is very expensive.

(Subject: pair of brown boots             Verb: is)

I am sure you are familiar with sentences in the normal subject-verb order. However, you have also probably used many sentences where the normal order is inverted.

Are you happy?

(Verb: are                    Subject: you)

Have you eaten the cookies?

(Verb: have                 Subject: you)

Is the pair of brown boots very expensive?

(Verb: is                      Subject: pair of brown boots)

You probably inverted the normal order of words many times whenever you asked questions.

We can ask questions using different tenses.  

It is important to take note of how to invert the subject-verb order for the different tenses.

Simple present tense using the ‘be’ verb	is, are, am	Is the bicycle spoilt? Are the children at the playground? Am I part of the committee?
Simple past tense using the ‘be’ verb	was, were	Was the stray cat injured? Were you pleased with the results of the competition?
Present continuous tense	am/is/are + ‘ing’ form of the verb	Am I waiting at the right bus stop? Is she reading a magazine? Are they cycling?
Past continuous tense	was/were + ‘ing’ form of the verb	Was Jack using the laptop yesterday afternoon? Were the boys playing in the school field last Thursday afternoon?
Present perfect tense	has/have + past participle form of the verb Click HERE for a list of the past participle form of verbs.	Has she left for the airport? Have we bought all the necessary ingredients?
Past perfect tense	had + past participle form of the verb	Had the accident vehicles been moved to the side of the road before the police arrived?
Past perfect continuous tense	had been + ‘ing’ form of the verb	Had she been playing in the rain the whole afternoon?
Future simple tense	will/shall + base form of the verb	Will you help us? Shall we leave soon?
Modal verbs	will/shall/can/could/may/might/should + base form of the verb	Can you play the piano well? May I help you?

We also invert the normal order of subject-verb when we want to emphasise negative adverbs.

Click HERE to learn more about adverbs.

Normal subject-verb order

She seldom takes public transport.

Inverted subject-verb order

Seldom does she take public transport.

We also invert the normal order of subject-verb for certain adverbs of time that are negative.

Normal subject-verb order

Bob stepped into the house. The telephone rang.

Inverted subject-verb order

No sooner had Bob stepped into the house than the telephone rang.

Here is a list of negative adverbs, adverb phrases and other expressions that begin with ‘not’. In these sentences, the normal order of words can be inverted.

hardly, never, never again, seldom, rarely, only then, not only…but, no sooner, scarcely, only later, nowhere, little, only in this way, in no way, on no account, under no circumstances, not until, not since, only after, only when, only by, not for a moment

Under no circumstances are you allowed to leave the room without permission.

(Verb (simple present tense with ‘be’ verb): are      Subject: you)

Scarcely had we arrived at the beach before it started to rain.

(Verb (past perfect tense): had          Subject: we)

Not for a moment was she expecting to win the grand prize in the lucky draw.

(Verb (past continuous tense): was   Subject: she)

We can also invert the normal order of words in sentences with ‘here’ and ‘there. We do not need to use an auxiliary verb or a modal verb with the main verb.

Here come the children.

(Verb: come    Subject: children)

Once I arrived home, there was my cousin waiting for me.

(Verb: was      Subject: my cousin)

The word order can also be inverted in some conditional sentences.

If I had known the truth, I would have reacted differently.

(Subject: I        Verb: had known)

Had I known the truth, I would have reacted differently.

(Verb (past perfect tense): had          Subject: I)

Let’s Practise

Circle the number of the correct answer.

1.    Seldom have I _______ my mother so angry.

(1) see

(2) saw

(3) sees

(4) seen

2.   “Have you _______ to the Maldives before?” Jack asked me.

(1) go

(2) be

(3) been

(4) being

3.   Not until I watched the performance _______ I convinced that the children were such good actors.

(1) am

(2) was

(3) had

(4) were

4.   Nowhere on the island except on the mountain will you _______ the beautiful yellow and blue flowers.

(1) find

(2) finds

(3) found

(4) be finding

5.   Hardly does the fantasy author _______ poetry.

(1) write

(2) wrote

(3) writes

(4) written

6.   No sooner had she run in the race _______ she injure her ankle.

(1) do

(2) did

(3) does

(4) doing

7.   Has the football training _______?

(1) begin

(2) began

(3) begun

(4) begins

8.   “Never have I _______ on such a soft and comfortable bed.

(1) lie

(2) lay

(3) laid

(4) lain

9.   Not since the start of winter _______ the animals gone into hiding.

(1) has

(2) had

(3) have

(4) having

10.                  “Only in this way would visitors _______ the souvenirs,” the manager advised his staff as he adjusted the magnets and mugs on the shelves.

(1) notice

(2) notices

(3) noticed

(4) noticing

      Answers:

1.     4

2.     3

3.     2

4.     1

5.     1

6.     2

7.     3

8.     4

9.     2

10.  1

Let’s Practise

Rewrite the sentences by inverting the subject-verb order.

1.   Peter is seldom at the basketball court.

2.   She not only ate the chocolate eclair, she also ate the banana cake.

3.   We hardly attend rock concerts.

4.   The creature had scarcely scrambled into its hole when its predator appeared.

5.   David will never again walk through the park at night.

6.   If you had been free, we would have invited you to watch the movie with us.

                     Answers:

1.   Seldom is Peter at the basketball court.

2.   Not only did she eat the chocolate eclair, she also ate the banana cake.

3.   Hardly did we attend rock concerts.

4.   Scarcely had the creature scramble into its hole when its predator appeared.

5.   Never again will David walk through the park at night.

6.   Had you been free, we would have invited you to watch the movie with us.

If you would like more practice on the inversion of the subject-verb order when rewriting or joining sentences, send me an email at gclb.ltd@gmail.com.