Unit 27 mmar @ Inversions / possessives Inversions with negative adverbial words and phrases When we put some negative adverbial words and phrases at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis, the subject and the verb ‘invert’, This means we use the question form of the verb, even though the sentence is not a question. inversions are quite formal and are not usually used in conversation. Form ‘negative adverbial word/phrase + question form No sooner had | accepted the job than they told me | had to work weekends. Negative adverbial Example Never Never have | worked so hard in ail my life. Rarely Rarely have | worked so hard in all my life. Seldom Seldom have | worked so hard in all my life. NNosooner..than) | No sooner had Mat started work than he resigned. Hardly (.. when) Hardly had Matt started work when he resigned. Notonly(..butalso/too) _| Notonly were you late fr work but you had also forgotten the report. | dr resones Under no circumstances are employees allowed 0 leave the building without permission. Ato time/point | Atno time/point was told what the job involved. Little Uttle did | realise that | would become managing director just two years later. Not until Not until the next day did | hear that | had got the job. Only at the end of the interview did I think | had a chance of getting the job. © Littles used with verbs of thought (realise, know, suspect, etc) and means did not realise/etc at all. 7 Little did know how things were going to turn out. I did not know at all how things were going to turn out) © With not until and only, you have to be careful about which verb to invert. ¥ Not until had finished my homework was lallowed to.go out. X -Notumithad Hinished ¥ Only when had finished my homework was | allowed to go out. x Other inversions Example In short answers and other similar | RevPan orn ye Structures using s0,neither and nor | ivy sister doesn‘ like getting ready for work. and neither do 1/nor do | The manager was nervous about the director’ visit, as were the rest ofthe staff ‘fteras,soand such Solate was it that there was no one inthe office. Such hot day wasit that no one wanted to work. Were our staff better trained, we might make a larger profit. (= If our staff were In conditional sentences, better trained.) Had | known about the vacancy, | would have applied. (= if had known ..) {© Remember that So am/dorhave is used to agree with a positive statement and Neither/Nor am/do/have I is used to agree with a negative statement. Y ‘really ike my job. ‘Sedo “really don't like my ob.’ ‘Neither dot/ Nor do” 166Unit 27 Grammar A Write when or thanin each gap. 1 Hardly had we started the fire alarm went. é 2 No sooner had we set off nnn My brother needed the toilet. 3 Nosooner were the animals caught they escaped again. 5 4 Hardly had | closed my eyes .. . 1 dropped off to sleep. 5 5 Nosooner do! do the washing .. .. there's another pile to be done. Fy 6 Hardly were we in position enn the bomb went off. B Choose the correct answer. z 1 Nosooner.....down than the phone 7—_RaFelY wm AbOUut the environment b : rang enough to give up their car. 1 | A thad sat B dotsit A dopeoplecare B people care | 4 had sat D was I sitting C are peoplecare D care people é 5 2 Never a greater day in the history 8 Only when... may vehicles cross i J of mankind. the train tracks ea A didtherebe was there A isthe green light on Bh C there was D there has been B_ the green light is on a 3) Atnottime vun.n. that he was the killer 6 re A Ididn’t suspect B was! suspect ‘Snis the green ont C Ihad suspected D did! suspect 9 SeIdOM wnunn Such a tude person! 4 Litth that | knew his secret. ey ~~ met . ! ae ne 3 A didJohnknow 8 John did know © ales jemi meeting , was John know D John knew 10 Only after doing his chores aun tOGO i 5 Notuntil er did | realise how See ten | beautiful she was. Jason was allowed ou A saw B didisee boa FE: C wast saw D saw! Mas sowed Jason i D was Jason allowed é 6 Not Only nnane My keys, t've lost my e wallet, too. r A Ihave lost B arellost Me C Idid lose D have lost f € if aword or phrase in bold is correct, put a tick (V). If itis incorrect, rewrite it correctly. & ; 1 Hardly Tom had opened the door when the dog ran out into the street F 2 Only when t read the book did | realise why it was so special ‘ 3 Notonly you passed the exam, but you also got an A! 4° Not until do tse Greg next week will know whether he got the job. 5 No sooner had we found our seats than the film began. .... it 6 _Atno point while the race is taking place members of the public are not allowed 4 CL a 7 Under no circumstances do the equipment to be used without supervision. ie ss r 2 ES «SS aT TRE ST: 168Inversions / possessives Unit 27 8 Little | thought that one day my best friend would become prime minister. 9 Never did I be so pleased to see someone else succeed. 10 Hardly had put the baby to bed when she started crying. D Complete using the correct form of the words in brackets. No sooner (1) ne - (I/ start) working at Taylforth Nielsen, the computer company, than | realised it was the perfect opportunity for my hobby: hacking! Don't get me wrong. At no point (2) ann. (1/ have) ever stolen anything. | do it for the challenge. Not only (3) smn (1/ like) proving | can do it, but sometimes (4) {it / help) a company to build a better security system. Rarely 5) (they / see) it like that, of course. | decided | would see if | could break into the Grand Bank system. Little (6) (1 / realise) what was waiting for me, The second day of working there, hardly (7) .... (everyone else / leave) when | started to try simple passwords. Seldom (8) .... (this / is) enough, though. You usually have to work much harder than that. Not until midnight (9) (1 / get) access to the Grand Bank system. Hardly (10) (1 / have) time to look around the system when the door to my office flew open and three men rushed in. Only when (11) (they / show) me their ID (12) cnn» wvunennee (UJ realise) that it was ‘the police. They had been expecting something like this and had traced my computer! Not only (13). srnsmnannonsnnone(L/ Be fired), but (14) . on (they / keep) all my ‘computer records, too, Maybe it's time to find another hobby. E Complete the sentences so that the meaning remains the same. 1 Photographs are not permitted under any circumstances. Under ... 2 We've never faced such a serious problem as this. Never .. 3 only realised it was Vanessa when she removed her hat. Only , 4 The audience didn't laugh at any point during the show. At. 5 Assoonas Patrick had finished the e-mail, he sent it. No 6 It wasn’t clear who was going to win the match until the last few minutes. j 169Unit 27 Grammar 8 I didn’t learn the result of the match until read the evening paper. Only 9 The president will not resign under any circumstances. Under .. 10 The accused showed no emotion at any time during the trial. At F Complete the responses to these statements. 1 ‘Iwish | had more money: ‘So 2 ‘We never seem to spend much time together in my family’ ‘Neither . 3 ‘Im not going to Jacob's party next Sunday! ‘Nor : 4 ‘Ididn't do my homework last night. ‘Nor i 5 ‘Illbe on holiday this time next week’ "So : 6 ‘thad no idea Chris was getting married. ‘Neither 2 7 ‘ishould really get more exercise,” ‘So. G Write one word in each gap. 1 Such along way.. . it that we decided to go by train. 2 Sobadly {play chess that | almost never agree to have a game. 3 Pupils are expected to behave politely, as ......... members of staff. 4 Sotired .» I that l decided to lie down for a while. 5 Sucha threat to society .. . you that I have no choice but to send you to prison, 6 Socold.. it last winter that all our pipes froze. 7 Calculators are banned from the examining room, as dictionaries and handheld computers. 8 Ihave been having very strange dreams lately, as ... my twin sister. H Form possessives from the nouns given. @Vausune