English Grammar - Inversion: 'Had I known...', 'Should you need...'

TRANSCRIPT

Now, the thing to understand about inversions is that they are very particular. There are only a few expressions that you're going to use inversion with. You can't put them in just about... In just any sentence that you want. The examples that I've written on the board are the ones that you might read or that you might want to write. There are other situations that use this, but unless you're writing poetry or artistic, creative novels - you don't need them and you don't really need to worry about them either. They're very rare. It's very rare you'll see them. It's very, very formal language style. And you'll recognize them, hopefully, when you do see them.

So let's start here. When we have "not only". Generally speaking, when we have a sentence that begins with a negative, we're going to have inversion, but especially when you have "not only", you're going to have inversion. Okay?
"Not only did he", so there's your verb, there's your subject, there's your verb. Okay? We have the helping verb, the auxiliary verb to start. "Not only did he win", and then we have the "but", "also" to go with "not only". This is like an expression that's fixed; you're always going to be looking at the same thing. "Not only did he win, but he also broke the record." Whatever. "Not only", inversion, "but also".

"Under no circumstances", this is another expression that you'll see regularly. And again, we're looking at the negative construction which is why we're looking at the inversion.
"Under no circumstances should you call her/call him."
Okay? Whatever you do, don't call. "Under no circumstances". "Circumstances", basically situation. In no situation should you call. In no situation, same idea. Okay?

Another negative: "nor". What is "nor"? Is the negative of "or". Okay? "Or", "nor". Again, many people don't use this word anymore; it's a little bit old-fashioned, a little bit high formality level. But...
"The mayor of Toronto refused to resign, nor do we expect him to."
Okay? So after "nor", we still have the inversion. Verb, subject, verb. Verb, subject. Okay? I'm not sure if you know the mayor of Toronto, he's very famous now. We're not very proud, but that's a whole other story.

Next, so these are the three negatives. These two are also very similar. Again, very formal style, but you might see it, you might want to use it in your essays or whatever.
"Should you need any help, don't hesitate to call."
What does this mean? "Should you need", if you need. "Should" is just a more formal way to say: "if". "If you need any help, don't hesitate to call.", "Should you need any help, don't hesitate to call." Now, this is a verb, subject, verb. If we use: "if", then there's no issue. Then you have "if" which is a conjunction, adverb, clause, conjunction, subject, verb. "Should" makes it verb, subject, verb.

"Had" is the same thing with the "if", but a different structure of the conditional, a different "if" structure.
"Had I known you were coming, I would have changed."
"If I had known", "If I had known you were coming", "Had I known", it's basically you're making the sentence a little bit shorter, a little more formal. You're starting with a verb, a subject, and another verb. Okay? Past perfect, of course. So these are the conditionals, these are the no's.

Now, we have the comparatives, when you're comparing something. When you're comparing an action, so you're using the clause marker: "as", not the preposition: "like". So:
"John speaks Chinese, as does Lucy."
Okay? "Lucy" is actually the subject, here's the verb, here's a subject. Now, I could put a period and put a new sentence. "So does Lucy." Same idea. "Lucy does as well." If I want the subject, verb order. But when you start with "as", you're going to invert the order. This is a clause marker, adverb clause marker to compare.

[DenEz_TV]

Not only did I understand this lesson, but I also liked it.

[natriumguy]

Had I known about Adam's channel earlier, I would have been fluent in English by now.

[BeanSprouts]

Never had I thought that I'd encounter such a great teacher like you.
I didn't encounter you literally, but this lesson is so great I just wanna try it out

[TheBrowniemusic]

Had I watched this video earlier, I would've passed my exam. Thanks a lot.

[aizhan_channel]

Not only does he explain very well, but he also provides learners with nice examples.

[Dockif]

Not only did he explain the lesson well, but he also linked the exercise in the description. Man, is it really helpful ❤❤

[marthaestelaanaya]

Not only have I understood your explanation, but I also have started using this structure while writing.

[sontungmtp]

not only are you a teacher, but you also are the best

[Canneverbeunderstood]

Not only did I find this lesson easy, but also I really like your way of explaining 😍

[hevaslan]

Man, do I love your explanations! You're very clear with each subject. You're the best in this channel. +Adam

[michawu]

TO BE CONTINUED...

Never ever have I seen...
Never before have we had such ....
Not until they arrived, had we made...
Not a soul did I see...
Not a word does he utter...
No sooner...than...
Scarcely....when
Barely....when
Hardly...when
On no account must you...
Only after...
Only later...
Had it not been for your support, ...
Were it not for his minority, he would’ve been charged with...
But for Adam’s courage, ...

[لمياء-عع]

Never have i found such a good teacher that explains inversion like rgis easy way.

[Hot_since]

Seldom do i see well explained and useful video like this one.

[gutermann]

Not only did I watch this lesson, but also learned something new!

[jonathanavielsolanatorres]

Thank you teacher, inversion was a tough topic for me while I was learning it, I know there are many phrases to use this structure, but with these which you've just explained, I can manage it!

[HereStarted]

I've learned many things watching your videos Adam!, I'm Chilean, but I'm studying to be an English teacher and tomorrow will be my last grammar test and for the first time I feel not so prepared, but this video helped me so much.  :)

[olgauvarova]

I studied English at school 20 years ago, had no practice (I am Russian and Ukrainian native speaker). Now I need to refresh and enrich my knowlege... I've started here from conctruction 'Had I' - cause never used it and I've been linked to know it from here! Thahks! I'm subscribed and eager to learn more!

[temirlanismagulov]

Man, are you brilliant person! Not only are you brilliant, but you are broad-minded as well. More important than reading news is conversing with you. You are really outgoing and talented personality, as is my cousin. Had I not got acquainted with you, my speaking skills would have been modified more sluggish. No sooner had you written me than my interest to speak was piqued. At home lives my nephew. Seldom does she hinder me to study. Only when she sleeps do I have possibilities to work on myself. At no time have I been overseas, but it is not a reason not to get high score. Under no circumstances should we stop preparing to IELTS. May all your dreams come true, me too. Here is my desire to you, be happy.

[samirabouyachi]

Under no circumstances should you stop giving such great lessons

[violetagonzalez]

I'm from Argentina, and I'm studying to be a public translator. I'm expected to write very very formal essays, with this type of structures, Thanks a lot for this video! It really helped me to understand inversion 😉😊