BBC English Masterclass: Inversion 1: After Negative or Limiting Adverbs

Inversion happens in English for emphasis, dramatic purpose or formality. This type of inversion uses negative and limiting adverbs - these are a group of adverbs which limit the meaning of a verb or make it negative. Examples are 'never', 'hardly', 'no', 'only'...and there are others.

TRANSCRIPT
Under no circumstances should you stop watching this video! Only here will you get the full inversion explanation. Are you ready? Let’s invert!
Inversion happens in English for emphasis, dramatic purpose or formality. In order to invert, the normal sentence order of subject verb object is changed in some way. Let’s find out how. Go!

‘Never had I met someone so interesting.’

Now English has a group of adverbs which limit the meaning of a verb or make it negative. Examples are never, hardly, no, only...and there are others. In order to change normal sentence order, we move the negative adverbial to the beginning of the sentence and we invert the auxiliary verb and subject. So:

‘I had never met someone so interesting.’
becomes
‘Never had I met someone so interesting.’

In cases where the tense does not use an auxiliary verb in the affirmative, such as the present simple or the past simple, one must be added. So, for example:

‘I rarely go outside.’
becomes
‘Rarely do I go outside.’
And
‘She seldom worked very hard.’
becomes
‘Seldom did she work very hard.’

However, there is another level to this. Some negative or limiting adverbials require you to complete a whole clause before the inversion takes place. It’s kind of a two stage process. So, for example:

‘I didn’t know what to do until I saw what had happened.’
becomes
‘Not until I saw what had happened did I know what to do.’

In this case, ‘Not until I saw what had happened’ is the adverbial clause. The inversion takes place after this, in the main clause. And this is common with adverbs like ‘Not’ and ‘Only’ in the following combinations:

‘Hardly’ works like this too, but in the case of hardly, the inversion happens within the adverbial clause. It is mostly used with the past perfect to signify that one action finished just before another started. And notice the use of the connecting time words ‘than’ and ‘when’ in the examples. Are you ready?

‘Hardly had I got home than the dog started barking.’
‘Hardly had he got into the bath when the phone rang.’

Isn’t it typical? Finally, we can use the expression ‘little did they know’ to mean…wait for it…they didn’t know. It’s extremely dramatic and it’s often found within books. It can be quite sinister! For example:

‘Little did they know that he had stolen all of their money.’

[lameisaleh]

Never have I seen such a professional teacher.

[sir]

After watching this video reading Sherlock Holmes finally makes sense 😃

[paoloel]

I like your energy, Dan. Keep up the great work!

[gabrillefong]

Not until I learned abundant brilliant sentence structures from BBC Learning English, did I realise how many thanks I owe them. (The first try to comment here :P)

[przemekx]

Merry Christmas for all presenters and thank you for your channel and great job you have been doing for us

[will-power]

Never have I seen such a nice teacher.
Rarely do I eat out.

[arthurarden]

Amazing lesson. Thanks a ton. Super accent and examples.

[Dulce]

I saw this yesterday on my english class, that's confuse to me!!, I'll have to practice it more :'c

[SilentCrypto]

Not until I saw this video, did I know about inversion. Is my sentence correct?

[arianarodriguez]

Fantastic! it's really helpful, thanks!

[MaximilianoARG]

I didn't know about this inversion. Your videos are very useful as always :)

[giiovannii_ls]

Concrete, absolutely useful and funny. Thank you, Dan and BBC.

[descubriendoconivonne]

Only after I saw your video did I understand this topic, thanks a lot teacher, what useful video!

[carolinarosinelli]

Not only is this video good humored but also it is useful =)

[fabiorodriguez]

Excellent explanation as everything done by the BBC.

[soniamandnice]

waooo.. well i did not know before ....

[Eddy-hitw]

3:10 Never had I met someone so interesting! I love the laughing you made. XDDD

[stefycadena]

Never have I learned something very easily.

[erdenetsetsegdamdinsuren]

Not until I saw what was happening did I know what to do
Not before I saw what was happening did I know what to do
Only after I saw what was happening did I know what to do
Only when I saw what was happening did I know what to do
Only after I saw what was happening did I know what to do etc. Do the have same meanings?

[mercyroa]

I like your way to explain! but What means for example "No sooner" it's like... as soon ?