Questions about word-order inversion, e.g. in negative statements or questions.
-1
votes
1answer
52 views
Why can we use “inadequate” but not “inspecific”? [duplicate]
I find the use of the word "inspecific" very... natural. It makes sense and flows easily in sentences I speak and write (to myself at least). However, upon inspection, it is apparently not a valid ...
3
votes
2answers
63 views
Correctness of questions without inversion, relying on intonation
I hear and read them all the time. I mean stuff like:
You're just going to stay here?
Instead of:
Are you just going to stay here?
Then I write like this out of habit and get called out ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
About inversion
Given the following sentence,
Nowhere on her title page or copyright page is there a suggestion that anyone but Walker wrote her story.
Can I invert it as follows without changing the meaning?
...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
Comparing two juxtaposed elements by way of clause inversion?
What is this sort of sentence/style/literary device called? I'm sure it has a name.
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness
without love.
It appears that a point is ...
1
vote
0answers
119 views
Why does a negative adverbial phrase trigger inversion? [duplicate]
When a negative adverb (or adverbial phrase) is placed at the beginning of a sentence, we exchange the normal placement of subject and verb.
Why is that?
1
vote
0answers
34 views
The verb “should” as a conjunction [duplicate]
Here is the phrase from Wikipedia:
CFO Peter Klein has said that Microsoft has no alternate plan should its current mobile strategy fail.
Another example:
Should Microsoft’s tablet and phone ...
-4
votes
1answer
64 views
'What may it be'/ 'what may be it' which one is correct? [closed]
I think,saying 'what may it be' is correct in the sense of something that i did not see before,it is new to me and on my hand.and i am saying this sentence "what may it be"/"what may be it".which one ...
3
votes
1answer
81 views
How to use “extraordinaire” in English?
I’d like to include the following phrase in my children’s book:
with trumpets and fanfares extraordinaire
I don’t know whether it should instead be
with trumpets and fanfares ...
0
votes
1answer
93 views
“than do I” vs. “than I do” [duplicate]
I need grammatical explanations for the following two sentence structures:
The mistakes children make in learning to speak tell linguists more about how children learn language than do the ...
2
votes
3answers
137 views
should one invert syntax for the verb “do” in a comparison?
Which sounds better:
When Canadians do initiate conversations, they tend to be more reserved than Americans do.
When Canadians do initiate conversations, they tend to be more reserved than do ...
5
votes
5answers
370 views
Why put the verb before the subject?
The opening sentence to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien reads,
In a hole in the ground there lived [verb] a hobbit [subject].
I wonder if there are accepted stylistic purposes for such a structure. ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Only phrase is always inverted? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Inversion in "only [adverb] have they"
Subject-auxiliary inversions not associated with questions
Reason for subject-verb inversion: "Only in cases where A is B, shall the ...
1
vote
2answers
85 views
''I don't know what" + direct object [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Changing subject and verb positions in statements and questions
Why do we put the verb to be at the end of these questions?
Is the expression
I don't know what is ...
4
votes
1answer
135 views
Where does the verb go on this question? Is it even a reported question?
I understand that when I report a question, I put the subject back in front of the verb, as in: "He asked if she was going to be late."
But I always get puzzled when it comes to reporting a question ...
0
votes
2answers
235 views
“Where am I?” vs. “Where I am?” [closed]
Which is more correct to say in a question? (For example a guy that wakes up in a train)
"Where am I?"
or
"Where I am?"
0
votes
2answers
230 views
Can inversion be used without auxiliary verb?
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?
I don't like autumn to be honest, neither like I winter that's coming after it.
Can inversion be used in this way? Or does it requires auxiliary ...
3
votes
1answer
102 views
“He said, X” vs. “X, he said” vs. “X, said he”
I’ve long wondered how in reported speech, what sort of change in nuance is produced by switching around the normal order of the subject (that is, the speaker) and the “speech-related” verb (such as ...
4
votes
2answers
159 views
Is this an inversion? If so, why would you use an inversion in this case?
Here's a quote from a CNN transcript, wherein a consumer psychologist says the following:
"What is relatively new are shoppers turning on other shoppers."
If "what is relatively new" were the ...
0
votes
1answer
226 views
Are the subject and complement inverted in “Perched atop a high mountain on the other side […] was a vast castle”?
In this example, are the subject and complement inverted, or could it be possible to understand that ‘The thing’ or something of the subject of verb ‘was’ is dropped?
Perched atop a high mountain ...
-2
votes
2answers
1k views
“Be them” or “be they”? [closed]
Which of the following is grammatical?
He had lollies be they red or blue?
He had lollies be them red or blue?
It seems as if it could be them as an object of be.
-1
votes
5answers
217 views
“Not once he would” vs. “not once would he”
Not being a native speaker and suffering semantic satiation from overthinking this, I'd like to ask this probably overly simple question.
Not once would he...
uses reversal for negation and ...
2
votes
2answers
281 views
Reason for Subject-Verb Inversion: Only in cases where A is B, shall the Company do X [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Sentences using: [something] + have + they
subject-auxiliary inversions not associated with questions
In the following, why does subject-verb inversion occur? Is it ...
-1
votes
1answer
107 views
What qualification you are looking for? [closed]
Well this may be a very silly and obvious question but it's bothering me so I am asking it here. I am writing a letter and I asked the question
What qualification are you looking for?
However my ...
1
vote
2answers
273 views
Position of verb for object clause
Is the general word order of this sentence correct?
We investigate how strong the effect of X on Y is.
Or, as an alternative,
We investigate how strong the effect of X is on Y.
In a ...
-3
votes
2answers
363 views
Subject-auxiliary inversions not associated with questions [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Inversion in “only [adverb] have they”
Is there some rule governing the following, or similar, subject-auxiliary inversions (*"Rarely they do see the light of day", ...
3
votes
3answers
155 views
A word for being troubled at others' potential schadenfreude against me
Schadenfreude is "enjoyment obtained from the trouble of others." I'm not looking for the antonym of that, but instead if there is a similar word for the object of schadenfreude. For instance, is ...
1
vote
0answers
26 views
What is the correct “noun-verb” order when preceded by “only when”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Sentences using: [something] + have + they
Inversion in “Only when the virus introduces its nucleic acid into a cell does disease occur”
In a sentence like this:
...
4
votes
2answers
347 views
Inversion in “Only when the virus introduces its nucleic acid into a cell does disease occur”
Given this sentence,
Disease occurs only when the virus introduces its nucleic acid into a cell.
Is the following inversion grammatical?
→ Only when the virus introduces its nucleic acid ...
2
votes
2answers
180 views
Not always + inversion? [closed]
My neighbour's little son (they are from UK) asked me for something, saying that he wants it and hence he will get.
I realized I do not know how to say that correctly (for the first one I used ...
5
votes
3answers
379 views
Inversion + past tense
There is a sentence:
No sooner had he sat down than he fell asleep.
I just do not understand, is this an inversion? And if so, I still do not understand the sentence.
2
votes
6answers
334 views
“Sure I am not” — is that valid English?
Consider this conversation:
— Iceland has more than 200 rainy days per year.
— Are you sure?
— No, I am not sure.
Is it valid or wrong English to say,
— No, sure I am not.
...in the ...
4
votes
4answers
302 views
Opposite/inverse of duplicate
What is a word that can function as the inverse of a duplicate question on Stack Exchange? I was looking, in the context of this question on meta, for such a word to distinguish the closed duplicate ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Question tags — “did you” vs. “didn't you”
Typically, when we ask for confirmation/denial of a statement, we say something like the following:
We turn left here, don't we?
You have a cat, don't you?
We've met before, haven't we?
...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Inversion in “only [adverb] have they”
I have seen this construction quite often:
Online ads have been around since the dawn of the Web, but only in
recent years have they become the rapturous life dream of Silicon
Valley.
What ...
2
votes
0answers
37 views
No and double inversion within question tags [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to reply to question tags
I'm a Dutch native speaker so forgive my English mistakes (that's why I am here).
In Dutch it is normal to have a following example ...
3
votes
2answers
125 views
Why was inversion used in the following context?
There are many such problems for which a greedy approach provides an
optimal solution much more quickly than would a dynamic-programming
approach.
This is from Page 321, Introduction to ...
4
votes
4answers
637 views
“Let's see how can we do this”?
I'm reading the C++ boost library and the following sentence drew my attention:
Once the two steps have been successfully completed, the process can
start writing to and reading from the address ...
1
vote
1answer
177 views
How should I understand this inversion?
I'm confused with the following sentence:
In this section, we look at how the shuffle works, as a basic understanding would be helpful, should you need to optimize a Map-Reduce program.
How do ...
4
votes
3answers
900 views
Why do we invert word order when asking a question?
What's the difference between an inverted question and a normal-order question?
Why invert? Is there a reason or a benefit?
I love you?
Do I love you?
6
votes
1answer
575 views
Inversion in English
Is it correct to invert the subordinate sentence in English? For instance:
When the time comes, so shall we reign
the land!
If it is correct, what is the rule? Or is it only in old English?
4
votes
3answers
245 views
Is “supply” the inverse of “apply”?
We can say "The add function is applied to values 1 and 2". Can we say equivalently "The values 1 and 2 are supplied to the add function"?
9
votes
1answer
1k views
How do I determine subject and subject complement in “A side-effect is the spread of commercialese to other domains.”?
Consider this example:
Commercialese is an instrument of art,
designed to enrich and invigorate our
language—surely you will all agree
with this—, and we should encourage newcomers to learn ...
5
votes
3answers
827 views
Changing subject and verb positions in statements and questions
We always change subject and verb positions in whenever we want to ask a question such as "What is your name?". But when it comes to statements like the following, which form is correct?
I ...
17
votes
6answers
8k views
Why do you say “so do I”?
Why is the order of the words in "so do I" or "nor do I" different from the normal order?
