Possible Duplicate:
Sentences using: [something] + have + theySentences using: [something] + have + they
subject-auxiliary inversions not associated with questionssubject-auxiliary inversions not associated with questions
In the following, why does subject-verb inversion occur? Is it necessary? And what is this type of inversion called?
Colleague’s original:
Only in cases where A is B, the Company shall do X.
I changed to the following:
Only in cases where A is B shall the Company do X.
Searching Google for “shall the Company” gives examples such as:
In no event shall the Company ...
Under no circumstances shall the Company ...
And these all seem quite natural.
“In no event” and “under no circumstances” seem to be prepositional phrases, yet I would say simply, with no inversion:
In the fridge, you will find some beer.
Is the S-V inversion maybe some sort of archaic style that remains in legal or maybe religious texts? Perhaps a remaining German-style syntax?
