Questions tagged [subject-verb-inversion]
Questions about reversing the order of a clause’s subject and verb, including subject–auxiliary inversion in questions and normal subject–verb swap in locative, directive, copular, and quotative inversions.
298
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Till death do WE part [closed]
I understand the meaning of "till death do us part". I even understood why do is not does.
However, in the song Love Spent by Madonna, the following lyrics occur:
You played with my heart
Till ...
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2
answers
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Word order: "Tell me what is your opinion on this matter" or "Tell me what your opinion on this matter is" [duplicate]
Tell me what is your opinion on this matter.
Tell me what your opinion on this matter is.
Which one is correct? I understand the word order in the sentence like I want to know where she is. But ...
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1
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Is this an inversion? To V should S be . .
As always, while reading through I found a sentence whose structure confused me.
What I want to know is whether the first sentence is the inversion form of the second sentence.
1. If the reason ...
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3
votes
3
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Inversion by "only" in a passive sentence
I have searched for the grammar concerning inversion in passive voice, and my search was fruitless. I was wondering how to put "only" at the beginning of a passive sentence. For example:
Only the ...
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1
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I care not (for these things) vs. I don't care
Is the expression "I care not" grammatically correct?
Do I care not and I don't care have the same meaning?
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2
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Word order in question with very long subject
The normal word order for a wh- question in English is: wh- + auxiliary + subject + verb.
Hence the sentence below should be correct:
What might the consequences of the loss of diversity of plant ...
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1
answer
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Not until [sentence] do [sentence]
Example: “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau
Can someone explain the structure of the aforementioned sentence?
Can someone name this type of sentence?
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3
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Can we say "admitted to the mistakes"?
Can we say "admitted to the mistakes"? I think it should be admitted the mistakes and admitted to the hospital.
The sentence that I am working on is
it has not admitted to the mistakes in the ...
2
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2
answers
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"Why does he not?" or "Why does not he?" and why? [duplicate]
Which is the more correct form:
Why does he not?
Why does not he?
and why?
At first blush 1 would seem to be grammatical - just on an intuitive judgement. However 2 logically seems as ...
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votes
4
answers
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Why do some questions not start with an auxiliary verb?
When I learned English, my teachers told me that all questions must have an auxiliary verb at the beginning, just like Are you mad? or Is she playing? do.
But when watching some movies or talking ...
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1
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Inversion in Wh-questions [duplicate]
What is difference between:
Why I am studying?
Why am I studying?
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1
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A literary term meaning reversed repetition?
A quote from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss lists
"actors and acrobats, musicians and hand magicians, jugglers and jesters"
My first thought on reading it was that "hand magicians and ...
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0
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Verb to be before pronoun in declarative sentences [duplicate]
I saw this sentence in a newspaper cartoon:
Not only are you dysfunctional — you appear to be completely spineless as well.
Is the verb are in the right position?
3
votes
1
answer
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Fronted adjuncts
Is it correct to begin sentences with adjuncts? To which degree are the sentences below acceptable? Do you need a special context to license this word order, or can you start a text with these ...
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1
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«Said I» vs «I said»
Are «said I» and «I said» interchangeable? «Said I» is pretty uncommon, or so I thought.
The sentence in question looks like so: «"It's not going to be your way," — said I.» Or it could be «"It's not ...
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3
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Mandatory to NOT something [closed]
I'm looking for some type of inverse of "mandatory to not", as in "mandatory to not have any errors in your exam" or "mandatory to not read foreign words in the book." (Those must sound awful to a ...
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2
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What does “would not have been possible had I remained” mean?
What does this mean?
I am sure this would not have been possible had I remained a typical Anglophone North American.
I have never heard that before and I really find it strange.
I deduce that it ...
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3
votes
3
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"there was" versus "was"
In a Lynda.com tutorial I came across such a sentence: "In camera uploads (folder) are all the photos that I had in my iPad". Instead, I would have probably said: "In camera uploads there are ...." Is ...
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1
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What kind of inversion is this? "Out come the pocket calculators"
Please help me understand the grammar of this sentence:
When the girls get their bills, out come the pocket calculators.
What connotations does this inversion add? Can "out come" here be analyzed ...
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3
votes
2
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470
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Why does this sentence seem to me to have an adverb for a subject? [closed]
At the bottom of the device is a microphone and a microUSB port for data connections and charging (Source)
At the bottom of the device is an adverb of place. Why is the subject of the sentence an ...
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1
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When can verbs precede subjects?
I saw a sentence in which "is" precedes the subject though the sentence is not interrogative. Here comes the sentence:
In fig. 4 is shown [the approach to
equilibrium absorbance for a glass ...
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"But had events gone another way"(grammar) [duplicate]
The whole sentence is "But had events gone another way, this would be a rather different memoir."
Why is the sentence not like "But the events have gone another way"? "Have" and "events" are ...
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1
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4
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"With us this morning is Peter" [duplicate]
Is it possible to say in English, "With us this morning is Peter"?
What is the Subject in the quoted part of the sentence?
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2
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Proper use of "what's"
I've seen people write a sentence like this:
Example A: "I'm often asked what's the story behind my work."
To me, it just seems that this reads rather poorly. I feel like it should be written as:
...
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1
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Is it always possible to inverse the subject and the verb?
I am wondering whether we can invert the subject and the verb in english.
Ex (illustrative only):
A car is provided to the players. The keys must be retrieved at
the office.
would become
Is ...
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0
votes
2
answers
315
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Question about putting an adverb before a verb
I need to mention here that I've read in an educational book that we normally or perhaps always put an adjective before a noun. We do not say: A day beautiful, we say: a beautiful day.
I am curious as ...
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When to use "compatible", when "incompatible" [closed]
Reworded as requested.
I am confused about when one uses the term “incompatible” and when “compatible”.
Is it sometimes believed that compatibility is about “working” and incompatibility about “not ...
0
votes
2
answers
429
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Subject + verb inversion
I have come across, more and more frequently, the fact that writers move the verb forward in sentences like:
Today some English teachers attend to grammatical niceties in a more analytical way than ...
3
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3
answers
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What grammar is used in "are there" for not a question & "is a compromise view" without a subject?
I have found 2 sentences in a law book, but I cannot figure out what grammar rules are used in them. Please advise.
1.) In no state, however, are there [what rule, why such order of the words?] ...
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1
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Reported speech, question in a conditional sentence
I've been struggling with this exercise:
"Let's drive on to the next village and try the hotel there," he said. "But what'll we do if that's full too?" I said. "We'll just have to sleep in the car," ...
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3
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"Attached {is/are} X, Y and Z." If X, Y and Z are all singular, is it correct to use "is" here?
Which is correct?
Attached are our compensation plan, an independent contract agreement, and a W9.
Attached is our compensation plan, an independent contract agreement, and a W9.
I thought because ...
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1
vote
2
answers
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Inverted conditional sentence using 'can' and 'will'
On this page in Wikipedia!, it states for first conditional sentences:
The condition can also be expressed using the modal verb should. This form can be used to make an
inverted condition ...
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vote
3
answers
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Inversion after "than"/"as"
I'd like to know (1) which of the following is the most natural and (2) whether any of the following is unnatural or ungrammatical:
(A) My system is no more expensive than yours would be.
(B) My ...
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What is a person I've affiliated called?
What are the right terms to define:
A person who is an affiliate in a company, who brings to the company other affiliates
What are the people he affiliated called in relation to him?
What is he ...
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28
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6
answers
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How is "Can anyone tell me how can I solve this" wrong?
I posted a question somewhere that said...
Can anyone tell me how I can solve this?
...but someone edited it to...
Can anyone tell me how can I solve this?
...and it was accepted.
That's ...
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2
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Why must “has” come before the main verb here? [duplicate]
Wrong Sentence:
Never before in the history of the world such a thing has happened, I don't think that will ever happen again.
Right sentence:
Never Before in the history of the world has such ...
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vote
1
answer
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Putting a phrase like "in particular" before a negative statement
In a sentence starting with a word like nowhere, inversion is necessary like in the sentence
Nowhere in this document is the use of other instruments even mentioned.
But what happens if I add a ...
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vote
5
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"For dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power."
This quote is from "A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Two"
By George R.R. Martin.
This is the full quote:
"They shall come day and night to see the wonder that has been born again ...
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"Tell me why I should marry you" or "Tell me why should I marry you?". Which is correct? [duplicate]
I have always followed the former rule, i.e, "Tell me why I should marry you" (without a question mark). But my cousin insists the latter is correct. He seems equally confident that he is correct. So ...
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3
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Subject-verb inversion / verb-subject-object -- is this correct?
I recently read the following in a schoolbook:
Wrote the researchers, "[...]"
I wonder if this is correct English. I have seen it a couple of more times. Is this just a matter of preference? ...
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2
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"As I was to learn was the case with so much in Iran, everybody just turned a blind eye."
I came across a sentence while reading a book and couldn't figure out both the meaning and the structure of it at all. The sentence is:
"But, as I was to learn was the case with so much in Iran, ...
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Inversion or no inversion after "only"? [duplicate]
Only now you can even get them on top of wrinkles.
Only infrequently does it happen.
As one of our members has said, inversion happens when a sentence starts with "only" and never otherwise. So ...
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2
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"What / who do think...." structure
Here's a list of examples I've seen:
What do you think happened?
Who do you think has killed him?
Who do you think he killed?
How does this structure what/who do you think... work? ...
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3
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Is "Which countries is Nicaragua competing with?" grammatically correct?
Something seems off about the following sentence, but I can't put my finger on it:
Which countries is Nicaragua competing with?
Alternatives I considered:
With which countries is Nicaragua ...
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1
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Inversion with "many times" at the beginning of a sentence
I am having a discussion with my friend. I said, "Many times I have seen him washing his car." He says it should be, "Many times have I seen him washing his car. Much like "Often do I see him", and ...
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2
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Inversion with intro adverbial
Looking into inversion, I found a website listing different types of inversion, but I can't understand intro adverbial.
The website says that inversions in this case are optional, and gives the ...
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0
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Why is there no inversion in "Who do you think you are"? [duplicate]
Look at these 2 sentences
Who do you think is the richest man ?
Who do you think you are ?
Try omit "do you think" and we can see the conflict. Because people often ask "Who are you".
But with "do ...
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2
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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 on ...
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2
votes
2
answers
331
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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?
...
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vote
1
answer
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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 ...
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