Exercises Inversion (1) In statements it is usual for the verb to follow the subject, but sometimes this word order is reversed. We can refer to this as inversion. There are two main types of inversion: when the verb comes before the subject (inversion is often optional), and when the auxiliary comes before the subject and the rest of the verb phrase follows the subject (inversion is usually necessary): □ Her father stood in the doorway. -» In the doorway stood her father, (or ... her father stood.) □ He had rarely seen such a sunset. —* Rarely had he seen such a sunset, (not Rarely he had seen...) Inversion brings about fronting, the re-ordering of information in a sentence to give emphasis in a particular place. Often this causes an element to be postponed until later in the sentence, focusing attention on it. In conversation we use Here comes + noun and There goes + noun, with inversion of verb and subject, to talk about things and people moving towards or away from the speaker: □ Here comes the bus. D There goes Nigel Slater, the footballer. Here comes... is also used to say that something is going to happen soon, and There goes... is used to talk about things (particularly money) being lost and to say that something (such as a phone or door bell) is ringing: □ Here comes lunch. □ My bike's been stolen! There goes £100! □ There goes the phone. Can you answer it? We also put the verb before the subject when we use adverbs expressing direction of movement, such as along, away, back, down, in, off, out, up with verbs such as come, fly, go. This pattern is found particularly in narrative, to mark a change in events: □ The door opened and in came the doctor, (less formally ... and the doctor came in.) D As soon as I let go of the string, up went the balloon, high into the sky. (less formally ...the balloon went up...) □ Just when I thought I'd have to walk home, along came Miguel and he gave me a lift. (less formally ... Miguel came along and gave me...) For more on inversion after adverbs of place and direction, see Unit 76 A. We can use clauses with inversion instead of certain kinds of //-clause (see Unit 83). Compare: □ It would be a serious setback, if the talks were to fail. □ If you should need more information, please telephone our main office. □ If Alex had asked, I would have been able to help. □ It would be a serious setback, were the talks to fail. □ Should you need more information, please telephone our main office. □ Had Alex asked, I would have been able to help. The sentences with inversion are rather more formal than those with 'if. Notice that in negative clauses with inversion, we don't use contracted forms: □ Had the plane not been diverted, they would have arrived early, (not Hadn't the plane...) In formal written language we commonly use inversion after as and than in comparisons: □ The cake was excellent, as was the coffee, (or ...as the coffee was.) □ I believed, as did my colleagues, that the plan would work, (or ...as my colleagues did...) □ Research shows that parents watch more television than do their children, (or ...than their children do.) Notice that we don't invert subject and verb after as or than when the subject is a pronoun: □ We now know a lot more about the Universe than we did ten years ago. (not ...than did Unit 99 99.1 99.2 99.3 Complete the sentences with an appropriate adverb and a form of either come or go. (B) 1 We'd just got to the top of the hill when dpw.a...carn.?......the rain and we got thoroughly soaked. 2 Just when you've bought a computer that you think will last a lifetime, ....................................some new software that needs an even bigger hard disk. 3 Whenever I ask the class a question, ....................................their hands and they sit patiently until I choose one of them to answer. 4 I asked Dave to get three kilos of potatoes from the supermarket and he only bought one, so he to get some more. the nurse, who said the 5 After I'd been waiting for an hour, the door opened and ...................... dentist would be able to see me now. 6 We'd given up hope of getting the cat out of the tree, when ....................................a man with a ladder. 7 As soon as I'd given Jo some pocket money, ....................................she.................................... to buy sweets from the shop. Match the most likely sentence halves and then make new sentences beginning Were..., Should..., or Had... (C) 1 If McGrath had not resigned as party leader, ... 2 If you do not wish to receive further information about our products, ... 3 If the plane were ever to be built, ... 4 If United win again today, ... 5 If I were to be asked to take the job, ... 6 If a car had been coming in the other direction, ... 7 If there had been a referendum on the issue, 8 If you are not able to afford the Rombus 2000, ... a it would cut the journey time from New York to Tokyo by 4 hours, b there are less expensive models in the range, c he would have been sacked. d I would have no hesitation in accepting, e he would be writing novels about the homeless in London, f it is unlikely that the country would have supported the government, g it will be their tenth consecutive victory, h put a tick in the box. l I might have been seriously injured. 9 If Charles Dickens were alive today,... 1 + c Hoa y^raBi net, rested as party leader, he would, have. been, sacked. Write new sentences using as or than + be or do. (D) 1 Compared with their counterparts 20 years ago, the highly educated now receive vastly higher salaries. The highly 6^~}t#e