Brightly shone the moon that night

2. Subject – operator/auxiliary inversion (partial inversion):

Seldom can there be such a happy meeting.

Inverted word order performs the following functions:

1. Inversion occurs as standard, performing a purely grammatical functionin the following communicative types of sentence:

a) General questions, polite requests, tag questions:

Are you interested in racing?

Won’t you have a cup of tea?

b) Pronominal (special) questions, except questions to the subject and its attribute:

What am I going to do without you?

c) Exclamatory sentences expressing wish, despair, etc.:

Come what may!

d) Exclamatory sentences which are negative in form but positive in meaning:

Wouldn’t it be awful without Christmas!

2. Inversion is used as a grammatical means of subordination in some complex sentences joined without connectors:

a) In conditional clauses:

Were it all true, it would still not excuse our actions.

Should anyone come this way, we would be caught like rats in a trap.

Had he not known it before, she would have made a fatal mistake (pay attention to the place of “not”).

b) In concessive clauses:

Stupid as it sounds, I was so in love with her that I believed her.

 

In other cases the use of inversion is largely optional, its purpose being to alter emphasis within the sentence (emphatic function) which may result in heightened dramatic effect. Inversion can be introduced by certain topic elements (i.e. words that open the sentence):

· Inversion after negative adverbials:never (before), rarely, seldom, barely/hardly/scarcely…when; no sooner…than:

Seldom do we have goods returned to us because they are faulty. (not Seldom we do…)

Hardly had I got onto the motorway, when I saw two police cars following me.

· After only + a time expression, as in only after, only once, only when:

She bought a newspaper and some sweets at the shop on the corner. Only later did she realize that she’d been given the wrong change.

Only once did I go to the opera in the whole time I was in Italy.

· Afteronly +other prepositional phrases beginning only by…, only in…, only with…,etc.:

Only by chance had Jameson discovered where the birds were nesting.

Mary had to work at evenings and weekends. Only in this way was she able to complete the report by the deadline.

· After the expressions with preposition + no, such as at no time, on no account, under/in no circumstances:

At no time did they actually break the rules of the game.

Under no circumstances are passengers permitted to open the doors themselves.

· After expressions with not…, such as not only, not until,and also not + object:

Not until August did the government order an inquiry into the accident.

Not a single word had she written sine the exam had started.

· Afterlittle with a negative meaning:

Little did they know how lucky they are to live in such a wonderful house.

Little did I then realize the day would come when Michael would be famous.

· After a clause beginning with only after/if/whenor not until:

Only when the famine gets worse will world governments begin to act.

Not until the train pulled into Euston Station did Jim find that his coat had gone.

· After “so +adjective … that”; “such+be…that”; “neither…/nor…”

Her business was so successful that Marie was able to retire at the age of 50. or

So successful was her business, that Marie was able to retire at the age of 50.

The weather conditions became so dangerous that all mountain roads were closed.

or

So dangerous did the weather conditions become, that all mountain roads were closed.

He play is so popular that the theatre is likely to be full every night. Or

Such is the popularity of the play that the theatre is likely to be full every night.

For some time after the explosion Jack couldn’t hear, and neither could he see.

The council never wanted the new supermarket to be built,nor did local residents.

All the examples above are used in formal language, usually for rhetorical effect, such as political speeches. They are not ususal in everyday spoken language.

1. Inversion after adverbial phrases of direction and place.

It is usual with certain verbs of movement, such as climb, come, fly, go, hang, lie, run, sit, stand and the verb be:

Above the fireplacewasa portrait of the Duke.

(not …a portrait of the Duke was)

In an armchair sat his mother. (rather than …his mother sat)

Don’t invert the subject and the predicate with other verbs and when the subject is a pronoun (don’t say “In an armchair sat she”). This sort of inversion is found particularly in formal or literary styles.

2. In speech inversion often occurs after here and there, and after adverbs such as back, down, in, off, up, round:

Here comes Sandra’s car. I lit the fuse and after a few seconds upwentthe rocket.

Knowledge of the above structures may help you, as an advanced learner, to acquire additional variety and power of expression.

So, there are three kinds of inversion:

1. Grammatical(to express grammatical relations):

- in questions: Is he at home?

- In conditional clauses introduced without a conjunction (asyndetically): Had he gone to her aid he would only have got himself caught.

2. Communicative(to provide the final position in he sentence for the communicatively most important part, the so-called “end-focus”):

- in sentences with introductory there: There weren’t too many people in the Zoo.

- in sentences beginning with adverbial modifiers, especially very long ones: At the square table, on a stiff armchair, both of blackwood and heavily carved, sat the Manchu.

- in sentences beginning with so or neither (showing that the remark applies equally to someone oe something else): “I’m enjoying this”. “So am I”.

3. Emphatic(to make a part of the sentence prominent by placing it in an unusual position):

- in sentences beginning with the words having a negative or restrictive meaning: Never had he spoken with a more fiery eloquence.

- in sentences beginning with a predicative, adverbial of manner or direction: Tall and graceful was Joy. Well do I remember the day.

18. Speak on the uses of the future progressive.(= future continuous)

Formation. All the forms of the future continuous are analytic. They are formed with the future indefinite of the auxiliary to be (shall be, will be) and participle I (Verb+ -ing) of the notional verb.

The future continuous is used to denote:

1. An action in progress at a certain moment of time or during a certain period of time in the future.

At that time she will be having her early morning cup of coffee.

When she comes, I think I’ll be packing already.

As can be seen from the above examples, the moment (or period) of time at which the action is taking place is either indicated by special adverbials of time, or is implied by another future action, or else by the context or situation.

2. An action, the occurrence of which is expected by the speaker.

By the way, Megan will be coming to lunch.

She says she’ll be seeing you tomorrow.

In all its uses the future continuous is rendered in Russian by means of the future tense of the imperfective aspect (будет пить, буду лететь, буду упаковываться, etc.).

3. The Future Progressive can have a modal meaning: it can denote an action which is sure to take place, often independently of the will of the doer of the action or the speaker:

I feel I shall be asking you the same question tomorrow.

There are four more future tense verb forms in English: the future in the past indefinite, the future in the past continuous, the future in the past perfect, the future in the past perfect continuous, which differ from the previously discussed forms. They refer the actions not to the actual future, but to the future viewed as such from the standpoint of past time.

The future in the past forms are dependent, as they are used mainly in object clauses in reported speech after verbs in the past tense forms.

The future in the past continuous is used to denote an action in progress at a certain moment of time, or an action that is expected by the speaker as a result of a naturally developing situation, both referring to the future considered as such at a certain moment of time in the past:

And she thought, poor soul, that at this time next Sunday she would be approaching her beloved Paris.

Then she mentioned in a rather matter-of-fact way, that Jack would be calling the very next day.