Lola's Blog

Inversion with conditionals In conditional (hypothetical) sentences we can sometimes drop "if" and use an inversion. ·               Should you see Nigel, give him my regards. ·              Were I in your shoes, I would make a formal complaint.    Had I known it was her birthday, I would have bought her a gift.     Note that "should", "were" and "had" are the only verbs that can be inverted in this way. (And "were" is also used with he, she and it.)   Had she not helped Contracted negative forms are not possible when we use an inverted word order to talk about an unreal or impossible situation in the past. Had she not helped me I would have been in bad trouble. ( NOT Hadn’t she helped me I would have been in bad trouble.) This is actually the inverted form of the sentence ‘ If she had not helped me I would have been in bad trouble’. Had it not rained yesterday, we would have finished painting the

ONLY AFTER, ONLY BY, ONLY IN THIS WAY,  ONLY THEN, ONLY WHEN..... When a sentence beigns with only after, only if, only in this way , etc .  for rhetorical effect, the subject and auxiliary are inverted: Only after lunch can you play . (You can only play after lunch.) Only after finishing your homework can you play . (You can only play after you finish your homework.) Only after you have finished your homework can you play . (You can only play after you have finished your homework.) Only by guessing can you solve this puzzle. (You can only solve this puzzle by guessing.) Only if everybody agreed would I accept this position. (I would only accept this position if everybody agreed.)     Only in this way does this machine work . (This machine only works in this way.) Only then did they discover his secret. (They only discovered his secret then.) Only when he needed some help did he call me. (He only called me when he needed some help.) Only when I f