TENSE TUESDAY: USING 'NEVER' WITH INVERSION FOR EMPHASIS
20 / 10 / 2015
TENSE TUESDAY: USING 'NEVER' WITH INVERSION FOR EMPHASIS: meaning and examples
Hello, everyone, and happy Tuesday to you!
For Tense Tuesday, we are looking at the concept of INVERSION. INVERSION is where we change the "normal" order of words in a sentence. We do this for EMPHASIS.
There are many ways we can invert sentences. Today we are looking at inverting PERFECT TENSE sentences with the word NEVER. First, here is an example of a "normal" sentence, without inversion.
Example 1: I have never seen you so angry.
With INVERSION, we begin the sentence with "never" and switch the words "have" and "I."
Example 2: NEVER have I seen you so angry.
Do the sentences mean the same thing? Essentially, yes. But there is more emphasis, in the second sentence, on the adverb never; the message is that this is the first time the speaker has seen this person so angry. Let's look at some more examples.
Example 3 (not inverted): I had never eaten something so delicious.
Example 4 (inverted): NEVER had I eaten something so delicious.
In both of the examples, we use the PERFECT tenses (Present Perfect and Past Perfect), so we switched the verbs HAVE/HAD and the subject. We will look at some examples with other tenses (Simple Past and Simple Future) next week.
Let's see if you can invert a sentence. Can you give us the INVERTED version of the sentence below?
Sentence 5: I had never seen such a beautiful bride.
Give us your answer on our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/ZigguratEscuelaCorporativadeIdiomas
That's all for today! Never had we written such an interesting Tense Tuesday post.
Have a great day!
For Tense Tuesday, we are looking at the concept of INVERSION. INVERSION is where we change the "normal" order of words in a sentence. We do this for EMPHASIS.
There are many ways we can invert sentences. Today we are looking at inverting PERFECT TENSE sentences with the word NEVER. First, here is an example of a "normal" sentence, without inversion.
Example 1: I have never seen you so angry.
With INVERSION, we begin the sentence with "never" and switch the words "have" and "I."
Example 2: NEVER have I seen you so angry.
Do the sentences mean the same thing? Essentially, yes. But there is more emphasis, in the second sentence, on the adverb never; the message is that this is the first time the speaker has seen this person so angry. Let's look at some more examples.
Example 3 (not inverted): I had never eaten something so delicious.
Example 4 (inverted): NEVER had I eaten something so delicious.
In both of the examples, we use the PERFECT tenses (Present Perfect and Past Perfect), so we switched the verbs HAVE/HAD and the subject. We will look at some examples with other tenses (Simple Past and Simple Future) next week.
Let's see if you can invert a sentence. Can you give us the INVERTED version of the sentence below?
Sentence 5: I had never seen such a beautiful bride.
Give us your answer on our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/ZigguratEscuelaCorporativadeIdiomas
That's all for today! Never had we written such an interesting Tense Tuesday post.
Have a great day!
