Fronting and inversion
Emphatic structures
Fronting and inversion
DEFINITIONS:
Fronting: this is when we start a sentence with
sth (i.e. a complement of “be” or an adverbial
of place or direction) that is not the subject:
Up jumped the cat.
Inversion: this is when the word order in a
statement is not the typical subject + verb, but
auxiliary + subject + verb:
Never did I stop loving you.
Fronting and inversion
USES:
We use fronting and inversion:
1. Because we want to emphasize what we put
at the beginning of the sentence
2. In formal texts
Fronting
Structure:
FRONTED/EMPHASIZED ELEMENT + VERB + SUBJECT:
Here comes the doctor.
 When the subject is a personal pronoun, we keep
the usual word order (fronted + subject+ verb):
Here he comes. (Not: Here comes he).
 We don’t use “DO”:
The cat jumped up. –>
Up did jump the cat  Up jumped the cat.
Fronting
Uses:
We find the word order FRONTED ELEMENT + VERB + SUBJECT:
 When the complement of “be” is fronted:
His speciality is Andalucian gastronomy. 
Andalucian gastronomy is his speciality.
A beach hut is standing on the sand. 
Standing on the sand is a beach hut.
 When an adverbial of place, direction or time is fronted:
An old woman was behind the desk. –>
Behind the desk was an old woman. (place)
Joan walked into the room. –>
Into the room walked Joan. (direction)
The scouts came first. 
First came the scouts. (time)
Inversion
Structure:
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT + AUXILIARY + SUBJECT + VERB
 When the sentence does not contain an
auxiliary verb, we use a form of “do”:
We rarely visit that part of the town. 
Rarely do we visit that part of the town.
Emphasized el. – aux – subject – verb
Inversion
Uses:
We find the word order EMPHASIZED ELEMENT + AUXIL. + SUBJECT + VERB:
 When a negative word/phrase is put at the beginning of the
sentence:
Not until I got home did I realise how lucky I had been.
Under no circumstances should you exercise after eating a heavy
meal.
Never before had I seen anything so beautiful.
No longer can boys and girls pick up their skills from their parents.
No sooner had Tim left, than the phone rang.
A: I can’t swim. B: Neither/ Nor can I. (With “neither/nor” there is no
main verb after the subject)
Inversion
Uses:
We find the word order EMPHASIZED ELEMENT + AUXIL. + SUBJECT + VERB:
 When a limiting word/phrase (only/little) is put at the beginning of
the sentence:
Only after her death was I able to aprreciate her.
Only when I took the test did I realise how little I knew.
Only later did she realise that she had been given the wrong change.
Little did I know that the course of my life was about to change.
“Little” (adverb) is used here to say that someone did not know or
think that something would happen or was true.
Inversion
Uses:
We find the word order AUXILIARY + SUBJECT + VERB:
(Here the auxiliary verb is the emphasized element)
 In conditional clauses, when we don’t use the conditional conjuntion
but start with the auxiliaries “should/were/had”:
 First conditional: SHOULD + SUBJECT + INFINITIVE VERB
If you arrive late, go straight to my office. 
Should you arrive late, go straight to my office.
 Second conditional: WERE + SUBJECT + TO-INFINITIVE VERB
If we reduced the price, we would make no profit. 
Were we to reduce the price, we would make no profit.
 Third conditional: HAD + SUBJECT + PAST PERFECT VERB
If I had known, I would have protested strongly. 
Had I known, I would have protested strongly.
Inversion
Uses:
We find the word order EMPHASIZED ELEMENT + AUXIL.(=MAIN VERB) + SUBJECT:
 When “so” is used at the beginning of a sentence/clause:
So successful was her business that Marie retired at the age of 50.
We left early and so did my friends.
A: I’m hungry. B: So am I.
 When “such” is used at the beginning of a sentence:
Such is the popularity of the play that the theatre is likely to be full
every night.
Fronting and inversion
Created by:
Carmen Luisa Pérez Amaro