hi everyone i’m jennifer from english with jennifer here with another grammar lesson i’ll start with a tip when you study grammar don’t be afraid to ask questions in fact when you leave a lesson you should have answers to some very important questions like what what did i just learn why why do i need this grammar how how do i form it when when do i use this grammar children often make wonderful learners because they’re curious let’s not lose our curiosity ask questions till you get the answers you need right now i’m going to try my best to satisfy your curiosity about subject verb inversion in english statement word order is subject plus verb in all my earlier questions i used subject verb inversion i flipped the two around verb plus subject what did i just learn why do i need this grammar how do i form it when do i use it we also use subject verb inversion in tag questions and negative questions you understand don’t you this isn’t difficult is it wouldn’t you like to learn something new so subject verb inversion is a way we make questions different from statements one exception would be embedded questions embedded questions aren’t real questions they’re a type of noun clause inside a larger statement or inside a question i’ve told you what inversion is what inversion is is an embedded question this noun clause is the object of the verb would you like to know where else inversion is used i am asking a real question but inside this question is an embedded question the noun clause again is acting as the object of a verb you can watch my lessons on embedded questions if you need to review just remember they aren’t real questions so they use statement word order subject plus verb questions real questions there are half dozen other cases where we see subject verb inversion let’s go through them shall we we can use so and neither to make additions in conversation we use so and neither to agree with someone about something and inversion is needed haley likes watching movies at home so do i jacob doesn’t like crowded movie theaters neither do i we use so for affirmative statements and neither for negative statements both words are followed by a helping verb and then a noun or a subject pronoun you remember these patterns don’t you let’s practice complete these additions use the correct verb plus subject i love musicals so do i i’m not crazy about horror films with a lot of violence neither am i i’ve never walked out of a theater in the middle of a movie neither have i for a long time i didn’t know that hugh jackman could sing [Music] neither did i i’ve always appreciated michael j fox as an actor so have i okay try two more tom hanks hasn’t played many villains and neither and neither has george clooney jennifer lawrence has starred in a sci-fi movie and so and so has anne hathaway noor is one of the coordinating conjunctions in english it’s one of the fanboys for and nor but or yet so nor allows us to make an addition a negative addition it joins two independent clauses together and they form a compound sentence the first clause is negative and we add another idea that also carries a negative meaning i do not like movies with a lot of violence nor do i care for strong vulgarity meaning a lot of swearing i do not like that’s negative nor do i care meaning i don’t care for that kind of language the movie did not offer a happy ending nor did it aim to inspire any hope but it provoked thought in this sentence i actually have two coordinating conjunctions nor and but but creates a contrast nor allows an addition a negative edition i have three independent clauses the clause with nor has subject verb inversion when we use subject-verb inversion note the use of helping verbs these are the same verbs we use to form questions also note that i don’t use any contractions i use full forms that’s because nor is rather formal you won’t use it much in everyday english can you complete this sentence you can put your idea in the comments if you watched my playlist on conditional sentences you’ll know that not all conditionals use if in formal english we can create conditionals with the help of subject verb inversion we do this with the past perfect like had known had done with the modal verb should and with were plus the infinitive look had i known that hugh jackman could sing and dance i would have been even more impressed should you need to review you could refer to the other grammar lessons i recommend in the video description were i to write a film script i would make it with a happy ending whether i use inversion or not this combination of were plus an infinitive suggests that it’s highly unlikely i’m probably not going to write a film script but if i ever did were i to write a film script i would have a happy ending practice with me rewrite these conditionals with subject verb inversion we’re going to make them more formal [Music] answers had they bought tickets online they would have gotten better seats should you ever have to leave a movie before it is over be quiet as you exit the theater for jennifer to be invited to co-star with brad pitt in a movie she would readily accept here there and prepositional phrases help us create adverbials that answer the questions where and when in literature like fairy tales subject verb inversion is sometimes used it doesn’t sound like everyday english to my ears it sounds poetic and at times musical listen there on the other side of the rainbow was a shining pot of gold deep in the dark forest lived an evil witch so why is inversion happening it’s a tool we can use in descriptive writing these place adverbials are at the front of the sentence when we have adverbials of time and place in this initial position we can use inversion and of course i can say an evil witch lived deep in the dark forest but it doesn’t sound as exciting does it i get the feeling that the structure builds up anticipation we want to know what is on the other side of the rainbow who lived in the forest and were waiting to get that key piece of information but we don’t have to turn to children’s books for examples of inversion everyday statements with here and there use inversion here comes the train stand up here’s the money i owe you ah there goes my bus i missed it again here’s an expression you can learn it uses subject verb inversion here goes nothing we say this when we’re about to take a risk and try something new it’s difficult in some way we suspect that it’s going to be unpleasant we may meet with failure here goes nothing for example i invite you to go roller skating you’ve never roller skated before you put on your skates you stand up and you say here goes nothing you’re saying well let’s see how this goes earlier i told you about the coordinating conjunction nor it joins two independent clauses together there’s also a correlative conjunction it’s made up of two parts not only but also is an example it’s an example of a correlative conjunction if you start a sentence with not only you need inversion in the first part but also is a continuation you’re adding an idea not only this but also that in the first clause you must invert the subject and verb not only was robin williams a hilarious comedian but he was also an incredibly talented actor not only could he do comedy but he could also pull your heartstrings and dramatic roles with a correlative conjunction we need parallel structure look how the two parts have parallel grammar the two sides are equal how would you finish these sentences you can put your ideas in the comments and remember that first part has inversion let’s continue with negative structures many negative adverbs can start a sentence we use this initial position for emphasis and this position forces us to use subject verb inversion i have a full lesson on negative adverbs and inversion i’ll put the link in the video description right now let’s review several examples as i give each example spot the inversion seldom do comedies win awards for best picture of the year rarely do actors make short acceptance speeches when they win an award hardly had the movie begun when someone in our row exited to use the restroom not for a moment did the fast-paced action let up it was one thrill after another never have i cried so much while watching a movie little did anyone realize at the time of filming that strictly ballroom would become a worldwide success can you use subject-verb inversion in these sentences do answers rarely do movie productions stay within budget not even for a second did they question the director’s decision adverb clauses with only in the initial position also call for subject-verb inversion but the inversion happens in the main clause later in the sentence can you spot the inversion in these examples only if i’m really scared by a movie will i sleep with the light on only after the parents checked under the bed for monsters did the little boy agree to sleep alone can you finish this sentence it can be movie related or not put your sentence in the comments we’ll lend here hopefully you understand what inversion is and when we use it for example in real questions and in formal conditional sentences i hope you also understand how we use inversion to emphasize negative ideas you can check out other lessons in my grammar playlist and please remember to like and share this video as always thanks for watching and happy studies follow me on facebook twitter and instagram why not join me on patreon and don’t forget to subscribe on youtube