Inversion (negative words)

inversion

In formal styles, when we use an adverb with negative meaning (e.g. never, seldom, rarely, scarcely, hardly) or an expression beginning with not (+ a prepositional phrase or a clause)  in front position for emphasis, we invert the subject (s) and auxiliary (aux)/modal verb. Here’s a great explanation on video with examples:

A complete list of easy exercises (drag and drop) are available in random idea english.

Practise with a film and activities based on it.

 

 

A multiple choice exercise on inversion can be found in esl-lounge. Easy to practise exercises (less than a minute each): perfect english and englishtenses.

More stuff if you want further practice in pdf inversionexercises2.