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Improve Your Writing with
Inversion, Part Two |
In last week’s Everyday Grammar, we told you about a few
kinds of inversion that are useful in academic writing
and common on the TOEFL. But there are others. Today,
we’ll talk about three more. In fact, I already used one
kind in my introduction.
Comparatives
Let’s begin with comparatives. When you learn about
comparatives, you are usually taught to compare two
subjects or two objects. Here’s an example that compares
two subjects:
She speaks English better than her brother does.
Notice that the second subject – her brother – comes
after the comparative word “than.” And, the auxiliary
verb (in this case, “does”) comes at the end of the
statement.
But, we can also use inversion to compare the two
subjects. When we do this, the auxiliary verb ("does")
comes after the word "than." Here’s how it would sound
with the example:
She speaks English better than does her brother.
It sounds strange, but that’s because it’s not something
we do in spoken English. Again, inversion is very
formal, usually used in written form, and only
appropriate in some types of writing.
Comparing two subjects using inversion is something you
can find in academic writing and on the TOEFL. Listen
for the comparison in this reading about lions:
Lions roar louder than do all wild cats. At 114
decibels, their roar is among the animal world’s 10
loudest and can be heard from a distance up to 8
kilometers. A lion’s volume helps it locate other lions
and shows dominance over territory.
The inversion appears in this statement:
Lions roar louder than do all wild cats.
Notice again that the inversion appears immediately
after the comparative word “than.” The auxiliary verb
“do” follows “than” and comes before the second subject.
Not too difficult.
Conditionals
Now, let’s move to conditionals. When we talk about
hypothetical situations, we usually use the word “if” to
show the condition and a modal verb to show the result.
These statements are called “conditionals.” For example:
If the package arrives by Friday, I will cancel the
second order.
But, in very formal conditionals, we do things a little
differently. We replace the word “if” with the auxiliary
verbs “had” “should” or “were.” When we do this, we are
putting the auxiliary verb before the subject.
You may see formal conditionals on the TOEFL test. You
can also use them in an essay, but be sure to use them
correctly. You must know which word (“should,” “were” or
“had”) goes with which type of conditional.
Listen to a short example on the economy. The first
statement uses “if” in the conditional clause:
If the president continues pushing the tariffs, the
economy could suffer great losses. Some companies are
already shifting jobs overseas.
And here’s the example again using “were” and inversion:
Were the president to continue pushing the tariffs, the
economy could suffer great losses.
Notice the example’s construction. The words “Were the
president to continue” follow the construction auxiliary
verb + subject + main verb. You may also notice that the
main verb -- “to continue” -- is the infinitive. When
using “were” to make a conditional, we use the
infinitive form after the subject.
Phrases with “there”
This next type of inversion may seem easy. You’ve
already seen – and probably used – “there is” and “there
are” many times in your English speaking and writing.
The construction there + BE + subject is used in
everyday speech and common in writing. It is also a kind
of inversion. We use it to point to the presence or
existence of something or someone. For example, “There
are some great Ethiopian restaurants on 9th Street” is
what I might say if someone asked me for restaurant
suggestions. In English, we simply would not use the
traditional subject + verb word order in such a
statement.
But, in academic writing and on language tests such as
the TOEFL, you may find constructions with “there” that
are a little more complex. So, here are two things worth
remembering:
Verbs other than “to be,” such as “to exist” or “to
come” can be used.
But, pay attention: The statement may not always begin
with “there.” It may be part of a subordinate clause.
Let’s hear an example using the verb “to exist.” The
passage comes from an academic blog at Vanderbilt
University:
Icy Europa has a surface of water-ice over an interior
that is heated by tidal heating. Scientists hypothesize
that there exists an ocean just beneath the icy surface.
It may even be possible that this concealed ocean holds
more than double the amount of liquid water in all of
Earth’s oceans.
Listen again to the statement containing “there exists”:
Scientists hypothesize that there exists an ocean just
beneath the icy surface.
The construction “there exists” does not begin the
statement. It is part of a that-clause: a subordinate
clause beginning with the word “that.”
But, you’ll note that “there exists an ocean” still
follows the construction there + verb + subject.
Well that’s our time for today. Should you wish to
practice inversion, you can try out the practice
statements we’ve provided.
I’m Alice Bryant.
Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Caty
Weaver was the editor. |
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