English Grammar

The anomalous finites are used to form inverted sentence patterns.

• I had no sooner got into the train than it steamed off.
• No sooner had I got into the train than it steamed off.

Anomalous finites are the only verbs in modern English which can form their negatives by the simple addition of not.

Compare:

• He will come. He will not come.

The term anomalous finites refers to the group of 24 finites given below:

• Is, am, are, was, were
• Has, have, had
• Do, does, did