Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one.
1Never before ............... such strong resistance from the board.
Wrong!
After sentence-initial "Never before," use inversion, so "has the committee faced" is correct.
2Only after reading the full report ............... the seriousness of the issue.
Wrong!
After fronted "Only after," the main clause uses inversion, so "did she realise" is correct.
3Not until the audit was complete ............... clear.
Wrong!
After fronted "Not until," the main clause uses inversion, so "did the scale of the error become" is correct.
4Rarely ............... such a convincing performance.
Wrong!
After sentence-initial "Rarely," use inversion, so "have I seen" is correct.
5No sooner ............... than the emergency generator started.
Wrong!
The fixed pattern is "No sooner had... than," so "had the lights gone out" is correct.
6Under no circumstances ............... permitted to disclose confidential data.
Wrong!
After fronted "Under no circumstances," use inversion, so "are employees" is correct.
7Little ............... that the plan would collapse so quickly.
Wrong!
Sentence-initial "Little" meaning "not at all" takes inversion, so "did he suspect" is correct.
8Only when the final results arrived ............... to improve.
Wrong!
After fronted "Only when," the main clause uses inversion, so "did the data begin" is correct.
9Seldom ............... so much public debate.
Wrong!
After sentence-initial "Seldom," use inversion, so "has a policy generated" is correct.
10Not only ............... his statement, but he also apologised publicly.
Wrong!
After fronted "Not only," use inversion in that clause, so "did the witness retract" is correct.
11So intricate ............... that even the engineers struggled to explain it.
Wrong!
After fronted "So" plus an adjective, formal English can use inversion, so "was the mechanism" is correct.
12............... the merger to fail, thousands of jobs would be at risk.
Wrong!
Formal conditional inversion uses "Were" instead of "If the merger were," so "Were" is correct.
Answers
- Never before has the committee faced such strong resistance from the board.
- Only after reading the full report did she realise the seriousness of the issue.
- Not until the audit was complete did the scale of the error become clear.
- Rarely have I seen such a convincing performance.
- No sooner had the lights gone out than the emergency generator started.
- Under no circumstances are employees permitted to disclose confidential data.
- Little did he suspect that the plan would collapse so quickly.
- Only when the final results arrived did the data begin to improve.
- Seldom has a policy generated so much public debate.
- Not only did the witness retract his statement, but he also apologised publicly.
- So intricate was the mechanism that even the engineers struggled to explain it.
- Were the merger to fail, thousands of jobs would be at risk.
