Certain adverbs, when used at the beginning of a sentence, must be followed by auxiliary verbs (be, do, have, can must, etc.) + subject + the rest of the sentence. This kind of inversion, which may be used for particular emphasis, is typical of formal rhetoric and formal writing. It occurs after the following:
- negative or near-negative adverbs (often of time or frequency, such
as never, rarely, seldom); or adverbs having a negative effect, e.g.
little, on no account [> App 19]:
Never/Seldom has there been so much protest against the Bomb Little does he realize how important this meeting is On no account must you accept any money if he offers it The word order is, of course, normal when these adverbs do not begin a sentence:
There has never seldom been so much protest against the Bomb He little realizes how important this meeting is
- combinations with only (e.g. only after, only then): The pilot reassured the passengers Only then did I realize how dangerous the situation had been
- so + adjective (+ that) and such (+ that): So sudden was the attack (that) we had no time to escape Such was his strength that he could bend iron bars
For normal word order with so and such [> 1.52.1].
8 Prepositions, adverb particles and phrasal verbs
General information about prepositions and adverb particles
What a preposition is and what it does
We normally use prepositions in front of nouns or noun phrases,
pronouns or gerunds to express a relationship between one person,
thing, event, etc. and another:
preposition + noun: / gave the book to Charlie
preposition + pronoun: / gave it to him
preposition + gerund: Charlie devotes his time to reading
Some relationships expressed by prepositions are:
Space: We ran across the field
Time: The plane landed at 4 25 precisely
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Cause: Travel is cheap for us because of the strength of the dollar
Means: You unlock the door by turning the key to the right
Prepositions always have an object Even when a preposition is separated from its object, for example in questions [> 8.22, 13.31n4, 13.33] or relatives [> 1.35-38], the relationship is always there: Who(m) were you talking to just now on the phone? (= To whom) The chair I was sitting on was very shaky (= The chair on which...)