1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,599 Had I known this English point was a pain in the neck for a lot 2 00:00:04,639 --> 00:00:10,880 of English learners, I would have covered it before. Can you imagine how 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:20,280 I missed? This is beyond me. Let's discuss. Welcome to another Happy 4 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:25,199 English podcast, coming to you from New York City, and here's your English 5 00:00:25,199 --> 00:00:30,320 teacher, Michael. All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. 6 00:00:31,079 --> 00:00:37,000 It's Michael here from Happy English and I help people speak English better. And 7 00:00:37,119 --> 00:00:44,719 this is Happy English Podcast, episode six ninety four. In Version. One 8 00:00:44,759 --> 00:00:49,359 of my students asked me about this grammar point recently, and it was actually 9 00:00:49,399 --> 00:00:56,079 the first time anyone had asked. So let's dive in. Sometimes the word 10 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,640 order of a sentence has changed. In particular, we sometimes reverse the order 11 00:01:00,679 --> 00:01:07,040 of the subject and verb, and this is called inversion. For today's English 12 00:01:07,159 --> 00:01:14,079 lesson, let's look at five situations where this happens. And by the way, 13 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,760 a big shout out to Peter for asking about this topic. If you 14 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,640 have an English question that you'd like me to cover here on the podcast, 15 00:01:23,079 --> 00:01:27,079 please feel free to get in touch with me. First of all, and 16 00:01:27,159 --> 00:01:34,519 probably the most common way we reverse the subject and verb order is in questions. 17 00:01:34,359 --> 00:01:41,319 With questions the auxiliary verb or the b verb comes before the subject. 18 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:47,359 Here are some examples of this. I'll show you some statements followed by their 19 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:55,000 corresponding questions containing inversion. You can go there becomes can you go there? 20 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:01,120 The movie has started becomes has the movie started? Ted is out of the 21 00:02:01,159 --> 00:02:08,080 office becomes is ted out of the office. I think most English learners are 22 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:15,639 familiar with this kind of inversion. The next case is with may may can 23 00:02:15,719 --> 00:02:21,840 come before the subject when we wish something. The sound is a bit old 24 00:02:21,879 --> 00:02:28,000 fashioned, so you'll probably come across sentences like this in old movies, books, 25 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:36,800 or greeting cards. For example, may all of your dreams come true. 26 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:42,240 Congratulations on your wedding. May you both have a lot of health and 27 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:49,080 happiness in your life. My last boss was terrible. May he rot in 28 00:02:49,439 --> 00:02:57,199 hell. We also use inversion with short conversational responses like so do I, 29 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:05,120 so is Jack? Neither do I? Neither does jack? Nor can I 30 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:14,719 nor can jack? Next. We use inversion in some conditional sentences and clauses. 31 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:22,800 In these cases, the auxiliary verb the be verb and should replaces if 32 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:28,680 and comes before the subject. Here are some examples. Had I known about 33 00:03:28,719 --> 00:03:34,319 the exam, I would have studied. Had we paid attention to the map, 34 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:39,560 we would not have gotten lost. Were he my son, I would 35 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:45,879 never have let him go to that party. Should you have any questions, 36 00:03:46,439 --> 00:03:52,680 do not hesitate to ask me. The last one for today is regarding negative 37 00:03:52,879 --> 00:04:00,879 adverbs and phrases, and this happens most often informal and written in English. 38 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:08,159 We use negative adverbial phrases followed by an auxiliary verb and then a subject. 39 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:14,719 Here are some examples. She left me for another guy. Only then did 40 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,920 I realize what she meant to me. Not until the end of the day 41 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:25,079 did Kim begin to read the letter. Bob was not in the room when 42 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:30,639 the argument happened, and at no time was he even aware that there was 43 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:38,439 a problem. Finally, here are some examples using negative adverbs. Hardly can 44 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:46,120 we believe the news about James Little did we know about the company's financial problems. 45 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:53,079 Seldom have we heard such example sentences in daily conversation. You were thinking 46 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,920 that, right. Keep in mind the best way to remember this or any 47 00:04:57,959 --> 00:05:02,040 English point is to take the word or phrase, write it in a sentence 48 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:08,839 that's true for you or true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. 49 00:05:09,879 --> 00:05:14,160 Well, that's all the time we have today for this English lesson. 50 00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:19,480 May this lesson help your English grow. By the way, if you'd like 51 00:05:19,519 --> 00:05:25,879 to get more practice using your English, you need to join my podcast Learner's 52 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,879 study Group. There you can make new international friends, join me and your 53 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:39,000 friends for live group coaching every week. Plus you get the pdf, transcript 54 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:45,439 and audio download for every Happy English podcast in the past and in the future, 55 00:05:45,959 --> 00:05:51,480 and each episode has exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking 56 00:05:51,519 --> 00:05:56,920 and writing checked by me. To learn more or to see some of the 57 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,759 example sentences from this lesson, just is it Myhappy English dot com and choose 58 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:09,720 podcast lesson six ninety four. Remember, learning another language is not easy, 59 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:15,319 but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on your journey. 60 00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:20,399 This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. 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