8.3 Initial negative adverbs and inversion

Rule: When a negative adverb or adverbial phrase occurs first in a clause, subject and verb are inverted.

Examples of errors:

1. Only if this were made possible, the students would know what areas of study to concentrate.
2. Only with ideas composition is possible.
3. Only then they can face political propaganda without believing everything they are confronted with.
4. Only if we use our highly developed industries we can remove the relics of the past.
5. Only in recent years the average population has become aware of environmental pollution.
6. Only then there is no danger of the teacher hurting the child's development.
7. Only after people were forced to inform themselves they realized that there was a need for change.
8. On no account the problem should be fought with legislation.
9. Very seldom these solutions meet the needs of old people.

Inversion of subject and verb means the subject and verb have interrogative word order. As in questions, it is the auxiliary verb, be or have which is inverted, if one of these is present. If not, do is inserted in inverted position (cf. (7), (9)). Subjects include the existential or grammatical subject there (cf. (6)). The adverbs which cause subject-verb inversion in initial position include: never, nowhere, no sooner. not only, neither, nor, no more, no longer, seldom, only, hardly, scarcely , barely, rarely, little, under/in no circumstances, on no account, by no means, in no way, etc. The tone of such inversion is always rather formal, rhetorical or literary, with the non-inverted alternative preferred in ordinary speech and writing, e.g.:

Never have I read a more curious book. (more formal)
I have never read a more curious book. (less formal)

There are a few non-negative adverbs which in initial clause position--again with rhetorical effect (particularly in story-telling)--cause inversion. These include primarily adverbs of movement: in, out, up, down, round, over, back, etc. If the subject is a pronoun, however, there is no inversion. Compare:

At that point, in strode the man of whom we had just been speaking.
Round the corner came two huge German shepherds.
Out you go, you little rascal!
So down to the basement I went.