Learnship 03 - 2023/08/10

Posted on Edited on In

Homework

Read and learn the grammar notes about Inversion.

Questions

The most common uses of inversion word order are in questions and short answers.

  1. In inversion word order, the auxiliary comes before the subject.

    Have you got any paperclips? ~ No. ~ Neither have I.

  2. Do / does is used as an auxiliary with simple-tense verbs.

    Does Chris like the new receptionist?

  3. Ordinary verbs be and have and modal auxiliaries do not require do.

    Was I the best candidate?
    Can you help me?

As well as in questions, inversion is used in a variety of structures, often rather formally.

Negative expressions

  1. Inversion is used after the negative words neither and nor, and after phrases with not and no.

    In no way do I accept their conclusions. Neither do I think the report should be circulated.

  2. We also use inversion after adverbs such as seldom, rarely, scarcely, hardly(ever), little that restrict the meaning / reference of the verb that follows.

    Rarely have I been to such a well-organized product launch.
    Little did we know that she had accepted a position with our rivals.

Only

  • When only is used with time expressions or prepositional phrases, the verb that follows is inverted.

    Only before 30 September can you hand in a non-calculated tax return.
    Only by traveling overland can you really appreciate a country.

Participles

  • When participles are moved to the front position, inversion takes place in formal English.

    Waiting for us in his office was my boss.

Conditions

  • Instead of saying if I has, if she was, etc., we can use inversion.

  • Note that was becomes were.

    Had the minister announced the tax increases more openly, he would have faced a storm of criticism.
    Had I been told about the dress code, I wouldn’t have felt such a fool.
    Were she to be fired, she’d probably sue.

  • We can use the inverted structure should + subject as another way of expressing condition.

    Should we require further information, we will contact you again.(= if we require…)

  • These forms are especially common with passive structure.

The Exercise

Rewrite the sentences so that the meaning is the same, using an inversion and the words or phrases in brackets

  1. Eric didn’t get your email. And he didn’t get your voicemail message either. (neither)

    Eric didn’t get your email, and neither did he get your voicemail message.

  2. I don’t know how often she’s away from her desk. And I don’t care, really. (nor)

    I don’t know how often she’s away from her desk. Nor do I care, really.

  3. It’s not often that so many strong applicants have applied for a post with us. (seldom)

    Seldom have so many strong applicants apply applied for a post with us.

  4. Visitors must never go beyond reception without a pass. (under no circumstances)

    Under no circumstances can should visitors go beyond reception without a pass.

  5. It’s the first time that I’ve seen such a wonderful production. (never)

    Never had I seen such a wonderful production.|Never have I seen such a wonderful production.

  6. I won’t be satisfied until we’re the market leader. (not until)

    Not until we’re the market leader will I be satisfied.

  7. They offer a very generous pension scheme. And they also offer flexitime. (not only)

    Not only do they offer a very generous pension scheme, they also offer flexitime.

  8. We’ve never failed to live up to our core values of decency, innovation, and trust. (at no time)

    At no time have we failed to live up to our core values of decency, innovation, and trust.

Rewrite sentences 1-5 from this value statement. Use the words and phrases and an inversion. See the example.

Example:

1 At PAFO Organics, not only are we committed to providing the best-tasting produce, we’re also inspired to source the most ethical food available.

only by, rarely, not only, nor, under no circumstances

1At PAFO Organics we are committed to providing the best-tasting produce and we’re also inspired to source the most ethical food available. 2We won’t accept food that hasn’t been created with sustainability of resources in mind, under any circumstances. 3And we won’t allow our food to travel thousands of miles unnecessarily. We’re passionate about sourcing the finest-tasting ingredients on offer. 4We can only do this by testing our produce regularly. 5But we don’t often have to change suppliers; most of the small farmers who provide our vegetables are skilled agriculturists — many of them have won regional and national awards.

2 Under no circumstances will we accept food that hasn’t been created with sustainability of resources in mind.

3 Nor will we allow our food to travel thousands of miles unnecessarily.

4 Only by testing our produce regularly can we do this.

5 Rarely have we had to change suppliers. But rarely do we have to change suppliers.

Type the correct answers to complete the sentences.

  1. Were you to take the job. you would have to move to Oxford.

  2. Under no circumstances are you allowed to use the Internet.

  3. Not only have we increased sales, we’ve also reduced waste.

  4. Had we known about the pollution issues, we wouldn’t have done it.

  5. At no time will we produce unethical products.

Click on the mistake in each sentence, then correct it

There are several issues that need dealing with. Not only have we been unable to meet our orders this month,
but we’ve also had difficulties with our suppliers. Had we been given more notice about the supplier situation,
we could have coped. But at no time did they contact us to tell us about the problems.
As for the shortfall in orders, part of the problem is the supply, but under no circumstances should we have allowed
this to happen. Were these problems to occur again, we’d be putting our business at serious risk.

Complete this text with these words and phrases

Have you ever arrived at work thinking something was wrong? It recently happened to me. On Saturday morning, when I arrived at the City Concert Hall, there were a lot of musicians waiting outside. No sooner had I opened the front door than the musicians started to come in and complain. Not only were they unhappy that their next concert had been cancelled, but they were also very angry that they hadn’t been paid for weeks. I tried to explain that I only looked after the Concert Hall and I had nothing to do with money or music. They said that a lot of tickets had been sold, but they had no idea where the money had gone. Nor did I, I kept telling them. Not until two days later did we all find out that the concert organizer had run off with all the money.

Complete this text by adding one of these expressions in each space.

Only occasionally did she find herself reading someone else’s newspaper, over their shoulder, as she sat in the station waiting room. Mostly she was just not very interested, nor was she willing to risk getting caught. Why is it so embarrassing to get caught doing that, she wondered to herself. It isn’t against the law or anything. But facing her today was something that really caught her attention. One of our greatest fears in modern life, the headline said, was having to speak in public. The article offered ways to develop your confidence. Seldom had she ever had to speak to an audience, but it was her turn to give a ten minute presentation in her Spanish class that afternoon. Not only would she have to speak to an audience, she would have to do it in a foreign language. She felt the room getting hotter as she leaned forward to get a closer look. Suddenly blocking her view was part of a large black beard and the big nose of the newspaper’s owner. ‘Oops. Oh, here comes my train,’ she said quickly, as she stood up and stumbled towards the door. Public speaking isn’t scary, she thought to herself, it is public reading that makes me really nervous.

Listen to an extract from a conference call. Write the one question and the one statement from the dialogue that are expressed in the inversion form. Listen again to check your answers.

Question:

Are we all agreed?

Statement:

Had I been given more notice on these other jobs, this wouldn’t have happened.

Business Language Coaching - Session 3 - Voice Power

  • Listen to and workshop your presentation
  • Explore how pausing can help you communicate more successfully

[TODO] need to find my presentation notes

Starting Point

  • What were your key takeaways from last week’s session where we workshopped your presentation?

  • How have you got on with the homework assignment?

Voice Power: Pausing

Work with a partner. Listen to part of a presentation about public speaking. One of you should mark the pauses on the script below like this |. The other should underline the stressed words and phrases.

You *know, | there are a lot of myths about speaking in public. | Myth number one | is that what you actually say | is only seven percent of the message. | Thirty-eight percent is how you sound | and fifty-five percent is how you look. | But think about it. | I mean, | if that was true, | you could go to a talk in Swahili | and still understand ninety-three percent! | Myth number two is that public speaking is most people’s greatest fear | - just above death. | The comedian Jerry Seinfeld has a great joke about that. | He says, | “Come on, | if it really was their greatest fear, | at a funeral | the person giving the eulogy | would rather be in the box!”

Vocabulary/Notes

  • in Britain

  • at no time = never

  • If these problems occurred again… = Were these problems to occur again

  • avoid dropping ‘s’:
    conceptS, serverS

  • it is decreased by* two-thirds

  • Swahili
    an African language

  • an eulogy
    speech given at a funeral