Business English C1 · Lesson 10A

Grammar Bank

The rules behind this lesson — form, use, model sentences and the mistakes to avoid.

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Grammar focus of this lesson

emphatic inversion (only then, no sooner)

1 structure

Adding emphasis (1): inversion
Fronting a negative or restrictive adverbial forces question word order.
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Rules & form
- ›Never, rarely, seldom, little, at no time + auxiliary + subject.
- ›Not only… but also… · No sooner… than… · Hardly… when…
- ›Only after / only when / only then + inversion in the main clause.
- ›Conditional inversion: Had we known… / Were it not for… / Should you need…
Examples
- “Never before had the board acted so quickly.”
- “No sooner had we launched than the competitor cut prices.”
- “Only later did the pattern become obvious.”
Watch out · Invert the main clause, not the only-clause: Only when he called, we knew ✗.
Your own example