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Magician Italo
"never have I seen..." or "rarely do I find..." grammar estructure? can't get it
adv+verb+subject
where can I find more information about this estructure?
7 mag 2011 22:06
Risposte · 8
3
'Never have I seen' is called 'inversion after negative adverbials'
When we want to put more emphasis on the negative aspect/ or uniqueness of a situation we can put the adverb at the start of the sentence but then we have to 'invert' the subject and the auxiliary (like in questions)
'I had never seen so many people in a room.' (normal sentence structure) 'Never had I seen so many people in a room.' (inverted sentence structure)
When the sentence is in the present or past simple we use the auxiliaries do/does and did.
'Rarely does Bob speak to himself.'
http://practiseenglish.blogspot.com/2009/04/grammar-issues-inversion.html
http://www.michellehenry.fr/inversion.htm
We can also add emphasis to positive sentences in the present and past simple by using the auxiliaries do/does and did . 'I do love him!' 'I did finish my home work!'
8 maggio 2011
Whats the problem? what are you trying to write?
7 maggio 2011
It's just a fancy way of saying stuff:
Never/Rarely/Too often...
...have I done that.
...do I do that.
...would I do that.
It adds a bit of drama to the never/rarely/too often. You won't need any more information. The rules are clear to see.
8 maggio 2011
This structure is used occasionally, but its not very common in comparison to the normal structure.
"Never have I seen" is literally the same exact thing as "I have never seen", and so on.
The structure that you're asking about sounds somewhat older. But like I said, it means the same exact thing, and you will not hear it nearly as much as just "I have never seen...", "I rarely find...", etc.
Hope this helps a bit :)
7 maggio 2011
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Magician Italo
Competenze linguistiche
Inglese, Giapponese, Spagnolo
Lingua di apprendimento
Inglese, Giapponese
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