Sentence With Inverted Subjects And Verbs
Subjects and
verbs are invited in a variety of situations in English. Inverted subjects and
verbs occur most often in the formation of a question. To form a question with
a helping verb (be, have, can, could, will, would, etc), the subject and
helping verb are inverted.
He can go to the movie
Can he go to the movies ?
You would tell me the truth.
Would you tell me the truth ?
She was sick yesterday.
Was she sick yesterday ?
Toform a question
when there is no helping verb in the sentence, the helping verb do is used.
He goes to the movies.
Does he go to the movies?
You told me the truth.
Did you tell me the truth?
There are many
other situations in English when subjects and verbs, you will be able to handle
the other situations the most common problem with inverted subject and verbs on
the TOEFL test occur in the following situations : (1) with question word such
as what, when, where, why and how;
(2) after some place expressions; (3) after negative expressions; (4) in some
conditionals; and (5) after some comparisons.
SKILL 13 INVERT
THE SUBJECT AND VERB WITH THE QUESTION WORD
There is some
confusion about when to invert the subject and verb after question words such
as what, when, where, why, and how. These
words can have two verydifferent functions in a stences. First, they can
introduce a questions, and in this case the subject and verb that follow are
inverted.
What is the homework?
When
can I leave?
Where are you going?
Also, these words
can join together two clauses, and in this case the subject and verb that
follow are not inverted.
I do not know what the homework is.
When I can leave, I will take the
first train.
Do you know where you are going?
In each of these
examples there are two clauses joined by a question word. Notice that the
subjects and verbs that follow the question words what, when, and where are
not inverted in this case.
SKILL 14 INVERT
THE SUBJECT AND VERB WITH PLACE EXPRESSIONS
After ideas
expressing place, the subject and the verb sometimes invert in English. This
can happen with single words expressing place, such as here, there, or nowhere.
Here
is the book that you lent me.
There
are the keys that I thought I
Nowhere
have I seen such beautiful weather.
In the first
example. The place word here causes the subject book to come after the
verb is. In the second example the
place word there causes the subject keys to come after the verb are. In the last example the place word
nowhere causes the subject I to come
after the verb have.
The subject and
verb can also be inverted after prepositional phrases expressing place.
In
the closet are the clothes that you
want.
Around
the corner is Sam’s house.
Beyond
the mountains lies the town where you
will live.
Example :
1.
The town council is not sure why
have the land developers changed their palins.
2.
Never in the world I believed that
this would happen.
3.
The day might have been a little
more enjoyable hand the sun been out a little more.
4.
Only once did the judge take the
defense lawyer’s suggetions.
5.
Down the hall to the left the
offices are that need to be painted.
6.
Did the scientist explain what he
put in the beaker?
7.
Hardly ever it snows in this
section of the country.
8.
Elijah scored more points in
yesterday’s basketball final than had any other player in history.
9.
In the state of California,
earthquakes occur regularly.
10. He
should ever call again, please tell him that I am not at home.
TOEFL
EXERCISE choose letter of the word or group of words that best completes the
sentence.
1.
Rarely__ located near city lights
or at lower elevations.
a.
Observatories are
b.
Are
c.
In the observatories
d.
Are observatories
2.
There are geographic, economic and
cultural reasons why__around the world.
a.
Diets differ
b.
Do diet differ
c.
Are diets different
d.
To differ a diet
3.
Were__millions of dollars each year
replenishing eroding beaches, the coastline would be changing even more
rapidly.
a.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
not spending
b.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers not spend
c.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
does not spend
d.
Not spending the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers
4.
Nowhere__more skewend than in the auto industry.
a.
the retail trade figures
b.
Retail trade figures
c.
Are retail trade figures
d.
D. retail trade figures
5.
New York City’s Central Park is
nearly twice as large__second smallest country, Monaco.
a.
As
b.
Is the
c.
As is
d.
As is the
6.
Potassium has a valence of positive
one beacause it usually loses one electron when__with other elements.
a.
Does it combine
b.
It combines
c.
In combining
d.
Combination
7.
The economic background of labor
legislation will not bementioned in this course__be treated.
a.
Trade unionisw will not
b.
Nor trade unionism will
c.
Nor will trade unionism
d.
Neither trade unionism will
8.
__test positive for antibiotics
when tanker trucks arrive at a milk processing plant, according to federal law,
the entire truckload must be discarded
a.
Should milk
b.
If milk
c.
If milk is
d.
Milk should
9.
Located behind__ the two lacrimal
glands.
a.
Each eyelid
b.
Is each eyelid
c.
Each eyelid are
d.
Each eyelid which is
10. Only
for a short period of time__run at top speed
a.
Cheetahs
b.
Do cheetahs
c.
That a cheetah can
d.
Can
