2

I'd like to know why some inversions need an auxiliary and others don't need one. For example: "Little did I know about her" auxiliary + subject + verb Why not "Little knew I about her", which is also an inversion?

But Here comes the sun; Adverb + verb + subject or down came the rain: Adverb + verb + subject Why not "Down did the rain come"?

They are all inversions, but some use an auxiliary and some just the verb. Thank you so much in advance!

Lola
  • 21
  • 2
    I guess the short answer is: When you need to invert, and you can't invert the verb, you use an auxiliary. Did you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93verb_inversion_in_English – Greg Lee Feb 12 '19 at 22:46
  • Since this is about relatively common inversions (no specific issue identified) and any good answer would be useful on ELL, I'm flagging this as off-topic ("belongs on ELL"). Lola, you may not be aware that this EL&U site is for "linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts", whereas your question is probably more suited to our other site [ell.se]. If you have a further question for ELL, be sure to read their guidance on what you can ask. :-) – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Feb 13 '19 at 05:18

0 Answers0