To emphasise a particular part of a sentence, or to make your writing more literary (such as in a poem or novel), you can invert the traditional order of a sentence. For example:
Standard order – He didn’t realise he had been tricked until the following day.
Inverted order – Not until the following day did he realise he had been tricked.
It is common to invert sentence using negative, ‘restrictive’ words such as those in the list below:
| hardly ever | Hardly ever had there been such a shortage of water. |
| never | Never had the President had to make such a difficult decision. |
| little | Little did she know time was running out. |
| scarcely ever | Scarcely ever have they had to wait for anything. |
| only by | Only by learning to type will he improve in his job. |
| under no circumstances | Under no circumstances is the prisoner to have visitors. |
| only in this way | Only in this way can we be sure to avoid repeating the problem in the future. |
| on no account | On no account is John to be given any money. |
| scarcely | Scarcely had they left the building when the bomb went off. |
| not only | Not only had he broken the law but he was also unrepentant. |
| seldom | Seldom have I seen such wealth. |
| nowhere | Nowhere else is there such an abundance of natural resources. |
| not until | Not until the following day did he realise he had been tricked. |