Common Mistake--Inversion 倒裝句

今天想分享我發現無論初小還是DSE學生都常犯的grammar錯誤--- inversion。 倒裝句是指把一般 S V O =1 2 3 的次序換成 V S O，即是1 2 3 這變成 2 1 3，最常見的用法是在問題上，例如:

1. I can swim. => Can I swim? 1 2 3 2 1 3 2. [Peter] [bought] [a new book]. => Did Peter buy a new book? 1 2 3 2 1 3

當statement的verb是auxiliary verb，如be, can, could, should, will, 等，就把整個verb調前，如例子1，如不是，則需把auxiliary do放在1的位置，並跟據tense同subject conjugate，正如例子2。

初小最常見的問題有數個，例如, 1. Did Peter bought a new book?/ Does Peter buys a new book?/ Do Peter buys a new book? 即是沒有conjugate auxiliary verb ，或conjugate了兩次，此情況大多是不小心，只要多加提醒小朋友前面轉左後面就不用就可以了。 第二是verb type的問題，很多小朋友有慨念問題要轉次序，但卻分不清auxiliary 同普通verb的分別，這些小朋友通常以can could shall should will would 沒有問題，但be 和do則會混淆，這情況由小一至小四都十分常見，例如會寫成 "Is she go to the park?"，這跟廣東話用法十分相似，例如."佢係唔係去左公園?"，因為 "be"同"係"的意思相近，所以小朋友會這樣寫問題，以下的方法我跟數名學生試過，普遍都有改善，首先要令小朋友分清 be-verb同do-verb，我這樣分類小朋友較易理解，"be"的朋友只有 is am are was were,其他所有都是do的朋友，如walk, talk, jump speak, eat等。(如學校已教present perfect的小朋友要小心，have has也是auxiliary，但以個人經驗已學present perfect的學生通常沒有這個問題)。學校還沒有教present perfect的小朋友，"have"對他們來說只有"擁有"的意思，所以歸類do-verb。所以: Be-verb I am tired. => Am I tired? She was sick. => Was she sick? She is going to school. => Is she going to school? Do-verb She has a sister. => Does she have a sister? Helen played at school. => Did Helen play at school? 這樣小朋友應該容易理解，練習方面，應著眼 positive, negative和question的關係作練習。例如: +ve She went to school. -ve She did not go to school. ? Did she go to school? +ve Thomas loves eating apples. -ve ? 只給小朋友其一，另外兩個需要自己思考。以我個人經驗，這對小朋友十分有幫助。 較複雜的用法包括: 1. Adverbial phrases/negative adverbs

HardlyHardly had I got into bed when the telephone rang.

NeverNever had she seen such a beautiful sight before.

SeldomSeldom do we see such an amazing display of dance.

RarelyRarely will you hear such beautiful music.

Only thenOnly then did I understand why the tragedy had happened.

Not only ... butNot only does he love chocolate and sweets but he also smokes.

2.conditionals with 'had' 'were' and 'should'

• Normal conditional: If I had been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.

• Conditional with inversion: Had I been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.

3. an adverbial expression of place eg. The sun came out and dried up all the rain.=> Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. The children walked up the hill. => Up the hill ran the children.

4. after 'so + adjective...that': eg. The food was so delicious that we ate every last bite. => So delicious was the food that we ate every last bite.

其中大人和高中常犯的錯是以下這個(名校高中生和大學生也會錯，必須注意!): "What was I thinking was whether she was telling the truth." 這明明是statement，很多學生卻被question word "what"誤導了，最簡單直接就是要記住，只有問題和上述的用法才需要inversion.上面例子用full stop，不是問題，只需寫 ""What I was thinking was whether she was telling the truth."，像普通statement便可，不要被question word打亂陣腳。 最後，如果英文底子好DSE要用inversion作文，加一兩句便可，底子不好或沒有信心的，還是先做好grammar和組織上的工夫，以免自亂陣腳，如果底子不好卻硬用inversion，考官一看就看出了。 希望這次分享對大家有用!