“Well, yes. The fact is, these autumn races are the ruin of everybody. Never did I see such a day as ’twas! ‘Tis a wild open place, just out of Budmouth, and a drab sea rolled in towards us like liquid misery. Wind and rain — good Lord! Dark? Why, ’twas as black as my hat before the last race was run. ‘Twas five o’clock, and you couldn’t see the horses till they were almost in, leave alone colours. The ground was as heavy as lead, and all judgment from a fellow’s experience went for nothing. Horses, riders, people, were all blown about like ships at sea. Three booths were blown over, and the wretched folk inside crawled out upon their hands and knees; and in the next field were as many as a dozen hats at one time. Ay, Pimpernel regularly stuck fast, when about sixty yards off, and when I saw Policy stepping on, it did knock my heart against the lining of my ribs, I assure you, my love!”
[Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd. Chapter 39]

Not until the flames came into the dining room and leaped over the roof did we leave the house. Never did I work as hard as for the last team–never did I see the avenue so full, to say nothing of crazy people. Never did I see such a wind carrying flames across the broad avenue.

I testi presentati evidenziano alcune espressioni che iniziano con “NEVER“;  è possibile notare che se la frase inizia con “NEVER” questa richiede o l’inversione del soggetto o l’utilizzo dell’ausiliare do/does.
Infatti, dopo certi avverbi bisogna effettuare l’inversione del soggetto anche se la frase non è interrogativa. In genere sono avverbi con significato restrittivo o negativo che, per dare enfasi alla frase, vengono posti all’inizio di questa e sono subito seguiti dall’inversione del soggetto (come per l’interrogativa).

Esempio: Never did she see such a beautiful sight.

Vediamone una lista di alcuni tra i più importanti:
HARDLY - NEITHER - NOR - NEVER - NO SOONER … THAN - NOT ONLY - RARELY - SCARCELY EVER - SO …

Proposta di attività: Formulare alcune frasi utilizzando gli avverbi sopra elencati.

 

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