Inversions (Never had I seen…)

by Rich DeFion Posted on

 

📘 English to Bangla Course

Lesson: Inversions (উল্টানো বাক্যগঠন)

1. What is Inversion?

👉 Inversion happens when the normal word order (Subject + Verb) is changed, often to make the sentence more formal, emphatic, or dramatic.
➡️ বাংলায়: Inversion হলো যখন সাধারণ বাক্যের শব্দক্রম (Subject + Verb) পাল্টে জোরালো বা সাহিত্যিকভাবে প্রকাশ করা হয়।

2. Common Types of Inversion

a) Negative Adverbials + Auxiliary + Subject

(Never, Rarely, Seldom, Hardly, Scarcely, Little, Not only …)

  • Normal: I had never seen such a view.
  • Inversion: Never had I seen such a view.
    ➡️ আমি কখনও এমন দৃশ্য দেখিনি।
  • Normal: He seldom goes out at night.
  • Inversion: Seldom does he go out at night.
    ➡️ সে খুব কমই রাতে বাইরে যায়।

b) Hardly/Scarcely/No sooner … than …

  • Normal: I had hardly reached home when it started raining.
  • Inversion: Hardly had I reached home when it started raining.
    ➡️ আমি বাড়ি পৌঁছাতেই বৃষ্টি শুরু হলো।
  • Inversion (with “No sooner”): No sooner had I reached home than it started raining.

c) Conditional Inversion (If → Inversion)

  • Normal: If I were you, I would help him.
  • Inversion: Were I you, I would help him.
    ➡️ আমি যদি তোমার জায়গায় হতাম, আমি তাকে সাহায্য করতাম।
  • Normal: If he had known, he would have acted differently.
  • Inversion: Had he known, he would have acted differently.
    ➡️ যদি সে জানত, তবে ভিন্নভাবে কাজ করত।

d) Only after/when/then/if …

  • Normal: I understood the problem only after she explained it.
  • Inversion: Only after she explained it did I understand the problem.
    ➡️ সে ব্যাখ্যা করার পরেই আমি সমস্যাটা বুঝলাম।
  • Normal: He cried only then did they help him.
  • Inversion: Only then did they help him.

e) So / Such … that

  • Normal: He was so tired that he couldn’t walk.
  • Inversion: So tired was he that he couldn’t walk.
    ➡️ সে এত ক্লান্ত ছিল যে হাঁটতে পারছিল না।
  • Normal: Such was his anger that everyone was silent.
  • Inversion: Such was his anger that everyone was silent.
    ➡️ তার রাগ এমন ছিল যে সবাই চুপ হয়ে গেল।

3. More Examples with Bangla

  1. Never before had we heard such a story.
    ➡️ আমরা আগে কখনও এমন গল্প শুনিনি।
  2. Little did they know what was going to happen.
    ➡️ তারা মোটেও জানত না কী ঘটতে চলেছে।
  3. Rarely do we see such honesty these days.
    ➡️ আজকাল আমরা খুব কমই এমন সততা দেখি।
  4. Had I known, I would have prepared earlier.
    ➡️ যদি আমি জানতাম, তবে আগে থেকেই প্রস্তুত হতাম।

4. Practice (Translate into English)

  1. আমি আগে কখনও এত সুন্দর দৃশ্য দেখিনি।
    👉 Never had I seen such a beautiful view before.
  2. সে মোটেও জানত না যে তার বন্ধুরা তাকে অপেক্ষা করছে।
    👉 Little did he know that his friends were waiting for him.
  3. যদি সে সময়মতো আসত, আমরা ট্রেন ধরতে পারতাম।
    👉 Had he come on time, we would have caught the train.
  4. সে এত খুশি ছিল যে সে কাঁদতে শুরু করল।
    👉 So happy was he that he began to cry.

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