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Lesson planC160 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Never Had They Seen Such Ice: inversion after negative adverbials
Students learn inversion after negative adverbials like never and hardly for dramatic emphasis, then write an account of a journey that went badly wrong.
Inversion · Expeditions · Adventure
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use inversion after negative adverbials accurately
- Learn and use 14 words and phrases in 2 sets: Expeditions and hardship, Openers that trigger inversion
- Read for detail: the crossing
- Writing task: a dramatic account
Stages · 60 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about expeditions and share ideas with the class.
- 10 minVocabulary: Ex. 1–2
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 3
- 5 minControlled practice: Ex. 4
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 5
- 10 minReading: Ex. 6
- 15 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 2 PDFs)Grammar notes
Negative adverbial + auxiliary + subject
- For emphasis, especially in writing and formal speech, a negative or limiting adverbial can go first. The auxiliary then comes before the subject, as in a question: I have never seen such ice. → Never have I seen such ice.
- If there is no auxiliary, add do/does/did: We rarely complained. → Rarely did we complain.
Common patterns
- Never / Rarely / Seldom + auxiliary + subject; Little did they know…
- Hardly / Scarcely had we … when …; No sooner had we … than …
- Not only did she … but she also …; Only when / after … did we …; Under no circumstances should you …
Watch out
- With Only when / Not until, the inversion is in the main clause, not the time clause: Only when we reached the coast did we realise… (not did we reach).
- Hardly … when, but No sooner … than.
Study tips
- Use one inversion to make the most dramatic moment of a story stand out; too many sound unnatural.
- Read your inverted sentence as if it were a question: the word order should be the same.
Glossary
- Expeditions and hardship8 items
- Openers that trigger inversion6 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Words for a hard journey
Match each word with its meaning. There is one extra meaning.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Match the halves
Match the sentence beginnings with the endings. There is one extra ending.
Tap an item…
…then its match
3
Key word transformations
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word in capitals and between two and five words, including the word given.
- a
I have never seen such a beautiful landscape.
NEVER
such a beautiful landscape.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
As soon as we had set up camp, the storm hit.
SOONER
No camp than the storm hit.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
We didn't realise how dangerous the ice was until we reached the coast.
ONLY
the coast did we realise how dangerous the ice was.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
The team rarely complained, even in the worst conditions.
RARELY
, even in the worst conditions.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
She planned the route and she also led the team.
ONLY
Not the route, but she also led the team.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- f
We had only just left the hut when the wind began.
HARDLY
the hut when the wind began.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
4
One word
Write one word in each gap.
- a
Little they know that the worst part of the journey was still to come.
- b
Not until the third day the sun finally appear through the cloud.
- c
Seldom an expedition had to endure such a harsh winter.
- d
No sooner had they landed on the island the radio stopped working.
- e
Not only the supplies run low, but two of the sledges broke as well.
- f
Only after a week of searching they find the missing tent.
5
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
Never I have felt so exhausted in my life.
- b
Hardly had we arrived than the snow started to fall.
- c
No sooner we had pitched the tent than the wind blew it away.
- d
Only after three days we found a safe route across the glacier.
- e
Not only did the cold slowed us down, but the wind made it worse.
- f
Little did they knew how long the ordeal would last.
6
Read: the crossing
Read the account. Choose the best answer.
In March, four friends set out to cross the Velka ice field on skis, a journey of almost three hundred kilometres through one of the most remote corners of the north. They had trained for two years and planned every detail. Little did they know how quickly those plans would fall apart. On the second day, a storm forced them into their tents for almost sixty hours. No sooner had it passed than they discovered that one of the fuel cans had split, soaking part of their food. Never had the team leader, Ingrid Moss, felt so tempted to turn back. "What kept us going," she later wrote, "was the thought of explaining to everyone at home why we'd given up after a week." The weather was not the only problem. With visibility often below twenty metres, navigating across the ice was slow and exhausting. Not only did the GPS batteries drain faster than expected in the cold, but the paper map turned out to be badly out of date: two of the marked valleys no longer existed, buried long ago under new ice. By day nineteen, supplies were so low that each person was living on half rations. Only when a helicopter pilot spotted their flares did the team learn that they were less than a day from the finish. They completed the crossing on foot the next morning, thinner, slower and, as Moss put it, "much more humble". Asked what she had learned from the ordeal, Moss did not mention equipment or fitness. "Rarely does an expedition go to plan," she said. "Perseverance matters more than strength. You can't control the ice; you can only control how you react to it."
- a
Before they set out, the team
- b
After the storm, the team found that
- c
Ingrid Moss did not turn back mainly because
- d
The map caused problems because
- e
When the helicopter pilot saw their flares, the team
- f
Moss believes that the most important quality on an expedition is
7
Write: a dramatic account
Write an account of a difficult journey or experience.
Write an account (160–200 words) of a journey, trip or challenge that went badly wrong, real or imagined. Describe what happened, how you felt and what you learned. Use at least three inversions to make the key moments dramatic (Never had I… / No sooner had we… than… / Only when… did I… / Little did we know…). Word box: expedition · ordeal · endure · harsh · remote · supplies · navigate · perseverance Example: Little did we know, as we left the village that morning, that we would spend the night in a remote hut…
Suggested minimum: 160 words
0 words · aim for at least 160
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 14 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 2 sets.
Expeditions and hardship
- expedition
- an organised journey to a distant or dangerous place
- remote
- far away from towns and other people
- harsh
- very difficult to live in; cruel and severe
- supplies
- food, fuel and equipment needed for a period of time
- navigate
- to find your way across an area
- ordeal
- a very unpleasant and difficult experience
- endure
- to suffer something painful or difficult for a long time
- perseverance
- continuing to try in spite of difficulties
Openers that trigger inversion
- No sooner
- one thing happened immediately after another; followed by had + subject, then than
- Hardly
- almost at the same moment; followed by had + subject, then when
- Not only
- adds a second, often surprising point; followed by an auxiliary + subject, then but
- Only when
- stresses the moment something finally happened; the inversion comes in the main clause
- Little
- emphasises how little someone knew; followed by did + subject + know or realise
- Under no circumstances
- never, in any situation; used for strong rules (formal)
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