komountain  [More info] Hello, everyone. When you start a sentence with the phrase 'Under no circumstances,' you should invert the sentence, as the negative adverbial is placed at the beginning. Does this inversion rule apply to the phrase 'In no time,' too? First of all, can the phrase be placed at the beginning of a sentence? If it can, I think at one moment the sentence should be inverted, but at the next I find myself scratching my head, if not pulling my hair. Please remember I have appreciated all you comments so far. komountain Joined on Mon, Nov 8 2004 Full Member 269

	+1 CalifJim  [More info] The phrase is "at no time". At no time should the participants leave the dance floor, or they will be disqualified from the contest. At no time have I ever said such a thing. Contrast with: He ran very fast and apprehended the thief in no time. In no time, he (had) apprehended the thief. I had the job finished in no time at all. In no time at all I had the job finished. CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 26,178 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	+1 komountain  [More info] Wow, I killed two birds with one stone. Thank you for bringing up "at no time" too. As your examples show, the "in no time" sentences are not inverted even when the phrase serves as a sentence opener. The moment you mentioned "at no time," another question hit me in no time. I feel both of these phrases are negative adverbials. could you please explain why you treat them differently in constructing sentences, especially in terms of inversion? Best wishes. komountain

	+1 paco2004  [More info] Komountain san What you are talking about is the negative/restrictive inversion, a rule of "subject-verb inversion" or "SV inversion" triggered by putting at the head of the sentence a word or phrase that has a negative/restrictive sense. Please visit the site of URL below given, then you can get what the negative/restrictive inversion means. "At no time" is almost equal to "never" and therefore it is a negative adverbial phrase. On the other hand, "in no time" is almost synonymous to "immediately" and so it has no negative connotation despite the fact that it contains "no". So "at no time" triggers a SV inversion when it comes at the head but "in no time" can't do it. Do you ask why a negative/restrictive word or phrase triggers a SV inversion? I don't know and I myself want to know the reason. Let's wait for explanations by our teachers. Visit here :negative inversion paco paco2004 Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004 Senior Member 4,095 In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

	+1 komountain  [More info] Thank you for the invaluable info. You're very active in this forum. I simply admire you and wonder where your such energy comes from. I know 'san' in Japanese is 'Mr.' But in another country the word means 'mountain.' Interesting, uh? komountain