Emphatic Structures and Inversion Exercises

Emphatic Structures and Inversion Exercises with Answers

Emphatic structures help us express emphasis, contrast, and focus in English. These include tools like do-support, inversion with negatives, cleft sentences, and more. In this post, you’ll learn about each type and try a short practice before moving on to the full exercises.

Emphatic Structures and Inversion Exercises

Quiz Time For English Learners
Quiz Time For English Learners: Emphatic Structures and Inversion Exercises

1. Emphasis with Do, Does, and Did

We use “do,” “does,” and “did” in affirmative sentences to emphasize the action or to correct/confirm something.

✏️ Mini Exercise: Rewrite with emphasis

  1. She likes swimming.
  2. I saw him yesterday.
  3. I enjoy talking to you.
  4. We visited Paris.
  5. He sleeps early.
1. She does like swimming.
2. I did see him yesterday.
3. I do enjoy talking to you.
4. We did visit Paris.
5. He does sleeps early.

👉 Go to full exercise with answers (Emphatic Do Exercise)

2. Inversion with Negative Adverbials

With words like never, no sooner, hardly, rarely, we invert the subject and auxiliary verb to give the sentence emphasis, especially in formal writing.

✏️ Mini Exercise: Rewrite using inversion

  1. I have never seen such beauty.
  2. He had barely started when it began to rain.
  3. I had rarely visited my grandparents.
  4. She had never seen him upset like that before.
  5. She seldom goes to the gym.
1. Never have I seen such beauty.
2. Barely had he started when it began to rain.
3. Rarely had I visited my grandparents.
4. Never had she seen him upset like that before.
4. seldom does she go to the gym.

👉 Go to full inversion exercise

3. Inverted Conditionals

Instead of using if, we sometimes use inversion for formal conditional structures.
Examples:

  • Had I known… instead of If I had known…
  • Should you need help… instead of If you should need help…

✏️ Mini Exercise: Rewrite with inversion

  1. If I had seen the sign, I would have stopped.
  2. If you should have questions, just ask.
  3. If you had revised your lessons, you could have passed the exam.
  4. If I had seen something wrong, I would have informed you.
  5. If she had kept quiet, nobody would have known about her crime.
1. Had I seen the sign, I would have stopped.
2. Should you have questions, just ask.
3. Had you revised your lessons, you could have passed the exam.
4. Had I seen something wrong, I would have informed you.
5. Had she kept quiet, nobody would have known about her crime.

👉 Try the full inverted conditionals exercise

4. Cleft Sentences

Cleft sentences split a sentence to emphasize a specific part using “It is/was…” or “What…”

✏️ Mini Exercise: Choose the correct answer

  1. _______ fixed the car.
    • a) It was Tom who
    • b) That Tom
    • c) What Tom did
  2. _______ matters is your health.
    • a) That it
    • b) It is what
    • c) What really
  3. _______ caused the delay was the traffic.
    • a) That
    • b) What
    • c) It
  4. _______ you need is a good night’s sleep.
    • a) It
    • b) What
    • c) That
  5. _______ I spoke to was the manager.
    • a) The person who
    • b) It was the manager whom
    • c) It was the manager who
  6. _______ annoys me is his attitude.
    • a) What
    • b) That
    • c) It
a) It was Tom who
c) What really
b) What
b) What
c) It was the manager who
a) What

👉 Practice more cleft sentences

Final Thoughts

These exercises help you master a wide range of emphatic structures to speak and write with more clarity, emotion, and fluency. Want more advanced grammar tips? Explore the links below:

Tags: Exercises on Language Structures and Usage
Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top