Thread: Not until
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Old 19-Nov-2003, 19:19
Frances
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: Not until

I don't agree that the DID is there purely for emphasis. The original sentence cannot be written with the DID simply omitted.

The sentence could also be rewritten in the following order:
Until he arrived home, he did not find he'd left it in the restaurant.

Here it is clear that the DID is required because of the NOT.





Quote:
Originally Posted by Casiopea

Yes. The 2nd part, "did he find he'd left..." is OK. :D

he did (in fact) find.... (did refers to 'it's a fact'; used for emphasis)

Quote:
Originally Posted by nicolas
When would we put auxiliary verb in that position? When and Why?
did he (in fact) find.... (did is moved to the verb position)

Not until X verb Y
X = he had arrived home
Y = he find he had left the key....

If we add a verb, then 'did' becomes ungrammatical:

It was not until he had arrived home did he find.... Ungrammatical

:D

By the way, the original sentence is not grammatical to me. I prefer:

Not until he had arrived home did he find he had left....

:D
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