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Thread: "he understood" or "did he understand"?

  1. 02-Oct-2011, 18:20 #1
    marin123
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    Default "he understood" or "did he understand"?

    Answer, please, which variant is correct:

    Only after I explained it to him he understood the problem.

    or

    Only after I explained it to him did he understand the problem.

    I believe the second varient to be correct as an emphatic one, but I'm not sure. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
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  2. 02-Oct-2011, 19:36 #2
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    Default Re: "he understood" or "did he understand"?

    Quote Originally Posted by marin123 View Post
    Answer, please, which variant is correct:

    Only after I explained it to him he understood the problem.

    or

    Only after I explained it to him did he understand the problem.

    I believe the second variant to be correct as an emphatic one, but I'm not sure. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
    After I explained it to him he understood the problem.
     Only after I explained it to him did he understand the problem.
    These two are correct.
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  3. 02-Oct-2011, 22:28 #3
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    Default Re: "he understood" or "did he understand"?

    It has just called to my mind a line delivered by Emperor Palpatine from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" when Palpatine wanted to "electrocute" Luke Skywalker, and after the first jolts of lightning, he told him:

    "Young fool... Only now, at the end, do you understand..." (It's right after the beginning of the video, at 0:15.)

    Classic!

    Last edited by ~Mav~; 02-Oct-2011 at 22:41. Reason: typo
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