question

[gio]

Hi. Could you please tell me how do we explain this sentence grammatically?

Little did they know then that their son would one day be a famous composer
thanks in advance

[ana2005]

I've always been told that is a case of "inversion". It is quite formal and consists of using a negative adverbial at the beginning of a sentence, forcing the subject and the first auxiliary to be "inverted", to appear in the order we usually connect with a question. It also happens with other adverbials like "seldom, only, under no circumstances, at no time ..."

[gio]

I've always been told that is a case of "inversion". It is quite formal and consists of using a negative adverbial at the beginning of a sentence, forcing the subject and the first auxiliary to be "inverted", to appear in the order we usually connect with a question. It also happens with other adverbials like "seldom, only, under no circumstances, at no time ..."

Many thanks ana2005

[ana2005]

You can thank R.Murphy, Thomson and Martinet, R. Quirk, ... and all the grammar reference books I've had to deal with as a student of English