'No longer could the world wait.'

[Odessa Dawn]

It's fine.

Also fine are

'The world could no longer wait'. and

'No longer could the world wait.'

Rover

More: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/185018-no-loger.html

Is it a must to get the subject and auxiliary verb reversed when you start your sentence with "No longer?"

​

For examples of single words used in a variety of contexts, avail yourself of the advantages of the FrazeIt website.

Rover

What a great site! Thank you, Rover, from the bottom of my heart.

"No longer is he merely an idea, no longer do we have to form a picture of him on the basis of mere words."
More: 54436 sentence examples using No Longer


​

I checked the above site in which I found that the subject and auxiliary (is) are being reversed. Surely, when the phrase "no longer" comes at the beginning of the sentence.

Example:

"He no longer smokes."
More: no longer - definition of no longer by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Rewrite the above sentence starting with the negative phrase "no longer."

My suggestion:

No longer does he smoke. Does this sentence make sense?

 

[probus]

Yes, I think if you start with "no longer" the verb must precede the subject. I can't provide a logical or grammatical reason for this, but my ear is certain about it.

I suppose the usage is almost always confined to poetry and rhetoric. "No longer does he smoke" is intelligible but unnatural. The subject matter is too prosaic for this usage.

No longer shall we tolerate ...
No longer need we suffer ...
No longer is it possible ...

"No longer" at the beginning is mostly used only when the subject matter is important.