SENTENCES WITH INVERTED SUBJECTS AND VERBS

Subjects and verbs are inverted in a variety of situations in English. Inverted subjects and verbs occur most often in the formation of a question. To form a question with a helping verb (be, have, can, could, will, would, etc.), the subject and helping verb are inverted.

He can go to the movies.
Can he go to the movies?

You would tell me the truth.
Would you tell me the truth?

She was sick yesterday.
Was she sick yesterday?

To form a question when there is no helping verb in the sentence, the helping verb do is used.

He goes to the movies.
Does he go to the movies?

You told me the truth.
Did you tell me the truth?

There are many other situations in English when subjects and verbs are inverted,
but if you just remember this method of inverting subjects and verbs,
you will be able to handle the other situations.

The most common problems with inverted subjects and verbs on the TOEFL test occur in the following situations:

1. with question words such as what, when, where, why, and how;
2. after some place expressions;
3. after negative expressions;
4. in some conditionals; and
5. after some comparisons.