📝 Not only is inversion a high-level structure, but it is also the root of all evil. 📝

Just kidding. What is the root of all evil is the pursuit of life hacks. One popular IELTS writing (and speaking) life hack seems to be "Use inversion. More inversion. And then some. It's such a high level structure that the examiners will go "wow" and immediately give you band score 10."

Admittedly, it is a high-level grammar structure. But grammar is not just grammar. It has meaning. Inversion is an emphatic structure, which is used to express very strong emotions, like shock or outrage. Because of this meaning, this structure is very rare and is even more so in IELTS essays.

Don't use inversion in sentences that don't require emphasis, like: "Not only do I like apples, but I also like pears," or "Not only do many people people eat fast food nowadays, but they also drink cola," or "Not only is there Academic IELTS, but there is also General Training IELTS."

If you use inversion in sentences that don't need emphasis you are not using it entirely accurately anyway. Because there are two components to accuracy: form and meaning. For complete accuracy you need to get both right.

Here are two examples of sentences in which inversion is appropriate:

1️⃣ Say, someone stole my IELTS essay. I could say: Not only did she steal my IELTS essay and published it as her own, but she also blocked me on social media when I confronted her about that.

2️⃣ Imagine I got a nasty subscriber who I decided to ban from my community on VK. I could say: Not only did he write toxic comments on my posts, but he also started assaulting other subscribers.

In these examples, my outrage that is totally justified. And so is the use of inversion.

Feel free to share your outrage in the comments (but use inversion wisely). 📝