Inversion (linguistics) facts for kids

In linguistics, inversion is when the words in a sentence are in a different order than normal. The most common kind of inversion in English is subject–auxiliary inversion, which happens when an auxiliary verb (like do) changes places with its subject. It usually happens in questions like Are you coming?. In this example, the subject you is switched with the verb are. In many other languages, like languages with a freer word order than English, inversion can also happen with more verbs (not just auxiliaries) and other kinds of words.