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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Had she - not a question

"It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. "

It's a passage from Harry Potter and I can't understand why is it written like a question word order ("had she fixed") and not like this: "she had fixed"?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

It's just an unusual and literary order of words for a sentence.. A more common order would be . .

— Clive

  • It's just an unusual and literary order of words for a sentence..
  • A more common order would be .
  • .
  • for she had fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now neither as a cat nor as a woman ".
  • My advice to you as a learner is not to try this kind of writing until you feel very comfortable with English grammar and stylish writing.
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3 Answers
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Hi,

It's not related toa question at all.It's just an unusual and literary order of words for a sentence..
A more common order would be
. . . for she had fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now neither as a ca
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Thanks.

I understand it's not a question, but this kind of sentence was a first time for me,
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Anonymousneither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. "
Initial negative phrases trigger inversion. (See negatives in red above.)

Similarly,

Never before had she stared at him lik
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