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IMG Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

inversion

I'm not sure if this sentence is correct in the first place.

Sometimes, people don't realise how wrong they were (are?) until something bad has happened (happens?).

and inversion: Sometimes, not until something bad has happened (happens?) do people realise how wrong they were (are?).

Could you help me with writing a grammatically correct sentence?
  

Top answer

This is the easiest tense combination: Sometimes people don't realise how wrong they are until something bad happens. I see no reason to make it any more complicated, tense-wise. I wouldn't bother with the comma.

— GPY

  • This is the easiest tense combination: Sometimes people don't realise how wrong they are until something bad happens.
  • I see no reason to make it any more complicated, tense-wise.
  • I wouldn't bother with the comma.
  • The inverted sentence is possible, but it seems a bit convoluted and I don't see much reason to want to use it.
  • ) (UPDATED BELOW)
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4 Answers
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This is the easiest tense combination:

Sometimes people don't realise how wrong they are until something bad happens.

I see no reason to make it any more complicated, tense-wise. I wouldn't bother with the comma. The inverted sentence is possible, but it seems a bit convoluted and I don't see much reason to want to use it. (In the inverted sentence the comma
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Thank you.
Just to make sure, do we use in inverted sentence the same tenses that in your sentence?
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I'm sorry, looking at this again, I think this may be better after all:

Sometimes people don't realise how wrong they were until something bad happens.

I don't see a reason to change tenses in the inverted form.
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Thank you a lot. You're very helpful.
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