Inversion and tripling: Churchill's famous quote
Yesterday we looked at the technique of 'tripling' (The Rule of Three) as a technique that people use to make things more memorable, like 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle'.
Politicians also use this technique to great effect. One of Winston Churchill's most famous quotes (during the Second World War, when many died in the Battle of Britain) was:
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'.
People often adapt this quote, as you can see on the recycling truck above, and recently it has been used a lot to criticise the UK government and its Brexit disaster:
"Never has so much pain been inflicted on so many to benefit so few." (or something like that).
This brings us to another useful language point - notice what happens when you put "Never" at the start of the sentence for emphasis - it causes inversion.
Normal word order: It was never in our interest to leave the EU.
Inversion: Never was it in our interest to leave the EU.
