Placing a negative adverbial at the start of a sentence creates dramatic emphasis and sounds formal or literary. It requires subject-auxiliary inversion — the same word order used in questions. These structures are common in formal speeches, essays, and literary writing.
Practice
Never ___ so unprepared for an interview in my life.
Not onlyhe arrive late, but he also forgot to bring the documents.
Put the words in the correct order (inverted sentence):
"Not only ___ the project on time, but she also came in under budget."
LittleI know it would change my life forever.
Put the words in the correct order:
Under no circumstances ___ leave the building unattended.
Hardlyhe walked in when the alarm went off.
Put the words in the correct order:
No sooner ___ the contract than the company announced layoffs.