I have searched for the grammar concerning inversion in passive voice, and my search was fruitless. I was wondering how to put "only" at the beginning of a passive sentence. For example:
Only the temperature is changed —-must be turned into—-> Only is the temperature changed
Does it work in this way? If not, how does inversion with only work?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Best Answer
Passive does not invert its auxiliary be; it just inserts it and turns the verb to past participle.
Promoting the direct object to subject is not inversion, which is simple re-ordering of words.
The "must be turned into" part of your proposed transformation is wrong, with preposed only.
Inversion is not required with preposed adverbs, although it is optionally grammatical
with preposed negative adverbs of place, time, or circumstance (i.e, ones that negate the clause).
Only, however, is not one of those. If you try this with different adverbs, you get ungrammaticality: