The fronting tool.
One of the strongest moves in English, and one of the most underused. Bring an adverbial, an object, a participle or a negative phrase to the front of a sentence, see exactly how it changes, and learn the one rule that trips everyone: when fronting forces inversion.
Why this page exists. Fronting, moving a word or phrase to the front of a sentence, is one of the strongest ways to vary emphasis and cohesion at Band 7 and above, and one of the most underused. The catch is that some frontings force the subject and verb to swap and some do not. This tool shows both, with the correct version every time.
Pick what to move, then see it move.
Choose an element, read the rule, and reveal the fronted sentence.
Front your own
Type the pieces of your own sentence and the tool applies the word-order rule for the family chosen above, including the inversion where the family demands it. It arranges what you type and shows the rule at work. It cannot judge whether the English itself is correct, so keep the pieces simple and check them against the examples.
Two families of fronting, and only one of them inverts.
Get this distinction right and fronting becomes a reliable Band 8 tool rather than a risk.
Most fronting simply moves a phrase to the front and reads as natural emphasis or cohesion: adverbials, objects, participle phrases and adjective phrases all work this way, with the subject and verb left in their usual order. The second family is different. Fronting a negative or restrictive adverbial (never, rarely, hardly, not only, only when, under no circumstances) forces the subject and the operator to swap, and if there is no auxiliary you bring in do, does or did. Place phrases with verbs of position invert too. Getting that inversion wrong, writing Never I have seen instead of Never have I seen, is the commonest way an ambitious sentence collapses in front of an examiner. The tool marks which family you are in. When you are comfortable, drill the related structures in emphasis and combining sentences, and see where they sit on the band ladder.
The book of the method
The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking
The method this site drills for free, written down properly: five response frameworks, thirteen grammatical structures taken to automation, vocabulary by band, pronunciation with audio demonstrations one scan away, and first-language guidance for eight language families. 614 pages, built from more than two thousand documented one-to-one lessons. Most guides teach every candidate the same English; this one starts from what your first language makes you do.
Paperback on Amazon →Kindle edition →The free 79-page companion →