Choose the grammatically correct inverted structure:
_____ did the research team anticipate the profound ethical ramifications of their gene-editing discoveries.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Little
- Step 1: Review negative/restrictive inversion rules in English: when a negative or restrictive adverbial expression (e.g., Seldom, Rarely, Little, Hardly) is placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis, subject-auxiliary inversion is mandatory.
- Step 2: Evaluate word order: the sentence exhibits inversion ("did the research team anticipate..."). The restrictive adverb "Little" directly takes auxiliary inversion ("Little did the research team anticipate...").
Answer
Little.
Why not the others: "Much" is not a negative adverb and does not trigger subject-auxiliary inversion; "Hardly they" and "Almost never they" fail because they insert the pronoun "they" before the inverted auxiliary "did", resulting in redundant double subjects ("they did the research team").
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