said', &c., excuse considerable freedom in the matter of inversion. One or two points, however, may be noticed.
When the subject is a personal pronoun, say is perhaps the only verb with which inversion is advisable. 'Said I, he, they', and 'retorted Jones': but not 'enquired I', 'rejoined he', 'suggested they'.
Compound verbs, as usual, do not lend themselves to inversion:
'I won't plot anything extra against Tom,' had said Isaac.—M. Maartens.
'At any rate, then,' may rejoin our critic, 'it is clearly useless...'—Spencer.
'I am the lover of a queen,' had often sung the steward in his pantry below.—R. Elliot.
'The cook and the steward are always quarrelling, it is quite unbearable,' had explained Mrs. Tuggy to the chief mate.—R. Elliot.
Inverted said at the beginning is one of the first pitfalls that await the novice who affects sprightliness. It is tolerable, if anywhere, only in light playful verse.
Said a friend to me the other day, ' I should like to be able to run well across country, but have never taken part in a paper-chase, for I have always been beaten so easily when trying a hundred yards or so against my acquaintances...'—S. Thomas.
Mr. Takahira and Count Cassini continue to exchange repartees through friends or through the public press. Said the Japanese Minister yesterday evening:—Times.
It is inferred here officially and unofficially that neutral rights are unlikely to suffer from any derangement in Morocco to which England is a consenting party. Said a Minister:—'American interests are not large enough in Morocco to induce us to...'–Times.
With verbs other than said, this form of inversion is still more decidedly a thing to be left to the poets. 'Appears Verona'; 'Rose a nurse of ninety years'; but not
Comes a new translation...in four neat olive-green volumes.–Journal of Education.
(ii) The inverted conditionals should, had, could, would, were, did, being recommended by brevity and a certain neatness, are all more or less licensed by modern usage. It is worth while, however, to name them in what seems to be their order
