People can watch dancing displays or can take part in different games. Nowhere, however, do they have more fun than in the Mexican town of Puebla.
Why does the sentence in bold use a question form, but there is a period in the end?
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12It just so happens that the cited (rather "literary") usage reverses the normal English subject + verb sequence, which also happens with actual questions. But the cited example isn't a question (not even a "rhetorical" one), so there's no reason to look for a question mark. The reversal here is because of initial "negative polarity" nowhere and auxiliary do. You'll see the same thing with, for example Only rarely does he leave the house, Seldom does he visit.– FumbleFingersCommented Nov 2, 2022 at 18:06
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2It would be a question like this: "Is there anywhere where they have more fun than in the Mexican town of Puebla?" And the answer would be like in the OP's post: "No, nowhere do they have more fun than in the Mexican town of Puebla."– user8356Commented Nov 3, 2022 at 17:32
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Is this a confusion between SVO and V2, perhaps?– ArthurCommented Nov 4, 2022 at 12:50
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2 Answers
This is an inversion, but not a question.
In formal English, with a negative adverb like "nowhere" or restrictive like "only" in initial position, the auxiliary verb inverts with the subject:
I can find my keys nowhere -> Nowhere can I find my keys.
I will visit you only on Saturday -> Only on Saturday will I visit you.
I rarely play tennis -> Rarely do I play tennis.
Because the sentence isn't a question, it doesn't end with a question mark.
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3Re: "In formal English, with a negative adverb like 'nowhere' or restrictive like 'only' in initial position, the auxiliary verb inverts with the subject": This wording is misleading, insofar as it suggests that this is specific to formal English. In fact, this inversion is required in colloquial English as well (consider e.g. "never have I ever [...]"; something like *"never I've ever [...]" would not be grammatical); it's just that these adverbs don't usually take initial position outside of formal English, so it doesn't come up as much.– ruakhCommented Nov 3, 2022 at 7:48
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9I guess it's grammatical, but "I can find my keys nowhere" sounds weird. The idiomatic statement would be "I can't find my keys anywhere".– BarmarCommented Nov 3, 2022 at 13:31
Nowhere, however, do they have more fun than in the Mexican town of Puebla.
Compare that to:
They don't have more fun anywhere than in the Mexican town of Puebla.
That sentence is not a question. If you start a sentence like that with the word nowhere, it requires using the auxiliary like that.
Nowhere do they make better soup than here.
Compare that to:
They don't make better soup anywhere than here.
Nowhere did the Vikings sail more quickly. The Vikings didn't sail anywhere more quickly.
There are other cases of words that also do this; mostly adverbs of frequency like rarely, seldom, never and frequently. Sometimes the sentence can be more literary but sometimes not.
Never had she seen such a mess in an office. It is more written than spoken but can also be spoken.
