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I came across a sentence as follows.

Most teachers attest to the superior intelligence Ralph has displayed. Because of this, one of the teachers wants to register him in a local quiz show. When he is asked about it, Ralph exclaims, “Boy, would I!” Everyone is excited about the big quiz show.

Ralph is not making a question, nor is he making a negative statement or anything that would justify inverting the word order as far as I know.

I would like to know why the person responded using subject-auxiliary inversion?

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    It's a rhetorical question. Presumably Ralph was asked "Would you like to take part in the quiz show?" He means "Of course I would!"
    – Kate Bunting
    Jan 3, 2022 at 13:35
  • @KateBunting I don't think it's even a question. It's a statement that happens to have subject-auxiliary inversion, as questions also do
    – gotube ♦
    Jan 9, 2022 at 7:17
  • No, Kate is correct. It's definitely a rhetorical question. Some grammarians suggest all rhetorical questions should drop the question mark. Regardless of lack of a question mark, it is a question.
    – Richard Winters
    Jan 14, 2022 at 7:05

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