Expression: "Hardly does a day pass..."

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me if both of the following sentences are correct and natural? Is inversion a must here? The speaker is telling someone that he misses his dead wife every single day.

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

Good question. I'd say inversion is optional, but I much prefer sentence 2 (without inversion).
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Tom]

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

The difference between your two sentences is one of emphasis. By putting 'hardly' and 'a day' next to each other the stress is on the continuity of the 'missing'. By inverting and thereby imposing 'does', that stress is not so strong.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Everything in the Garden is lovely

[Yankee]

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Golly! Thanks for the input, Alan.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English