Hi, Jo(Cho)! My honest answer to this question is that it's absolutely ok to not know how to use inversions confidently. Perhaps a different matter is not being able to recognise their meaning. The reason they appear so often on grammar tests is not because they are the most typical, or frequently used, forms of English, but because they are hard to master. At CAE level, students are expected to have command of the English language, this means being able to use a variety of forms in appropriate situations. **Rarely have I had an informal conversation with friends that involved obvious use of inversions** **Never before have I met a student who confidently uses them**

Natives are comfortable with many variations in word order. Perhaps you should give us some examples of the ones you find difficult. As a native US speaker who is not a teacher or a grammarian, I don't even know exactly what "inversion" is and I don't notice anything odd about it when I see it. Looking at this web page, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-order-and-focus/inversion I would say that every single one of their examples is perfectly natural. Whether it is "OK to not know them" depends on your personal goals. It seems to me that an English learner needs to understand them all, but only needs to use forms 1, 2, and 3. The only correct way to express the meaning of example #1 is "Does she sing?" If you were to say "She does sing?" it would not only be incorrect, it would be difficult to understand. All the others represent emphasis, and you do not need to use them. For example, for #8 you could say "The bus is coming!" For #10 you could say "I opened the door and Michael stood there, all covered in mud." There is no need to use the inverted forms, it's just one of many ways to add emphasis. 1) Does she sing? 2) Are they working? 3) Can Joe swim? 4) Never have we witnessed such cruel behaviour by one child to another. 5) Seldom does a politician say "sorry." 6) Not for a moment did I think I would be offered the job, so I was amazed when I got it. 7) Not till I got home did I realise my wallet was missing. 8) Here comes the bus! 9) Here’s your coffee. 10) I opened the door and there stood Michael, all covered in mud. 11) She looked out and there was Pamela, walking along arm in arm with Goldie.