There are three basic rules for word order. The most important of them is the first one, which you need to remember once and for the rest of your life in order to learn to think and speak English. So,

Rule #1

An English affirmative sentence begins with a subject. It must be followed by a predicate. Then comes the addition and circumstance. Sometimes an adverb can be used at the beginning of a sentence (adverbs of time) or before the predicate (adverbs of frequency - never, often, always, etc.)

Example: I like this movie very much.

Rule #2

The construction there is / there are. If you need to say about the presence of a certain object in a certain place, then such sentences are constructed according to the scheme: There is / There are + noun + adverbial location.

Example: There is a flower in the vase.

Rule #3

In questions, “reverse order” of words is observed, in which an auxiliary verb is used before the subject.

Example: Do you like this movie?

Exercise on word order in English sentences

Exercise:

p.1-p.3 - Substitute the missing word into the sentence.

p.4-p.7 - Place the words in the correct order.

Word order in English subordinated to a clear diagram (in the picture). Substitute words there instead of squares and get the correct word order. The scheme is simple and you can figure it out in literally 15 minutes. For better understanding, there are examples of English sentences with translation into Russian.

Word order in an English sentence, construction scheme.

The standard English sentence is built according to such a scheme:

The sentence shown in the figure is called narrative or, which is the same, affirmative. An affirmative sentence is when someone did something and we talk about it.

At the first place The subject in the sentence is the one who performs the action. In the diagram and in the examples, the subject is highlighted in red. The subject can be a noun (mom, cat, apple, work, etc.) or a pronoun (I, you, he, etc.). The subject may also contain several adjectives used as modifiers (fast cat, red apple, etc.).

In second place there is always a predicate. The predicate is the action itself. In the diagram and in the examples, the predicate is highlighted in blue. It is expressed by a verb (to go, look, think, etc.)

After the predicate there is one or more additions. The object is again a noun or pronoun.

And at the end of the sentence there are circumstances of place and time. They show where and when the action took place. As a rule, first come the words that answer the question “Where?”, and then the words that answer the question “When?”.

Examples of affirmative sentences:

What if there is no subject?

In the Russian language, it is quite common to make utterances in which either the subject, or the predicate, or both are missing. For example:

In English the predicate is obligatory. And in such cases, the verb to be (is) is used as a predicate. For example:

They are students.
They are students.

That is, the English, instead of “They are students,” say “They are students,” and instead of “This is a tree,” they say, “This is a tree.” Here “are” and “is” are forms of the verb to be. This verb, unlike most other English verbs, is inflected by person. You can see all forms of the verb to be.

If a Russian sentence lacks both a subject and a predicate, then when translated into English, “It is” is placed at the beginning of the sentence. For example:

Cold.
It is cold.

Order of adjectives.

It happens that the addition contains a large number of adjectives. For example:

I bought a large beautiful and very comfortable sofa.

Here is the standard word order in which adjectives are arranged in an English sentence:

1) adjectives describing your impression of the object (good, beautiful, excellent...)

2) size (large, small...)

3) age (new, old...)

5) origin (Italian, German...)

6) the material from which it is made (metal, leather...)

7) what is it intended for (office, computer...)

For example:

Words that have a special place in a sentence.

If the sentence contains the words:

Showing the frequency of the action (often, never, sometimes, always…)

Then these words must be placed before the semantic verb or after the verb to be or, in the case of a compound verb, after the first verb. For example:

He often goes to the gym.
He often goes to the gym.

He is often tired after work.
He is often tired after work(be tired - to be tired)

You must never do it again.
You will never do this again.

Word order in negative and interrogative English sentences.

I talked about affirmative sentences. Everything is simple with them. But in order to speak English at least somehow, you need to be able to construct negative statements and ask questions. In a negative English sentence, the word order is almost the same, but the questions are constructed according to a slightly different pattern.

Here's a picture that shows all three types of sentences:

The word order in English and Russian is often compared, arguing that in the latter you can arrange words as God pleases. This makes the language easier to use. It seems like at least one less headache. I agree that in the Russian language there is something to think about even without this, but I know for sure that there is a certain word order in it, but it is not obvious to us. I am not a specialist in Russian philology and cannot say anything about this. But, in general, my experience of studying the Chinese language, in which the word order “needs to be felt,” tells me that it is easier when the language still has a clearly established word order. At least you are confident in the structure of your sentence, in your subject and predicate, and in the fact that you have accurately formulated the question or negation. English has given us a great gift in the form of a certain word order. This language is mathematics. You are given a formula, you substitute your variables x and y. The end result is a sentence that is understandable to your listeners and conveys your thoughts.

I. Word order in an affirmative sentence

*Direct object– direct object, analogue of our accusative case. Indicates the object on which the action is performed. The addition answers the question “who?/what?” For example:

The ball hit her. – Who did the ball hit? – Her (direct object).

He is making pancakes. – What is he making? – Pancakes (direct object).

Indirect object– indirect addition. Not used without a direct object. Indicates the recipient of the indirect object. For example:

He bought her flowers. (Who did he buy flowers for? - for Mom.)

They told me the news. John is writing her a letter. She gave her boyfriend a present.

Object of preposition- prepositional object. Attached to a verb using a preposition. For example:

Be careful with fire. (with fire -prepositional complement)

She wrote a book about the war. (about the war –prepositional complement)

Note that the word order, starting with the indirect object, is maintained in negative and interrogative sentences. Therefore, in the future I will simply call them “the remaining members of the sentence.”

II. Word order in a negative sentence

Verb TO BE in Present Simple and Past Simple

Other verbs and tenses

III. Word order in a question sentence

Interrogative sentences with the verb TO BE in Present Simple and Past Simple

Interrogative sentences with an auxiliary verb

Interrogative sentences without an auxiliary verb

If in a question the interrogative word is also the subject, then the word order is maintained as in the statement.

IV. Word order in subordinate clauses

The word order in subordinate sentences is direct, which is especially important when using indirect speech. Compare:

“Do you love me?” I asked. -> I asked if she loved me.

“What are you going to do next?” she asked. -> She asked what I was going to do next.

V. Position of adverbs in an English sentence

Adverbs of frequency (often, always, rarely, never, hardly ever, sometimes, usually etc.) located before the semantic verb, but after the verb TO BE:

I often go to the cinema. I don't often go to the cinema. Do you often go to the cinema?

He is usually happy to see me. He isn't usually happy to see me. Is he usually happy to see me?

In compound predicates:

I have never been to China. Have you ever been to China?

I will always love you. Will you always love me?

Usually, normally, occasionally and sometimes can be rearranged to the beginning or end of a sentence.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you mention learning a language? There are probably four turtles on which everything rests: grammar, speaking, vocabulary and listening comprehension. Today's topic - word order in an English sentence - relates to two of them at once. Without knowledge of the arrangement of words, it is unlikely that you will be able to write or say anything correctly. Without exaggerating, we can call knowledge of this topic the “skeleton” of the language. Understanding what follows what, you can easily and simply substitute the necessary words into a certain scheme, changing them according to your desire.

What should you always remember?

In English, like in any other language, there are main members of a sentence and secondary ones. Each of these categories has its own rules. The first thing to remember is that the word order of English is not similar to Russian. Many people who start learning a language give away their little knowledge by incorrectly constructing sentences.

When communicating with more experienced friends or native speakers, you can find yourself in rather awkward situations. For example, the phrase “Yulia is going to the store” in Russian may sound like “Yulia is going to the store.” There is nothing criminal in such a change of words, and the meaning does not change at all, but if we literally translate these sentences into English, we get: “Julia is going to the store” (first option) and “The store is going to Julia” (second option ). If a person who knows English hears the last example in a conversation, he will, at best, laugh, and at worst, twirl his finger at his temple: “Where have you seen stores go to Yul?”

From this example we can conclude that the order of words in a sentence in English is stable. The rule about “changing the places of terms and keeping the sum constant” does not work here. Because English has no endings, the meaning of a word can sometimes be understood only by its place in a sentence. Example with the word name:

• What is your name? - What is your name? Literally - What is your name?
• You name all vegetables you like. - You name all the vegetables that you like.

We must never forget that the correct word order in a sentence in English is very important. And failure to comply can radically change the meaning of the phrase.

Basic rules for word order in English sentences

The simplest scheme of an English sentence looks like this: Subject + Predicate + Object + Circumstance.

As was said earlier, the order of words cannot be changed.

The subject is one of the two main members of the sentence, which answers the questions who? what? and denotes an object or person.

The predicate is the second main member of the sentence. It denotes the action referred to in the sentence. In English sentences, the predicate is always present, unlike in Russian. Often it can be expressed by the verb to be, which many students forget about due to its absence in their native grammar.

• I am a friend. - I am a friend.
• It's raining now. - It is raining now.

The addition refers to the secondary members of the sentence; it denotes the object on which the action of the predicate is carried out, and answers the questions of indirect cases.

The circumstance is another minor member of the sentence. It can characterize an action or its cause, indicate time and location. Circumstances such as tomorrow, yesterday, at the moment + adverbials of place can appear at the beginning of a sentence before the subject.

According to the scheme presented above, the simplest affirmative sentences in the English language are constructed. Here are some examples:

Word order in an English interrogative sentence

With even a small immersion in the study of the English language, you will notice that interrogative constructions in it have a number of significant differences (from the usual Slavic ones). If in Russian you can ask simply by changing the intonation or putting the appropriate sign at the end of the phrase, then this will not work here - you need to completely rebuild the sentence. There are five different types of questions, and each has a different word order that you need to know.

What is it all based on?

The general question is the basics. This type is the simplest - you just need to make a slight inversion of the words in the sentence and put in first place an auxiliary or modal verb, which will indicate time and person. The scheme is: Auxiliary verb + subject + predicate + object?

• Are you watching TV? - You watch TV?
• Can you help me? - Can you help me?

Special questions

In English, the word order in an interrogative sentence of this type is practically no different from the general one; you just need to add a certain word at the beginning. Which one? Such questions can be considered more specific; they enable a person to find out more real information. There are six main question words in total:

• What (what)? - to clarify the subject;
• Where (where)? - to find out the place;
• Why (why)? - determine the cause;
• How? - understand the methods;
• Which (which)? - identify a specific person from several;
• When? - inquire about the time.

Such questions have the following scheme: Special word + OV (general question)?

• What are you doing? - What are you doing?
• Where have I left my phone? - Where did I leave my phone?

As you can see, the general question underlies the subsequent ones, so you need to allocate a larger period of time to study it. Sentence word order exercises are common in English, so finding them to practice with is easy. You need to remember that you cannot neglect this moment, because you can simply forget all the details and subtleties. With constant polishing, the learned information will become “native”, and the brain will automatically produce the order of words in an English sentence.

Features of the question to the subject

Quite often this type is “attached” with special questions, and this action is quite logical. In the first place is the special word What?, which is used when talking about an object, or Who?, when talking about someone living. The purpose of such a question is to find out the subject of the conversation. It has the following scheme: Subject expressed by the question words What and Who + predicate + object + adverbial?

• Who will come to your class? - Who will come to your class?
• What gets you upset? - What upsets you?

The main thing to remember about this question is that it has a similar structure to a regular sentence, it’s just that the subject is replaced by special pronouns.

Alternative and dividing questions

The fourth type of interrogative sentence is alternative. As you might guess, it provides the person being interviewed with a choice. Therefore, it will necessarily contain the word “or” (or).

The fifth and final type of questions are dividing questions. They are also called “tailed ones”. They have a structure at the end that translates to "isn't it?" The first part of the sentence remains declarative without changes, and in the second the auxiliary word of the required time and in a certain form is written. If the original phrase contained a statement, then the “tail” will contain a negation, and vice versa.

These types of interrogative sentences do not have one stable pattern. Why? For example, an alternative question can be linked to any member of a sentence, and each such option will have its own type of diagram. Speaking about dividing sentences, they do not have any special differences from the most common phrases that were discussed at the beginning of the article, the main thing is not to forget about the “tail”.

How can you consolidate the result?

Of course, for productive learning you need to do exercises on word order in an English sentence. At the initial stage, the most fruitful work will be according to the “independent implementation + teacher check” scheme. Try translating sentences using the example phrases above. Initially, using the diagrams.

For even better assimilation of the material, you can try to translate the most familiar phrases, often used in everyday speech, into English using schemes already memorized. Thus, partial immersion into the language environment occurs. Forcing yourself to think in a foreign language is the key to successful learning.

Studying the order of words in an English sentence can become a good and strong thread on which beads of new knowledge can later be strung.

The order of words in an English sentence is, on the one hand, an easy topic, because the basic rules are simple, but on the other hand, it is an inexhaustible topic, because the nuances are endless. In this article we will not try to grasp the immensity, but will consider the basic rules and principles of sentence construction in the English language.

What does a sentence consist of in English?

Word order in a subordinate clause (in a complex sentence)

In subordinate clauses, the word order is simple - the same as in the affirmative,

• I know where you live. - I know where you live.
• I don't know where you live. – I don’t know where you live.
• Do you know where I live? - Do you know where I live?

For clarity, I will present the proposals in the form of a table:

A common mistake is that in the part of the sentence that begins with conjunctions (in this case, these are conjunctions) who, why, when, where words rearranged, as in an interrogative sentence.

• Wrong: I don't know why did she call me.
• Right: I don't know why she called me.

In this case, “...why she called me” is not at all the same as the interrogative sentence “Why did she call me?”, but a subordinate clause. The word order in it is direct, as in a simple affirmative sentence.

This is especially common in complex interrogative sentences. In this case, the reverse word order should only be in the main part (Do you know), but not in the subordinate clause (where I live).

• Wrong: Do you know where do I live?
• Right: Do you know where do I live?
• Wrong: Do you know who was it?
• Right: Do you know who was it?

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