WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH

WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH

Explained by Dr. Vipul V. Kapoor, Associate Professor

Word order refers to the way words are arranged in a sentence. The standard word order in English is:

Subject + Verb + Object

To determine the proper sequence of words, we need to understand what the subject, verb and object(s) are.

·      Subject: typically a noun or pronoun—the person, place or thing

·      Verb: the action or state of being

·      Object: the word or group of words influenced by the verb

John (subject) plays (verb) football (object).

The sequence of words is important while communicating in English because it can impact the meaning of what we are trying to say. Look at the following examples:

·      The teacher (subject) teaches (verb) the student. (object) - CORRECT

·      The student (subject) teaches (verb) the teacher. (object) - INCORRECT

·      The cat (subject) catches (verb) the mouse. (object) - CORRECT

·      The mouse (subject) catches (verb) the cat. (object) – INCORRECT

 

ORDER OF PARTS OF SPEECH:

In English there are eight parts of speech as under.

OPEN CLASS	CLOSED CLASS
Noun	Preposition
Verb	Conjunction
Adjective	Determiner
Adverb	Interjection

 

All these parts of speech have specific places in the sentences. If we change their order or place in the sentences, either the meaning changes or the sentence becomes meaningless. Hence, it is very important to understand the proper order of these parts of speech.

 

 

 

WORD ORDER – NOUN:

Definition: Noun is a word which indicates a person, place, thing or idea. For example, milkman, garden, table, happiness etc.

Where to Use?

Nouns can be used either as the subject or as the object.

The milkman delivers the milk.

 

WORD ORDER – VERB:

Definition: Verb is a word which indicates some action or state of being. For example, go, come, speak, play etc.

Where to use?

Verbs are used just after the subject in a declarative sentence.

I am watching a video.

 

WORD ORDER – ADJECTIVE:

Definition: Adjective is a word which modifies the meaning of the noun. For example, beautiful lady, blue shirt, long distance etc.

Where to use?

Adjectives are used before the noun.

We saw a beautiful rainbow.

 

WORD ORDER – ADVERB:

Definition: Adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of the verb. For example, slowly, yesterday, often, boldly etc.

Where to Use?

Adverbs are placed at three places in a sentence.
1.     At the front of the sentence, before the subject:

Suddenly, the child ran towards the gate.

Yesterday, he met me at my home.

2.     At the end of a sentence, after the object
         Thechildren will join the school tomorrow.

Sheela invited her friends too.

3.     In the middle of a sentence (before or after the verb) or in the middle of a group of verbs

• Before the verb:

He often studies before class.
John rarely visits his uncle.

• After the verb:
  Sarah works quietly at her desk.
  Marco looks fondly at me.
  
  
• In the middle of a group of verbs:
  The students quickly submitted their assignments.
  Rosie has nearly finished her homework.

 

WORD ORDER – PREPOSITION:

Definition: The words which convey more information about the nouns in terms of place, time, locationect are called the prepositions. For example, in, on, at, from, to, under etc.

Where to use?

Prepositions are used before the nouns or before the determiners.

Jack travels by car. (before the noun)

John lives in the USA. (before the determiner)

 

WORD ORDER – CONJUNCTION:

Definition: The word which joins two different words or clauses in a sentence is called a conjunction. For example, and, or, but etc.

Where to use?

Conjunctions are used between two nouns, two pronouns or two clauses.

MeeraandSita are good friends.

Peter watches either news or movies.

The manager said that he was busy then.

 

WORD ORDER – DETERMINER:

Definition:The word which determines the noun is called a determiner. For example, a, an, the, this, that, these, those, any, some etc.

Where to use?

Determiners are used before the nouns or adjectives.

This car is new.

Do you have any electronic device?

Jack has a meeting in the evening.

 

WORD ORDER – INTERJECTION:

Definition: The words which express our emotions are called interjections. They are generally used in informal language. For example, oh, alas, wow, hurray etc.

Where to use?

Interjections are generally used in the beginning of the sentence. They are followed by exclamation marks. (!)

         Oh! It was a wonderful scene!

         Hurray! We won the match.