Schlagwort-Archive: English Sentences

Word Order in English Sentences

Back to English Grammar || English for me


Word Order in Positive and Negative Sentences

subject verbs indirect object direct object place time
I will tell you the story at home in the evening.
I will not tell you the story at home in the evening.

 

Word Order in Subordinate Clauses

(subordinate clause – Glied-, Nebensatz)
Oxford dictionary:

Definition of subordinate clause in English:
A clause, typically introduced by a conjunction, that forms part of and is dependent on a main clause (e.g. ‘when it rang’ in ‘she answered the phone when it rang’).

Grammar about:

A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but (unlike an independent clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. Also known as a dependent clause. Contrast with coordinate clause.
Subordinate clauses are usually attached to main clauses or embedded in matrix clauses. (See Examples and Observations, below.

conjunction subject verb(s) indirect object direct object place time
I will tell you the story at home in the evening …
because I don’t have time now.

Adverb of Manner, Place and Time

Usually at the end of the sentence:

subject verb(s) indirect object direct object time
I will tell you the story tomorrow.

Or at the beginning, if you don’t want to put emphasis on the time:

time subject verb(s) indirect object direct object
Tomorrow I will tell you the story.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of frequency are put directly before the main verb. If ‚be‘ is the main verb and there is no auxiliary verb, adverbs of frequency are put behind ‚be‘. Is there an auxiliary verb, however, adverbs of frequency are put before ‚be‘.

subject auxiliary/be adverb main verb object, place or time
I often go swimming in the evenings.
He doesn’t always play tennis.
We are usually here in summer.
I have never been abroad.

Word Order in Questions

In questions, the word order is the same as in affirmative sentences, but you have to put the auxiliary verb or the main verb “be”, before the subject. Interrogatives are put at the beginning of the sentences:

interrogative auxiliary verb subject other verbs indirect object direct object place time
What would you like to tell me
Did you have a party in your flat yesterday?
When were you here?
interrogative verb(s) object
Who asked you?

 
Article on basis of Word Order in English Sentences (ego4u.com).
YouTube Playlist „Sentences and Word Order“:

 

Weblinks:
Word Order in English Sentences
Word order and sentence structure in English
subordinate clause
The Subordinate Clause
Expressions of place and time in sentences – Word order


Photo source: By Kabelleger / David Gubler (https://www.bahnbilder.ch) (Own work: https://www.bahnbilder.ch/picture/11543) [GFDL (https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

(24)