Is word order important in english

5 most important basic rules of word order in English

Everyone knows how much important is the order of words in English. It can be hard to describe it, but experts of our paper writing service will try to do it in several simple rules presented in this essay on the order of words in English. What kind of rules are these? Let’s see. It is necessary to know the language order of words because it helps to build and understand the simplest and the most complex sentence in English. This seemingly simple but extremely important issue is the starting point in the study of English grammar.

1. Subject + predicate + direct object

In an ordinary affirmative sentence, the subject is placed directly before a word that defines its action, so-called predicate or verb. Direct object, if in general an object is present in a sentence, follows the verb directly, i.e. it is placed rights after it. For example: “They bought a car”; “We can not do that”; “The girl in a blue dress was watching TV” and so on.

2. Predicate

Notice that a notion “subject” here implies not only the main noun or pronoun, but also adjectives and entire descriptive phrases, which have relation to the subject. The rest unity of sentence members is called “predicate”, since it does not have relation to the subject. For example: “The girl in a blue dress was playing the piano” – the part “The girl in a blue dress” is subject and “was playing the piano” is predicate. Visit our essay corrector service and contact our team if you need more information or any other kind of help or assistance on this issue.

3. Indirect object

If there are any other elements in a sentence, such as indirect objects or adverbials, then they usually take strictly defined position.

Indirect object position. Indirect object is placed after direct object if it contains preposition “to”. Indirect object is placed before direct object if preposition “to” misses. For example: “The teacher gave dictionaries to the pupils”, but “The teacher gave them dictionaries”.

4. Adverbial position

An adverbial may have three positions:

1) before subject (usually this is adverbial of time). For example: “In the morning he was reading a book”;

2) after object (here almost any adverb can be placed or adverbial phrase). For example: “He was reading a book at the library”;

3) between auxiliary and main verb. For example: “He has already read this book”.

5. Irregular word order in the English

Usually in regular English there are no other words between subject and its verb (predicate) or verb and its object. Of course, some exceptions exist, and we will consider the most important of them:

a) Use of objects (indirect) without “to” and use of adverbs (usually of frequency). For example: “I sometimes drink coffee in the morning”, “She showed the policeman her driving license”. All you need is to follow the simple rules presented above and you will manage to avoid word order mistakes in an English sentence. The examples given here are purposely very simple. However, the same rules can be applied to more complicated sentences with subordinate structures. For example: “The woman, (who often felt lonely), never left her house before (she had locked all the doors)”.

b) Stylistic change of word order. Of course, each rule has its exception (and sometimes a lot of them), and many people, especially writers and speakers, often use irregular word order to achieve special effect. But if now we focus attention on the exceptions, we will be distracted from the basic principles and consequently the order of words problem may seem to much complicated.

That is why here are some other examples. You should know that suchlike sentences exist, but use them only when you feel you can not avoid it, i.e. if it is inevitably and absolutely necessary, and especially try not to use them before you learn the principles of ordinary word order. Remember that it is necessary to learn to work first and only then to run. For example: “Never before had he felt so miserable”. If a sentence begins with “never” or “never before” the subject and predicate often undergo inversion, i.e. they have changed their positions. But do not use inversion in the sentences, in which when the subject is followed by “never”.

Another example: “Hardly had I finished cleaning the house, my friend called”. Subject and predicated must be always inverted if “hardly” is placed in a sentence beginning.

Inversion is also used in the structures of hypothetical condition when “if” is missed. For example: “Had they know, they would never have done that”.

In a sentence “Whatever you can tell me, I know already” the complex object “Whatever you can tell me” is placed in the beginning of the sentence for artistic reasons. Such a structure of a sentence is not obligatory; we are just talking about a way of a thought expression or a stylistic device.

Now having learnt the rules for simple sentences constructing you may proceed to more complex sentences that contain subordinate structures. By the way, if there are some doubts or you are not sure about your knowledge of grammar, you may use our online essay editor website; our professional writers, editors and other experts are always there to help you.

Word order in English: tips for the grammar knowledge improvement

1. As we have already said word order in English has a great importance. There are no cases in English (except the genitive or possessive case that defines belonging to a subject or a person) or their forms are very similar. So due to this fact it is very important to keep the word order. It is not difficult and even quite easy:

• subject is put first
• verb (predicate) follows the subject
• object (direct or indirect) is on the third place.

Sometimes if position of words is changed, then the whole meaning of a sentence may change. For example: “Irene saw Jon” or “Jon saw Irene”.

2. Sometimes a verb is placed on the first place and a subject is on the second. For example: “Did Irene see Jon?”. It means that this is an interrogative sentence. There are also other cases, in which the change of subject and verb places may be possible. The most common among them are the following:

a) “Let us go” – this is imperative mood.

b) “Had he used better means and tools, he would probably have been achieved much better result” – this is a conjunctionless conditional mood.

3. It may seem that this rule is simple, but still usually it can be hard to recognize it. First of all, subject is not always expressed with a noun. It may be expressed with a verb with “to” (infinitive), as in the following sentence, for example: “To be a good person, is to have not only a pure soul, but a clear mind as well”. Or it may be expressed with a whole sentence: “What mother means to us is the essence and sense of our life”.

Second of all, subject can be expressed with not just one word, but it can have a lot of clarifying words and even sentences, which create a subject group. For example: “The man I met yesterday was a magician”. The subject “the man” is extended by a subordinate clause. Before subordinate clause there should be conjunction “which / whom”, but in such short sentences conjunction is usually missed.

4. Very often, despite the rule and breaking it, adverbs and adverbial phrases of place and time are put in the sentence beginning. For example: “In spring nature begins to come back to life again”. There is usually a comma that separates the adverbs from the other parts of a sentence: “As always, she has to stay at home at night”. However, sometimes a comma is missed as a rule in newspapers and blogs: “In the meantime he made four films”. Additionally, they often place introductory words and phrases on the first place: “For the rest, he wanted them to know that if they have any trouble they can always call him and ask for any kind of help”.

All these examples are simple and do not cause difficulties. However, it is too early to sigh with a relief. The British, especially people with literary and scientific inclination, sometimes use their own word order, so that it can be hard to find subject, predicative or other sentence parts: “In spite of what they had told us, and they really believed their words to be an absolute truth, they were not ready to discuss or accept any other mind or opinion, so we did not even try to persuade them”. Such a breaking of regular word order usually happened due to emotional rise of an author.

5. Not only cases, but also parts of speech in English often have similar look and forms. For example, a word “captain” may be a noun, a verb and even other part of speech. Now this is obvious that it is important to look at what place a word in a sentence has. We have already talked about the positions of the main sentence parts, i.e. an object and a predicate. However, there is another interesting rule, and here it is: if after an article there are a lot of words, in this case only the last word in a subject, the rest is adjectives. For example: “I have some recording from the broken last year record player”. However, in a set of different adjectives one adjective may define not a noun but other adjective. Puns and jokes are offer occur because of that: “For the next several days she led a simple and even happy life her big aunt’s house (it means that the house was big, not the aunt)”.

What about objects, the rule is quite simple: direct object goes right after a verb, and then an indirect object follows. For example: “Her aunt bought her a new pretty dress and a necklace”.

So the word order in English gives clear Ariadne’s thread in translating the most complicated texts. However, exceptions and difficulties always remain.

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Word order is very important in English, because the language is no longer inflected. That is, individual words do not have endings to show which parts of speech they represent. Nevertheless this word order is not invariable. It is well-known that English is a language that strictly follows the syntax rules, in spite of this, exceptions do frequently occur.
Although English exhibits a relatively fixed word order in comparison to many other languages, the English word order is not as rigid as it is held: in many cases, speakers can choose between different constituent orderings or constructional alternations as exemplified in the following sentence pairs: John gave the book to Fred vs. John gave Fred the book, Which newspapers do we maintain strict editorial control over? vs. Over which newspapers do we maintain strict editorial control?, John picked up the book vs. John picked the book up, the President’s speech vs. the speech of the President.
So as it was already mentioned English stylistics allows a sort of flexibility in arranging words in a sentence, as a rule it is mostly common for literary works, both prose and poetry. The reason for this is that changes to conventional syntax are often used to create dramatic, poetic, or comic effect.
For instance, poets and song lyricists often change syntactic order to create rhythmic effects:
E.g. «I’ll sing to him, each spring to him
And long for the day when I’ll cling to him,
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I.»
According to Keenan ’s opinion the word order is prominent for its semantic and pragmatic roles. A standard view of the relationship between semantics and pragmatics would be something like the following: Semantics is primarily concerned with meanings that are relatively stable out of context, and analyzable in terms of the logical conditions under which they would be true. Pragmatics, by contrast is related both to the message’s indirect meaning beyond what is written, and to the reader’s interpretation, deriving from the context.
Finally, semantic roles are simpler than pragmatic ones. Semantic relations represent consistent common recognition of the objective world by the whole language community, while pragmatic role involves individual writers’ subjective, contingent knowledge, assumption, attitude, etc. Semantic relations can be seen as the essential, notional part of word order units, whereas pragmatic roles are not part of units, they are the packaging or the way of using units.
The semantically optimal order is homogeneous from the general point of view; while the criteria for ‘basic order’ are diverse in the literature. The reason for this is the fact that literature is a noble art that changes neck-to-neck with its basic instrument – the language which is constantly developing. The literary style has a tendency to be diversified; the writers’ aim is to achieve some elevated effect on the reader that is why they do not follow strict syntax rules. In this manner they make their works unique, vivid and outstanding.
Generally speaking, the role of word order is to transmit the message so as it could be easily perceived by the reader.
What concerns the word order in different writing styles, its primary role is to emphasize some particular message carried by the sentence and to produce a colorful and deep effect on the reader.

English is a strange language. A case in point can be made with these two similar sentences:

Could you please let me know where I can find the book?                                                                  Please let me know where I can find the book.

Try explaining to someone who is not a native speaker the difference between the two written sentences above. The difference is not that one is a question and the other is a statement, because they are both asking for the same thing. The difference is the tone. And that difference in English composition is often embedded in word order, the way the words are arranged in the sentence.

Word order in English is important, because it can change the spirit, meaning or fluency of a sentence. Basically, it’s considered an SVO language, like such Romance languages as Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian, meaning that generally sentences follow the Subject-Verb-Object pattern. But it’s more complicated than that when subtleties need to be expressed or when descriptions need to be detailed.

Regarding spirit or tone: the first sentence in our example, worded as a question, could easily be interpreted by someone reading it in an email, for example, as being asked with irritation. Same with this example, “Can you please amend the deadline?” It sounds like the person asking the question is stressed and really needs for the deadline to be changed. But that’s not the case with the statement, “Please amend the deadline.” No irritation is transmitted by this wording. Placing “Please” at the beginning of the sentence makes all the difference in terms of tone and comprehension.

Now consider the following two sentences:

He genuinely needs to do that.                                                                                                                He needs to do that genuinely.

They use the same words, but they differ in meaning. The first signifies that the person really needs to do something, while the second means that the person must do something honestly or with sincerity. The word order is important here not to convey feeling or tone, but to impart a particular sense or interpretation.

Another consideration regarding the order of words concerns fluency or accuracy. The placing of adjectives is particularly problematic in English for those learning the language. Native speakers learn the order as if by osmosis, and many don’t even realize there is a particular sequence. They just know where the words need to go depending on what they want to communicate.

Perhaps this list will help students of English place adjectives in the correct order. Found on the internet, this information was posted by a teacher at a school in California, USA back in 2009:

The proper order of adjectives is listed below along with some examples for each category.
1. Determiners – a, an, the, my, your, several, etc.
2. Observations – lovely, boring, stimulating, etc.
3. Size – tiny, small, huge, etc.
4. Shape – round, square, rectangular, etc.
5. Age – old, new, ancient, etc.
6. Color – red, blue, green, etc.
7. Origin – British, American, Mexican, etc.
8. Material – gold, copper, silk, etc.
9. Qualifier – limiters for compound nouns.

Here are some examples (by Thomas Williams, teacher at EC San Diego English School):
“The interesting, small, rectangular, blue car is parked in my space.”
“I bought a beautiful, long, red, Italian, silk tie.”
“My father lives in a lovely, gigantic, ancient, brick house.”
“I have an annoying, small, circular, American, tin, alarm clock that wakes me up.”
“Let’s order a delicious, huge, rectangular, pepperoni pizza.”
“We all love our smart, petite, British teacher.”
“They all received several dazzling, small, ancient, gold coins.”
“She owns a stunning, large, old, brown dog named Boris.”

The following chart is also helpful. If you have trouble learning it by heart, then keep it handy!

Also on the point of accuracy or fluency, written as well as spoken English uses many compound verbs, which are multi-word groups that act as a single verb. Examples include to “give up” (to “abandon”; “cease making an effort; admit defeat”) or to “give for” (to “offer”) and to “look up” (to “search”; “improve”). The separate words making up the verb must be placed in the sentence correctly. It’s accurate to write, for instance, “I gave her a sweater for her birthday”, but not, “I gave her for her birthday a sweater”. Another fluent sentence is, “I looked the word up in the dictionary”, and not “I looked up the word in the dictionary”, although the latter is often used.

Idioms, those word groups that have particular meaning not deducible from the individual words, also have a particular word order in English. Take, for example, this one: “to check at the door”, which means “to get rid of before entering someplace”. Correct usage is “to check something at the door”, such as, “to check your attitude at the door”. It would not be correct to write, “She checked at the door her attitude.”

The order of wording of compound verbs and idioms ties back to the usual Subject-Verb-Object construction of the English tongue, with added complexity. The object in the last sample sentence is the something, i.e. the “attitude”, so it has a specific place in the phrase. And where is that? Referring back to our examples above, a simple way to remember what’s proper is to substitute the word “it” for the thing/object. So: “she checked it at the door”, not “she checked at the door it”; “to give it for a birthday”, not “to give for a birthday it”; and “to look it up”, not “to look up it”.

But English, as all languages, changes with time. Few stop to think about the proper placement of words in a sentence when they write, although doing so would improve clarity and ensure the right message is getting across. With lackadaisical use over time, however, the nuances of meaning may decline and with them precision as well as full knowledge and understanding.

Normally, sentences in the English language take a simple form. However, there are times it would be a little complex. In these cases, the basic rules for how words appear in a sentence can help you.

Word order typically refers to the way the words in a sentence are arranged. In the English language, the order of words is important if you wish to accurately and effectively communicate your thoughts and ideas.

Although there are some exceptions to these rules, this article aims to outline some basic sentence structures that can be used as templates. Also, the article provides the rules for the ordering of adverbs and adjectives in English sentences.

Basic Sentence Structure and word order rules in English

For English sentences, the simple rule of thumb is that the subject should always come before the verb followed by the object. This rule is usually referred to as the SVO word order, and then most sentences must conform to this. However, it is essential to know that this rule only applies to sentences that have a subject, verb, and object.

For example

Subject + Verb + Object

He loves food

She killed the rat

Sentences are usually made of at least one clause. A clause is a string of words with a subject(noun) and a predicate (verb). A sentence with just one clause is referred to as a simple sentence, while those with more than one clause are referred to as compound sentences, complex sentences, or compound-complex sentences.

The following is an explanation and example of the most commonly used clause patterns in the English language.

Inversion

The English word order is inverted in questions. The subject changes its place in a question. Also, English questions usually begin with a verb or a helping verb if the verb is complex.

For example

Verb + Subject + object

Can you finish the assignment?

Did you go to work?

Intransitive Verbs

Some sentences use verbs that require no object or nothing else to follow them. These verbs are generally referred to as intransitive verbs. With intransitive verbs, you can form the most basic sentences since all that is required is a subject (made of one noun) and a predicate (made of one verb).

For example

Subject + verb

John eats

Christine fights

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs are verbs that connect a subject to the quality of the subject. Sentences that use linking verbs usually contain a subject, the linking verb and a subject complement or predicate adjective in this order.

For example

Subject + verb + Subject complement/Predicate adjective

The dress was beautiful

Her voice was amazing

Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs are verbs that tell what the subject did to something else. Sentences that use transitive verbs usually contain a subject, the transitive verb, and a direct object, usually in this order.

For example

Subject + Verb + Direct object

The father slapped his son

The teacher questioned his students

Indirect Objects

Sentences with transitive verbs can have a mixture of direct and indirect objects. Indirect objects are usually the receiver of the action or the audience of the direct object.

For example

Subject + Verb + IndirectObject + DirectObject

He gave the man a good job.

The singer gave the crowd a spectacular concert.

The order of direct and indirect objects can also be reversed. However, for the reversal of the order, there needs to be the inclusion of the preposition “to” before the indirect object. The addition of the preposition transforms the indirect object into what is called a prepositional phrase.

For example

Subject + Verb + DirectObject + Preposition + IndirectObject

He gave a lot of money to the man

The singer gave a spectacular concert to the crowd.

Adverbials

Adverbs are phrases or words that modify or qualify a verb, adjective, or other adverbs. They typically provide information on the when, where, how, and why of an action. Adverbs are usually very difficult to place as they can be in different positions in a sentence. Changing the placement of an adverb in a sentence can change the meaning or emphasis of that sentence.

Therefore, adverbials should be placed as close as possible to the things they modify, generally before the verbs.

For example

He hastily went to work.

He hurriedly ate his food.

However, if the verb is transitive, then the adverb should come after the transitive verb.

For example

John sat uncomfortably in the examination exam.

She spoke quietly in the class

The adverb of place is usually placed before the adverb of time

For example

John goes to work every morning

They arrived at school very late

The adverb of time can also be placed at the beginning of a sentence

For example

On Sunday he is traveling home

Every evening James jogs around the block

When there is more than one verb in the sentence, the adverb should be placed after the first verb.

For example

Peter will never forget his first dog

She has always loved eating rice.

Adjectives

Adjectives commonly refer to words that are used to describe someone or something. Adjectives can appear almost anywhere in the sentence.

Adjectives can sometimes appear after the verb to be

For example

He is fat

She is big

Adjectives can also appear before a noun.

For example

A big house

A fat boy

However, some sentences can contain more than one adjective to describe something or someone. These adjectives have an order in which they can appear before a now. The order is

Opinion – size – physical quality – shape – condition – age – color – pattern – origin – material – type – purpose

If more than one adjective is expected to come before a noun in a sentence, then it should follow this order. This order feels intuitive for native English speakers. However, it can be a little difficult to unpack for non-native English speakers.

For example

The ugly old woman is back

The dirty red car parked outside your house

When more than one adjective comes after a verb, it is usually connected by and

For example

The room is dark and cold

Having said that, Susan is tall and big

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1. What is Word Order?

Word order is important: it’s what makes your sentences make sense! So, proper word order is an essential part of writing and speaking—when we put words in the wrong order, the result is a confusing, unclear, and an incorrect sentence.

2.Examples of Word Order

Here are some examples of words put into the correct and incorrect order:

I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters at home. CORRECT

2 brothers and 2 sisters have I at home. INCORRECT

I am in middle school. CORRECT

In middle school I am. INCORRECT

How are you today? CORRECT

You are how today? INCORRECT

As you can see, it’s usually easy to see whether or not your words are in the correct order. When words are out of order, they stand out, and usually change the meaning of a sentence or make it hard to understand.

3. Types of Word Order

In English, we follow one main pattern for normal sentences and one main pattern for sentences that ask a question.

a. Standard Word Order

A sentence’s standard word order is Subject + Verb + Object (SVO). Remember, the subject is what a sentence is about; so, it comes first. For example:

The dog (subject) + eats (verb) + popcorn (object).

The subject comes first in a sentence because it makes our meaning clear when writing and speaking. Then, the verb comes after the subject, and the object comes after the verb; and that’s the most common word order. Otherwise, a sentence doesn’t make sense, like this:

Eats popcorn the dog. (verb + object + subject)

Popcorn the dog eats. (object + subject + verb)

B. Questions

When asking a question, we follow the order auxiliary verb/modal auxiliary + subject + verb (ASV). Auxiliary verbs and modal auxiliaries share meaning or function, many which are forms of the verb “to be.” Auxiliary verbs can change form, but modal auxiliaries don’t. Here’s a chart to help you:

As said, questions follow the form ASV; or, if they have an object, ASVO. Here are some examples:

Can he cook?  “Can” (auxiliary) “he” (subject) “cook” (verb)

Does your dog like popcorn?  “Does” (A) “your dog” (S) “like” (V) “popcorn” (O)

Are you burning the popcorn? “Are” (A) “you” (S) “burning” (V) “popcorn” (O)

4. Parts of Word Order

While almost sentences need to follow the basic SVO word order, we add other words, like indirect objects and modifiers, to make them more detailed.

a. Indirect Objects

When we add an indirect object, a sentence will follow a slightly different order. Indirect objects always come between the verb and the object, following the pattern SVIO, like this:

I fed the dog some popcorn.

This sentence has “I” (subject) “fed” (verb) “dog” (indirect object) “popcorn” (direct object).

b. Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases also have special positions in sentences. When we use the prepositions like “to” or “for,” then the indirect object becomes part of a prepositional phrase, and follows the order SVOP, like this:

I fed some popcorn to the dog.

Other prepositional phrases, determining time and location, can go at either the beginning or the end of a sentence:

            He ate popcorn at the fair.      -Or-     At the fair he ate popcorn.

      In the morning I will go home.            I will go home in the morning.

c. Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, adding things like time, manner, degree; and often end in ly, like “slowly,” “recently,” “nearly,” and so on. As a rule, an adverb (or any modifier) should be as close as possible to the thing it is modifying. But, adverbs are special because they can usually be placed in more than one spot in the sentence and are still correct. So, there are rules about their placement, but also many exceptions.

In general, when modifying an adjective or adverb, an adverb should go before the word it modifies:

The dog was extremely hungry. CORRECT adverb modifies “hungry”

Extremely, the dog was hungry. INCORRECT misplaced adverb

The extremely dog was hungry. INCORRECT misplaced adverb

The dog was hungry extremely. INCORRECT misplaced adverb

As you can see, the word “extremely” only makes sense just before the adjective “hungry.” In this situation, the adverb can only go in one place.

When modifying a verb, an adverb should generally go right after the word it modifies, as in the first sentence below. BUT, these other uses are also correct, though they may not be the best:

The dog ran quickly to the fair. CORRECT * BEST POSITION

Quickly the dog ran to the fair. CORRECT

The dog quickly ran to the fair. CORRECT

The dog ran to the fair quickly. CORRECT

For adverbs expressing frequency (how often something happens) the adverb goes directly after the subject:

The dog always eats popcorn.

He never runs slowly.

I rarely see him.

Adverbs expressing time (when something happens) can go at either the beginning or of the end of the sentence, depending what’s important about the sentence. If the time isn’t very important, then it goes at the beginning of the sentence, but if you want to emphasize the time, then the adverb goes at the end of the sentence:

Now the dog wants popcorn. Emphasis on “the dog wants popcorn”

The dog wants popcorn now. Emphasis on “now”

5. How to Use Avoid Mistakes with Word Order

Aside from following the proper SVO pattern, it’s important to write and speak in the way that is the least confusing and the most clear. If you make mistakes with your word order, then your sentences won’t make sense. Basically, if a sentence is hard to understand, then it isn’t correct. Here are a few key things to remember:

• The subject is what a sentence is about, so it should come first.
• A modifier (like an adverb) should generally go as close as possible to the thing it is modifying.
• Indirect objects can change the word order from SVO to SVIO
• Prepositional phrases have special positions in sentences

Finally, here’s an easy tip: when writing, always reread your sentences out loud to make sure that the words are in the proper order—it is usually pretty easy to hear! If a sentence is clear, then you should only need to read it once to understand it.

Можно ли использовать вопросительный порядок слов в утвердительных предложениях? Как построить предложение, если в нем нет подлежащего? Об этих и других нюансах читайте в нашей статье.

Прямой порядок слов в английских предложениях

Утвердительные предложения

В английском языке основной порядок слов можно описать формулой SVO: subject – verb – object (подлежащее – сказуемое – дополнение).

Mary reads many books. — Мэри читает много книг.

Подлежащее — это существительное или местоимение, которое стоит в начале предложения (кто? — Mary).

Сказуемое — это глагол, который стоит после подлежащего (что делает? — reads).

Дополнение — это существительное или местоимение, которое стоит после глагола (что? — books).

В английском отсутствуют падежи, поэтому необходимо строго соблюдать основной порядок слов, так как часто это единственное, что указывает на связь между словами.

Подлежащее	Сказуемое	Дополнение	Перевод
My mum	loves	soap operas.	Моя мама любит мыльные оперы.
Sally	found	her keys.	Салли нашла свои ключи.
I	remember	you.	Я помню тебя.

Глагол to be в утвердительных предложениях

Как правило, английское предложение не обходится без сказуемого, выраженного глаголом. Так как в русском можно построить предложение без глагола, мы часто забываем о нем в английском. Например:

Mary is a teacher. — Мэри — учительница. (Мэри является учительницей.)
I’m scared. — Мне страшно. (Я являюсь напуганной.)

Life is unfair. — Жизнь несправедлива. (Жизнь является несправедливой.)
My younger brother is ten years old. — Моему младшему брату десять лет. (Моему младшему брату есть десять лет.)

His friends are from Spain. — Его друзья из Испании. (Его друзья происходят из Испании.)
The vase is on the table. — Ваза на столе. (Ваза находится/стоит на столе.)

Подведем итог, глагол to be в переводе на русский может означать:

• быть/есть/являться;
• находиться / пребывать (в каком-то месте или состоянии);
• существовать;
• происходить (из какой-то местности).

Если вы не уверены, нужен ли to be в вашем предложении в настоящем времени, то переведите предложение в прошедшее время: я на работе — я была на работе. Если в прошедшем времени появляется глагол-связка, то и в настоящем он необходим.

Предложения с there is / there are

Когда мы хотим сказать, что что-то где-то есть или чего-то где-то нет, то нам нужно придерживаться конструкции there + to be в начале предложения.

There is grass in the yard, there is wood on the grass. — На дворе — трава, на траве — дрова.

Если в таких типах предложений мы не используем конструкцию there is / there are, то по-английски подобные предложения будут звучать менее естественно:

There are a lot of people in the room. — В комнате много людей. (естественно)
A lot of people are in the room. — Много людей находится в комнате. (менее естественно)

Обратите внимание, предложения с there is / there are, как правило, переводятся на русский с конца предложения.

Еще конструкция there is / there are нужна, чтобы соблюсти основной порядок слов — SVO (подлежащее – сказуемое – дополнение):

Подлежащее	Сказуемое	Дополнение	Перевод
There	is	too much sugar in my tea.	В моем чае слишком много сахара.

Более подробно о конструкции there is / there are можно прочитать в статье «Грамматика английского языка для начинающих, часть 3».

Местоимение it

Мы, как носители русского языка, в английских предложениях забываем не только про сказуемое, но и про подлежащее. Особенно сложно понять, как перевести на английский подобные предложения: Темнеет. Пора вставать. Приятно было пообщаться. В английском языке во всех этих предложениях должно стоять подлежащее, роль которого будет играть вводное местоимение it. Особенно важно его не забыть, если мы говорим о погоде.

It’s getting dark. — Темнеет.
It’s time to get up. — Пора вставать.
It was nice to talk to you. — Приятно было пообщаться.

Отрицательные предложения

Если предложение отрицательное, то мы ставим отрицательную частицу not после:

• вспомогательного глагола (auxiliary verb);
• модального глагола (modal verb).

Подлежащее	Вспомогательный/Модальный глагол	Частица not	Сказуемое	Дополнение	Перевод
Sally	has	not	found	her keys.	Салли не нашла свои ключи.
My mum	does	not	love	soap operas.	Моя мама не любит мыльные оперы.
He	could	not	save	his reputation.	Он не мог спасти свою репутацию
I	will	not	be	yours.	Я не буду твоей.

Если в предложении единственный глагол — to be, то ставим not после него.

Подлежащее	Глагол to be	Частица not	Дополнение	Перевод
Peter	is	not	an engineer.	Питер не инженер.
I	was	not	at work yesterday.	Я не была вчера на работе.
Her friends	were	not	polite enough.	Ее друзья были недостаточно вежливы.

Порядок слов в вопросах

Для начала скажем, что вопросы бывают двух основных типов:

• закрытые вопросы (вопросы с ответом «да/нет»);
• открытые вопросы (вопросы, на которые можно дать развернутый ответ).

Закрытые вопросы

Чтобы построить вопрос «да/нет», нужно поставить модальный или вспомогательный глагол в начало предложения. Получится следующая структура: вспомогательный/модальный глагол – подлежащее – сказуемое. Следующие примеры вам помогут понять, как утвердительное предложение преобразовать в вопросительное.

She goes to the gym on Mondays. — Она ходит в зал по понедельникам.
Does she go to the gym on Mondays? — Ходит ли она в зал по понедельникам?

He can speak English fluently. — Он умеет бегло говорить по-английски.
Can he speak English fluently? — Умеет ли он бегло говорить по-английски?

Simon has always loved Katy. — Саймон всегда любил Кэти.
Has Simon always loved Katy? — Всегда ли Саймон любил Кэти?

Обратите внимание! Если в предложении есть только глагол to be, то в Present Simple и Past Simple мы перенесем его в начало предложения.

She was at home all day yesterday. — Она была дома весь день.
Was she at home all day yesterday? — Она была дома весь день?

They’re tired. — Они устали.
Are they tired? — Они устали?

Открытые вопросы

В вопросах открытого типа порядок слов такой же, только в начало предложения необходимо добавить вопросительное слово. Тогда структура предложения будет следующая: вопросительное слово – вспомогательный/модальный глагол – подлежащее – сказуемое.

Перечислим вопросительные слова: what (что?, какой?), who (кто?), where (где?, куда?), why (почему?, зачем?), how (как?), when (когда?), which (который?), whose (чей?), whom (кого?, кому?).

He was at work on Monday. — В понедельник он весь день был на работе.
Where was he on Monday? — Где он был в понедельник?

She went to the cinema yesterday. — Она вчера ходила в кино.
Where did she go yesterday? — Куда она вчера ходила?

My father watches Netflix every day. — Мой отец каждый день смотрит Netflix.
How often does your father watch Netflix? — Как часто твой отец смотрит Netflix?

Вопросы к подлежащему

В английском есть такой тип вопросов, как вопросы к подлежащему. У них порядок слов такой же, как и в утвердительных предложениях, только в начале будет стоять вопросительное слово вместо подлежащего. Сравните:

Who do you love? — Кого ты любишь? (подлежащее you)
Who loves you? — Кто тебя любит? (подлежащее who)

Whose phone did she find two days ago? — Чей телефон она вчера нашла? (подлежащее she)
Whose phone is ringing? — Чей телефон звонит? (подлежащее whose phone)

What have you done? — Что ты наделал? (подлежащее you)
What happened? — Что случилось? (подлежащее what)

Обратите внимание! После вопросительных слов who и what необходимо использовать глагол в единственном числе.

Who lives in this mansion? — Кто живет в этом особняке?
What makes us human? — Что делает нас людьми?

Косвенные вопросы

Если вам нужно что-то узнать и вы хотите звучать более вежливо, то можете начать свой вопрос с таких фраз, как: Could you tell me… ? (Можете подсказать… ?), Can you please help… ? (Можете помочь… ?) Далее задавайте вопрос, но используйте прямой порядок слов.

Could you tell me where is the post office is? — Не могли бы вы мне подсказать, где находится почта?
Do you know what time does the store opens? — Вы знаете, во сколько открывается магазин?

Если в косвенный вопрос мы трансформируем вопрос типа «да/нет», то перед вопросительной частью нам понадобится частица «ли» — if или whether.

Do you like action films? — Тебе нравятся боевики?
I wonder if/whether you like action films. — Мне интересно узнать, нравятся ли тебе экшн-фильмы.

Другие члены предложения

Прилагательное в английском стоит перед существительным, а наречие обычно — в конце предложения.

Grace Kelly was a beautiful woman. — Грейс Келли была красивой женщиной.
Andy reads well. — Энди хорошо читает.

Обстоятельство, как правило, стоит в конце предложения. Оно отвечает на вопросы как?, где?, куда?, почему?, когда?

There was no rain last summer. — Прошлым летом не было дождя.
The town hall is in the city center. — Администрация находится в центре города.

Если в предложении несколько обстоятельств, то их надо ставить в следующем порядке:

Подлежащее + сказуемое	Обстоятельство (как?)	Обстоятельство (где?)	Обстоятельство (когда?)	Перевод
Fergie didn’t perform	very well	at the concert	two years ago.	Ферги не очень хорошо выступила на концерте два года назад.

Чтобы подчеркнуть, когда или где что-то случилось, мы можем поставить обстоятельство места или времени в начало предложения:

Last Christmas I gave you my heart. But the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special. — Прошлым Рождеством я подарил тебе свое сердце. Но уже на следующий день ты отдала его обратно. В этом году, чтобы больше не горевать, я подарю его кому-нибудь другому.

Если вы хотите преодолеть языковой барьер и начать свободно общаться с иностранцами, записывайтесь на разговорный курс английского.

Надеемся, эта статья была вам полезной и вы разобрались, как строить предложения в английском языке. Предлагаем пройти небольшой тест для закрепления темы.