Word order adjective and nouns

1. Defining the values

This map shows the distribution of the two possible orders of modifying adjective and noun.  English is an example of a language which is AdjN, with the adjective preceding the noun (as in large dogs ). Another example is Mising (Tibeto-Burman; northeast India), as in (1).

(1) Mising (Prasad 1991: 69) 

azɔ́në	dɔ́luŋ
small	village
Adj	N
‘a small village’

Examples of NAdj languages, with the adjective following the noun, are given in (2); Apatani, another Tibeto-Burman language spoken in northeast India, is illustrated in (2a), while Temiar (Aslian, Mon-Khmer; Malaysia) is illustrated in (2b).

(2) 

In some languages, both orders of adjective and noun occur. In some of these, an argument can be given that one of the two orders is dominant (see “Determining Dominant Word Order”). For example, in Huasteca Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan; Mexico) the words for ‘good’ and ‘big’ precede the noun, but other adjectives more frequently follow the noun (Beller and Beller 1977: 233). This is taken here as a basis for saying that NAdj order is dominant in Huasteca Nahuatl and it is thus shown on the map as NAdj. Tagalog (Austronesian; Philippines), in contrast, is shown on the map as an instance of a language of the third type, having both orders with neither order dominant, because there is no evidence from the source that one of the orders is dominant (Schachter and Otanes 1972: 118, 121-122).

It should be emphasized that this map shows the order of adjectives modifying  a noun. It does not show the order of noun and predicative adjective, when the the noun is subject and the adjective is functioning as the predicate, as in English the boy is tall  and in the example in (3) from Simeulue (Austronesian; Sumatra, Indonesia).

(3) Simeulue (Kähler 1963: 131) 

mexiao	luan	ere
clean	river	this
‘This river is clean.’

The adjective mexiao  ‘clean’ in (3) is not modifying the noun luan  ‘river’; rather, luan ere  ‘this river’ is the subject and mexiao  ‘clean’ is the predicate. The position of mexiao  ‘clean’ in (3) reflects the fact that it is functioning as the predicate and predicates precede their subjects in Simeulue. Adjectives modifying nouns, in contrast, follow  the noun in Simeulue, as illustrated by the adjective tu’a-tu’a  ‘very old’ following ata  ‘person’ in (4).

(4) Simeulue (Kähler 1963: 17) 

ŋaŋ	sa’a	bəsaŋ	sara	ata	tu’a-tu’a
already	then	come	one	person	old-old
‘Then a very old man came.’

For the purposes of this map, the term adjective  should be interpreted in a semantic sense, as a word denoting a descriptive property, with meanings such as ‘big’, ‘good’, or ‘red’. It does not include nondescriptive words that commonly modify nouns, such as demonstratives (like this  in this dog ) (see Map 88A), numerals (as in two dogs ) (see Map 89A), or words meaning ‘other’ (as in the other dog ). In some languages, like English, adjectives form a distinct word class. In other languages, however, adjectives do not form a distinct word class and are verbs or nouns (see Chapter 118). For example, in Eastern Ojibwa (Algonquian; eastern Canada and United States), words expressing adjectival meaning are just like verbs morphologically and syntactically. The example in (5a), involving a word meaning ‘tall’ being used predicatively, inflects for a first person singular subject with a prefix n-  in the same way as the inflection for the verb meaning ‘sing’ in (5b).

(5) Eastern Ojibwa (Rich Rhodes, p.c.) 

a.	n-ginooz
	1sg-tall
	‘I am tall.’
b.	n-nagam
	1sg-sing
	‘I am singing.’

Similarly, these two words inflect in the same way when they are used attributively to modify a noun, as in (6). 

(6) Eastern Ojibwa (Rich Rhodes, p.c.) 

a.	nini	e-gnoozi-d
	man	rel-tall-3sg
	‘a tall man’
b.	nini	e-ngamo-d
	man	rel-sing-3sg
	‘a man who is singing’

Both modifying words in (6) bear third person subject marking and a relativizing prefix e-. Because words expressing adjectival meaning are really verbs in Ojibwa, instances in which such words modify nouns, like (6a), are, strictly speaking, relative clauses. In other languages, words expressing adjectival meaning form a well-defined subclass of verbs, sharing certain grammatical properties with other verbs, but differing in other respects. For example, in Lealao Chinantec (Oto-Manguean; Mexico) there is a subclass of verbs that express adjectival meanings which occur with verbal inflections but which differ from other verbs in that they can directly modify nouns without a relative marker. Compare (7a), with a nonadjectival verb preceded by the relative marker ʔiM, with (7b), in which an adjectival verb immediately follows the noun without the relative marker.

(7) Lealao Chinantec (Rupp 1989: 86) 

a.	mïʔM	[ʔiM	kaL-láH	miVH-liuʔH]
	clothes	rel	pst-buy.3	clf-little
	‘the clothes that the child bought’
b.	mïVH-kuï:M	tia:M
	clf-corn	white
	‘white corn’

For the purposes of this map, these distinctions in word class are ignored: a word is treated as an adjective, regardless of its word class in the language, as long as it denotes a descriptive property. The map also ignores the question of whether the adjectives are modifying nouns directly or whether they are the predicate of a relative clause which is modifying the noun. It is a matter for future research to determine whether any of these distinctions provide a basis for further patterns in the distribution of AdjN and NAdj order, either typologically or geographically. 

The fourth type shown on the map are languages in which the adjectives do not modify nouns, in which in the closest equivalent to such structures, the adjective is actually the predicate in an internally-headed relative clause (see Chapter 90), and the noun is serving as its subject. Internally-headed relative clauses in Mesa Grande Diegueño (Yuman; southern California and northwest Mexico) are illustrated in (3) in Chapter 90. The example in (8a) below illustrates the translation equivalent of an adjective modifying a noun, but in fact the word for ‘white’ in (8a) is the verbal predicate of an internally-headed relative clause and the word aq  ‘bone’ is functioning as the subject of that verb; its structure is exactly parallel to the structure in (8b), with a nonadjectival intransitive verb.

(8) Mesa Grande Diegueño (Couro and Langdon 1975: 224, 236) 

a.	‘iikwich=ve=ch	[aq	ku-nemshap]=vu	aakwal
	man=def=subj	[bone	rel.subj-white]=def	lick
	‘The man licked the white bone.’
b.	kwenychekwii=ve=ch	[hekwany	ku-mii]=vu	selyewelyuu
	old.woman=def=subj	[baby	rel.subj-cry]=def	tickle
	‘The old woman tickled the baby that cried.’

While superficially it might not be obvious that the examples in (8) involve internally-headed relative clauses, the fact that they have exactly the same form as the examples in (3) in Chapter 90, which are clearly internally-headed, means that these examples apparently involve internally-headed relative clauses as well. Note that the order of the noun and adjective in (8a) simply reflects the normal order of subject and verb in Diegueño.  Languages in which adjectives do not really modify nouns, but are predicates in internally-headed relative clauses, are probably more common than the map suggests, both because grammarians have until recently often failed to recognize internally-headed relative clauses and because the simple structure of internally-headed relative clauses with just noun plus adjective is such that it may not be recognized that they are simple instances of internally-headed relative clauses. Some of the languages that are shown as AdjN or as NAdj may prove under more careful analysis to be better treated as languages in which the adjectives are predicates in internally-headed relative clauses.

2. Geographical distribution

Both AdjN and NAdj orders are common in the world, though there are more than twice as many NAdj languages on the map. There are also clear geographical patterns. NAdj order is overwhelmingly the dominant order in Africa, though there exist a few well-defined pockets of AdjN order.  This area of NAdj order in Africa can be seen as extending northward into southwest Europe and to the northeast into the Middle East. NAdj order is also the dominant type in a large region stretching from northeast India through Southeast Asia eastward among Austronesian languages into the Pacific, except in the Philippines. It is the dominant order in both New Guinea and Australia, though there are many exceptions. Both orders are common in North America, but NAdj order is noticeably more common in the eastern half of the United States and among the more centrally located languages of Mesoamerica. NAdj is the majority type in South America, again with many scattered exceptions.

By far the largest area in which AdjN is found is a large area covering much of Europe and Asia, except in southwest Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Within this area, there are relatively few exceptions to the dominance of AdjN order, though a number of Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayan region are NAdj. AdjN order is clearly a minority type in Africa, but there are some clear pockets, notably in Ethiopia, in central Africa, and among Khoisan languages in southern Africa.  Similarly, AdjN is a minority type in Australia, though there is a scattering of them, including pockets in the southeast and in the middle of the north coast. The situation is similar in New Guinea, with a couple of pockets of AdjN order in the eastern Highlands and in the lower Sepik valley. AdjN order is as common as NAdj order in North America, and is more common in the western regions of Canada and the United States. Both orders are found in Mesoamerica, though AdjN order is more common in the northeast and southeast. In South America, the AdjN languages are confined to the western half of the continent, except for a pocket of languages in the vicinity of Suriname.

While some of the geographical patterns shown on the map reflect areal phenomena that cross genealogical boundaries, there are cases in which knowing genealogical classification can explain instances where languages in the same area are of different types. For example, Romanian is a NAdj language surrounded by AdjN languages, but this reflects the fact that it is a Romance language separated from other Romance languages and like other Romance languages is NAdj. 

Languages lacking a dominant order of adjective and noun are widely scattered, but are noticeably more common in the Philippines, in an area in and around Burma, in Australia and in the Americas. The languages shown as lacking constructions with an adjective modifying the noun because the closest equivalent involves an internally-headed relative clause are all in the Americas.

3. Theoretical issues

The order of adjective and noun has been of most interest because it is often thought that it correlates with the order of object and verb. However, as shown by Dryer (1988a, 1992) and in Chapter 97 of this atlas, this is not the case: NAdj order is more common than AdjN order, both among OV languages and among VO languages. Greenberg (1963) and Hawkins (1983) discuss other crosslinguistic generalizations involving the order of adjective and noun.  As noted above, it remains to be investigated whether distinguishing among different sorts of languages on the basis of the extent to which adjectives are a distinct word class (or subclass) might lead to new generalizations relating to the order of adjective and noun.

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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Word order for english is quite complicated in the matter of that changing one word to the other end of a sentence could mean that your asking a question to that your complimenting someone. The same words can be used in the sentence «how are you?» to that of «you are how?».

Nouns

Nouns in English usually go after the verb so that the listener can identify what needs to be done before what needs to be done with what. If one were to say, for example «Go get me that» it means that the listener is told to first go but with the exclusion of the noun at the time. Then the noun is given so the action can be completed. If you were to say «That go get me» instead it would mean that the listener is told that something is in the process of getting the speaker.

Verbs

Verbs are used to state the action of a sentence. For each verb, there must be a noun — the doer of the action. Some sentences, such as «Go!», appear without a written noun. These are called imperative sentences. They are used to make commands, and the noun is an implied «you.»

Adverbs

Adverbs are used to help highlight the use of a verb in a sentence like the use of «I will get».

Prepositions

Prepositons are used to state where a noun is located and is not always used to state a noun’s position but rather to help the listener to understand the specificity of the noun’s location. A good example is «It was lying on the table».

Articles

Articles are used to express the specificity of a noun and such are that of «the» or «a» so that the listener can determine the exact object the speaker is refering to. One such example is «The man over there».

Adjectives

Adjectives are only used before a noun and no time afterwards so that the listener knows which noun is being described by the Adjectives. «The hot towel hurt my face» is one such sentence.

Pronouns

Pronouns are used to take place of a noun like I, you, it, he, she, we, they,… so that they are used just like nouns.

Word Orders

Here are all the possibilities for a sentence word order:
N (noun), V (verb), Adv (adverb), Pre (preposition), Adj (adjective), Pro (pronoun)

— N V

— V V N N

— V N

— N V N

— N N Adv V

— Pro N V N

— N V Pre N

— N Adj V