ALF Guide - Word Order

What do we mean by word order?

Word order refers to the arrangement of words in sentences.
Not all languages follow the same word order pattern.

Word order in English usually conforms to a subject, verb, object (SVO) pattern.

Subject	Verb	Object
(eg. who)	(does)	(what)
I	speak	English

Expression of "place" and "time" in sentences

"Place" comes before "time" at the end of the sentence OR "time" can be put at the beginning of the sentence and followed by a comma.

Time	Subject	Verb	Object	Place	Time
	I	study	maths	in the computer lab	every Tuesday.
	My room-mate	is playing		in the soccer match	at 11 am.
Every Saturday,	Peter	watches	television	at home.

Word order rules

1. More than one adjective:
The lecture is in the large, cylindrical brick building.

Possessive pronoun or article	Opinion	Size	Shape	Age	Colour	Nationality	Noun
their	lovely			young		Canadian	tutor
a		small	round		blue		peg

2. Adverb of manner – “In what way?”, “How?”:
They drove their cars carefully.

3. Adverb of frequency – “How often?”:
I often come to university by bus.

Word order rules

4. Active and passive statements:
Students brought the materials for the practical class. (Active Statement)
The materials for the class were brought by students. (Passive Statement)

5. Direct questions:
The word order is reversed in direct questions.
I often ask myself: “Do I know what I am supposed to do for my assignments?”
The lecturer asked: “How long did it take to complete that activity in class?”

6. Reported questions:
The word order follows the regular SVO pattern.
I often wonder whether I know what I am supposed to do for my assignments.
The teacher wanted to know how long it had taken to complete that activity in class.

The same word in different positions

Some words can change their function or part of speech depending on their position in a sentence. Notice how the same word in a different position in each sentence has a different meaning:

The student representative committee put forward several concrete proposals.
(“Concrete” is an adjective, meaning ‘tangible’, ‘clear’).

The builders will lay the concrete.
(‘Concrete” is a noun, meaning ‘cement’)

I asked the builders whether they could concrete the driveway by Tuesday.
(“Concrete” is a verb, meaning the act of laying the concrete)

Apply what you have learnt in this module and click on the correct option(s) below

The student wrote on the computer on the bus.

Ken made for me a new desk.

The Year 12 students hired a big, black limousine to travel to the school social.

Try again

This sentence could be confusing as it reads like the computer is attached to the bus.
On the bus, the student wrote on the computer.

This sentence does not follow the standard SVO (subject, verb, object) pattern expected in formal English.
Ken made a new desk for me.

This is correct as it follows the usual word order for adjectives where size comes before colour.

Quick Tip 1

Structure sentences according to the standard SVO (subject, verb, object) pattern, except when there is a good reason for changing the SVO order.

Quick Tip 2

Understand the common word order rules for using adjectives, adverbs, and for making statements and questions.

Quick Tip 3

Revise your knowledge of parts of speech (adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions etc.) so that you use the correct form of a word in the correct order.

Download This Module

Copyright © Monash University (2017). All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of English Connect web administrator. Material created by Dr Anna Podorova, Ms Julia Ghazarian and Dr Amber McLeod.

The ALF Guide

Example from a student assignment – read through this paragraph looking for mistakes with word order

For explanation, click on the underlined text

Suggested revision