How to build correctly ordered sentences in English

WORD ORDER in declarative statements

Word order is very important in English; but it is not complicated, and can be reduced to a few basic
rules or principles.
In the examples below, parts of the sentence are colour-coded: subjects in red, verbs in blue, direct
objects in brown, etc.
1.1 In a normal (declarative) sentence, the subject of a sentence comes directly in front of
the verb. The direct object (when there is one) comes directly after it:
Examples:
The
man wrote a
letter.
People
who
live
in
glasshouses shouldn't
throw stones.
The president laughed.

1.2. Note that by the subject, we mean not just a single word, but the subject noun or pronoun
plus adjectives or descriptive phrases that go with it. The rest of the sentence - i.e. the part that is
not the subject - is called the predicate.
Example:
People who live in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones.

1.3. If a sentence has any other parts to it - indirect objects,adverbs or adverb phrases these usually come in specific places:
1.3.1 The position of the indirect object
The indirect object follows the direct object when it is formed with the preposition to:
The indirect object comes in front of the direct object if to is omitted
Example:
The
doctor gave some
or: The doctor gave the child some medicine.

medicine to

the

child.

1.3.2. The position of adverbs or adverb phrases

These
can
come
in
three
possible
a) Before the subject (Notably with common adverbs or adverb phrases)
Example:
Yesterday the man wrote a letter
b) After the object (Virtually any adverb or adverb phrase can be placed here)

places:

Example:
The man wrote a letter on his computer in the train.
c) In the middle of the verb group. (Notably with short common adverbs)
Example:
The man has already written his letter

1.4 In standard English, nothing usually comes between the subject and the verb, or between the
verb
and
the
object.
There are a few exceptions. The most important of these are adverbs of frequency andindirect
objects without to.
Example:
The
man often wrote his
I sometimes give my dog a bone.

mother a

letter.

If you always apply these few simple rules, you will not make too many word order problems in
English. The examples above are deliberately simple - but the rules can be applied even to complex
sentences, with subordinate and coordinated clauses.
Example:
The director, [who often told his
checked his e-mail.]

staff (to

work harder),] never left the

office before[he had

2 Exceptions
Of course, there are exceptions to many rules, and writers and speakers sometimes use different or
unusual word order for special effects. But if we concentrate on the exceptions, we may forget the
main principles, and the question of word order may start to seem very complex! So here are just a
few examples: you should realise that they exist, but not try to use them unless either they are
essential in the context, or else you have fully mastered normal word order patterns. (Don't try to run
before you can walk!)

A few examples:
Never before had I seen such a magnificent exhibition.
(After never or never before, subject and verb can be - and usually are - inverted. Do not
invert when never follows the subject !).
Hardly had I left the house, than it started to rain.
(When a sentence starts with hardly, subject and verb must be inverted.).

 Had I known, I'd never have gone there.

(Inversion occurs in unfulfilled hypothetical conditional structures when if is omitted.. See
the page on conditional clauses for more details)
The book that you gave me I'd read already.
(The long object, The book that you gave me, is placed at the start of the sentence for
reasons of style: this unusual sentence structure is not necessary, just stylistic).

The Noun Phrase (or noun group) in English

Related pages: Articles , Quantifiers, Possessives: using "of" or "'s", Count & non-count nouns
Two simple "rules" govern the use of the noun group in English.

1) The essential parts of a noun group

Unless a noun is used in a generalising sense (see articles), a noun group consists or at least the
following elements: a determiner and a noun.
A determiner is one of the following: an article (the, a, an, some, any), a quantifier (no, few, a few,
many, etc.), a possessive (my, your, whose, the man's, etc.), a demonstrative (this, that, these, those),
a numeral (one, two, three etc.) or a question word (which, whose, how many, etc.).
Except in some very rare cases, a noun can only be preceded by ONE determiner:
Examples: the man, some women, a few dogs, your horse, the man's horse* , that car, whose
money, how many bottles?
(In this example, the man's horse* there appear to be two determiners before horse, but in fact there
is only one: the determiner before horse is the man, and the article the is the determiner of the
word man.)

2) Other parts of a noun group.

A noun group can also contain one or more modifiers; a modifier is an adjective, an adjectival phrase,
a secondary noun, a prepositional phrase or a relative clause.
The principal noun in a noun group is called the head noun.

Adjectives are placed before the head noun: as in the Great Gatsby
(Click here for How to place adjectives in the right order)

Adjective phrases usually come before the head noun: as in:

a black-and-white striped vest
a rather tight-fitting dress

Secondary nouns behave exactly like adjectives, and come before the head noun:
a beer glass, the police inspector, a London bus

Prepositional phrases and relative clauses follow the head noun, as in:
the students in our class or the girl who gave me her phone-number.

Put all this together, and we get a complex noun group, such as:
The nice old-fashioned police inspector with white hair, who was drinking his beer, was Mr.
Morse.
3 Some common exceptions
Sometimes an adjective or an adjectival phrase will follow the noun, or appear to do so. There are three
cases that need to be noted:

A very few adjectives always follow the noun: concerned (in the sense of "being talked about"),
and involved (in the sense of "participating", or "being present") are the two common ones.

Other participial adjectives (such as left, remaining, missing) appear to be used as adjectives that
follow the noun; in reality, they are elliptical forms of a relative clause that has become reduced to
a single word.

Adjectives follow the noun when the adjectives themselves are post-modified (defined) by a
following phrase.

Examples.
There's been an outbreak of flu, but there are only fifteen people concerned
After the fight, the police arrested the men involved.
Oh look ! there is only one chocolate left !!
We can't go yet !! There are still three people missing.
There was a crowd bigger than last year.

Putting adjectives in the right order in English

Native English speakers naturally place adjectives (and secondary nouns acting as adjectives) in the
"correct" order when writing or speaking; but very few native English speakers have ever learnt, or
even thought of, the rules that determine the order in which adjectives are placed.
This obviously means that the rules are a) very basic and simple, and b) very few in number.
More than rules, they are principles.
Adjectives are placed in English according to their nature or type. There are three groupsof
adjectives, defining the qualities of a noun :
C. Classifying adjectives, innate or fundamental permanent qualities
B. Basic, permanent but circumstantial qualities
A. Accessory, relative or perceived circumstantial qualities.
And of course, they will be placed in the natural order ABC, with the most fundamental adjectives
coming closest to the noun, i.e. last.
Each group contains different types of adjectives, which may require a specific sequence. the table
below lists the different groups and their types, and is followed by examples.
When two group A adjectives of similar nature qualify the same noun, they may be linked by "and".
However "and" is never used to link adjectives from different groups.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Accessories
Possessive
> Numerical
perceived quality,
> Size, weight, age
etc
My first big
His five old

Basic
Colour
> Nationality
> Gender

Classifying
Permanent quality
> substance

Magnificent old
Memorable
Dangerous and useless
Nice fresh

Noun

(often a secondary noun)

(sometimes gender before

nationality)

green
American
British female
American
French
red Spanish

rubber

Ford
skiing
chemical

ball
cousins.
voters
automobile.
holiday
experiment
tomatoes

COMMON CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH SLANG:

These slang expressions are regularly used in contemporary English, specially in Britain. Some of
them are well established, but most are recent or new words or phrases.
With some exceptions (e.g. for contrast), this list does not include a lot of very well-established slang
words that appear in all good dictionaries. It does not include SMS or "text" language. It
does not include dialectal or regional slang, unless these are understood well beyond their region; it
does not include swear words or "bad language". Words marked "impolite" should be avoided in
most situations.
Note for students: It is not advisable for the learner of English to "learn" slang. Most slang words
are either short-lived, or else regional (dialect). London slang from the 1980's would for instance be
largely incomprehensible to a New Yorker in the 2000's!

ace: really good, exceptional.

anorak: very boring person, person who has no character.
ballistic: furious, extremely angry (as in "He'll go ballistic when he hears that")
bash, have a bash: (1) try to do something, (2) have a party.
bird: woman, female.
blab: talk, give away secrets
blag: talk in persuasive language (blag in, blag out). (Do not confuse with brag, to boast)
blown away by: very impressed by.
box, on the box: television, on TV.
brass: money.
brill: really good, brilliant.
broke (adjective): without any money.
bucks: dollars.
bum abound: go round doing nothing.
chav: aggressive cultureless teenager or young person, with no social aspirations, and probably
jobless.
chick : girl

chill out: stop being excited, become calm. (c.f. cool it.)
Chinese, go for a Chinese: have a take-away Chinese meal.
chippie: fish and chip shop
cool it: don't get excited, be more calm, calm down.
cool: good, fashionable.
crack up: (1) disintegrate under pressure, (2) laugh uncontrollably.
crap (impolite): excrement, shit, something with no value.
crash (out): go to bed, go to sleep
cut it out: shut up, stop talking.
cut up (adjective): distressed, sad.
do over: burgle, steal from
dope: drugs.
doss: sleep
dough: money
dude: person, man
easy, I'm easy; I don't mind, I have no preference one way or the other.
fazed: worried, disconcerted (and
unfazed: cool, calm )
fag (noun): (GB) cigarette: (USA) homosexual, gay.
flak, take the flak: criticism, blame, take the blame
funny farm: hospital for mentally retarded people, asylum.
grand: thousand (pounds or dollars)
grass (noun): 1. cannabis. 2. An informer. (also supergrass).

grass (verb): to give information about someone (to the police or the authorities).
grub: food.
gutted: very annoyed, very angry with oneself
guy: man, boy, person
hair, keep your hair on: stay calm, don't get alarmed
halls: university student residences.
hand, lend a: help.
hang on: wait
hell of a (adjectival expression): enormous, giant, big.
high, he's on a high: elated, in a very good mood.
high: he's high: he's under the influence of drugs.
hole in the wall: cash distributor, cash machine
hump, he's got the hump.... : he's (very) angry with ...
iffy: dubious, of dubious quality
kip: sleep
knackered: tired, exhausted
knock someone up: (GB) wake someone up: (USA - impolite) have sex with someone.
knot, tie the knot: get married.
lad: brash young man who tries to be popular with other lads, see lager lout. (Traditionally, a lad is
just a Scottish word meaning a boy or young man)
ladette: female version of lad
lager-lout: hooligan, young male who drinks too much cheap beer.
lass: girl, young lady (Traditional Scottish word)
mate: friend

mental: mad, stupid, idiotic.

miffed: disconcerted, taken aback
naf, naff: of poor quality, rubbish
neat: really good, appreciated.
nerd: person who is passionately interested in computers.
nick (noun): prison
nick (verb): take, steal
pad: the place you live in.
PIN number: personal identification number used at a hole in the wall.
piss off: go away, stop it
piss off, as in
You piss me off: You bore or annoy me.
pissed off: angry, fed up
pissed: drunk.
plastic: plastic bank card, Visa card etc.
Pond: the Atlantic Ocean
pop pills: take drugs
psyched up: tense, anxious
puke: vomit, be sick
quid: pound (sterling)
rat, to rat on someone: to give information about someone.
sack, hit the: go to bed.
sad: pathetic, poor, opposite of cool.

sarnie: sandwich.
score with... : have sex with...
screw, have a screw loose: be mentally retarded.
screw: (a) extort money from a person, overcharge for something. (b) (impolite) have sex with a
person.
screw it up: do something very badly, fail at something (e.g. an exam)
screwball: idiot.
shack up with: live with.
shattered: very tired, distressed
shoot down to: go quickly to...(e.g. shoot down to the station).
shoot up: inject a drug (such as heroin).
sickie, take a: be absent from work because you are (or are pretending to be) sick.
skive: avoid work, avoid going to work.
slag someone off: to say unpleasant things about someone to other people.
slag: a woman who sleeps around with different men.
sleep around: have sex with lots of different people.
sleep over: spend the night at someone else's house.
slog, a hard s.: something very difficult.
snog: kiss, embrace.
stoned: under the influence of cannabis.
strapped: short of money.
suss out: work out, find the solution
a swift one: a quick drink.
switch, hit the: turn on or turn off (TV, etc.)

takeaway: restaurant seeling take-away food.

throw up: vomit, be sick (puke).
twisted, he's twisted: he is a bit strange.
twit: idiot, stupid person.
unfazed: cool, calm
wank: masturbate
wanker: (impolite) stupid person, un-cool person
wheelie, do a: cycle with the front wheel in the air.
wheels: car, vehicle.
wicked: fantastic, really good.
wind up: to tease or try to deliberately aggravate someone
Yucky, yug, yuggy: disgusting, unpleasant

"Since" often causes confusion, because it has two principal meanings: it can
implycause, or duration (time). Here are some examples:
A1 Since it was Sunday, I stayed in bed longer.
A2 Since he arrived, everything has been different.
In A1, since implies cause: in A2 it implies duration.
Four essential points to remember:
1. The meaning of since - whether a conjunction or a preposition - is determined by
the structures and tenses used.
2. Since as a conjunction: when the verb of a subordinate clause with since is in a past
tense, since normally implies time.
3. Since as a conjunction: when the verb of a subordinate clause with since is in a present
tense, since normally implies cause .
4. Since and for as prepositions. Since is used when an event is situated in relation to a moment
in time, for when it is in relation to a period of time or duration. The verb in the main clause is
normally in the present-perfect tense.

Since implying time:

Since is used either as a conjunction (introducing a clause) or as
a preposition(introducing a phrase) , or occasionally as an adverb (standing alone).
1. If a "since" clause implies time, it must contain a verb in a past tense.
B1 We haven't eaten anything since we got here.
B2 We haven't eaten anything since we've been here
B3 I've been feeling sick (ever) since I ate that cake.
2. When the main verb in a sentence with a since clause (since you arrived) or a since
phrase (since Tuesday) refers to a period of time including the present, a present perfect
tense is necessary.
C1 See examples B1 - B3.
C2 I have been there since six o'clock.
C3 Since winning the prize, he's been really happy.
3. If the whole sentence refers to past time, a past perfect tense is required in the main
clause. The since clause generally contains a verb in the simple past tense.
D1 We hadn't eaten anything since we arrived.
D2 I'd been feeling sick ever since I ate that cake.
D3 I hadn't eaten anything since six o'clock.
4. Since always implies time if (a) it is a preposition (examples C2, D3) or (b) it
is followed by a present participle (example C3).

5.

Since or for ?

Since as a preposition can only be used with a moment in time - expressed either as an
adverb (e.g. yesterday), an adverb phrase (e.g. the start of term) or a verb of action (e.g. I
ate...).
Since as a preposition is never used with a duration. We cannot say: since three
hours Duration is expressed with for.
E1. I've been here since last week.
E2. I've been here for three hours.
Since as a conjunction can be used with a duration or with a moment of time; if duration
is implied, the verb in the since clause is normally in the present perfect. If a moment of
time is indicated, the verb in the since clause is in the preterite
E3a. I've felt much better since the window's been open
E4a. He's lost weight since he's been running every day
E3b. I've felt much better since I opened the window.
E4b. He's lost weight since he stopped eating chocolate bars.

Since implying cause:

1. If a since clause contains a present tense, since must imply cause, not time.
F1 Since it is raining, we are staying indoors.
F2 We will stay indoors since it is raining.
F3 Since he lives in Peru, he doesn't often visit us.
2. If the verb in the main clause and in the since clause are both in the preterite (simple
past ) , since normally implies cause, not time;
G1 I ate all the chocolates since you left them behind.
G2 Since he was poor, he never took taxis.
(To imply time, a present perfect is normally used for the main verb
G11 I've eaten all the chocolates since I got home.)
3.

Since, implying cause, is synonymous with as.

The conditional clause in English:

Clauses with if or unless

There are three types of conditional statement in English:
1. The open conditional statement.
2. The hypothetical conditional statement.
3. The unfulfilled hypothetical statement.
Part 4:
4. Omission of "if".
The conditional clause can either go before the main clause, or after it.

Type 1. The open conditional statement :

This usually refers to a future event which is conditional on another future event.
The verb of the main clause is in the future tense with "will" (or sometimes another modal).
The verb of the conditional clause is in the simple present tense.

If you eat too much, you'll get fatter.

You'll get fatter if you eat too much.

If everyone works fast, we'll finish in time.

We won't finish in time unless everyone works fast.

If I go to London, I can visit the British Museum.

If you visit Scotland, you should visit Edinburgh Castle.

Unless the directors can increase sales, we'll have to close this shop.

Occasionally, the open conditional statement describes one potential state of reality or
circumstance which is dependent on another. In this case, both verbs are in the presenttense.

If I sleep well at night, I feel much happier next morning.

If the temperature falls below zero, it freezes.

If it rains, everyone gets wet.

In an open conditional statement, if is sometimes replaced by when: but there is a difference. Using
"if" implies that the condition really is open and may not be fulfilled, using "when" implies that the
condition will be fulfilled, that the event will really take place.

Type 2. The open hypothetical conditional statement:

This refers to a possible future situation which depends on on another possible future situation. The
verb of the main clause uses the present conditional tense (would + infinitive, or could +infinitive);
The verb of the conditional clause normally uses the present subjunctive or preterite (these two
tenses are identical except with to be). Occasionally, the conditional aspect of the statement can be
emphasised by using the form were + to + infinitive.

1A If you ate too much, you'd (you would) get fatter.

1B You'd get fatter if you ate too much.

2A If everyone worked faster, we would / could finish in time.

2B We wouldn't finish in time unless everyone worked faster.

2C If everyone were to work faster, we would/could finish in time.

4. If you visited Scotland, you could see Edinburgh Castle.

If I went to London, I would / could visit the British Museum.

Unless the directors increased sales, we'd have to close this shop.

Note also this common expression (which uses the open hypothetical form, though it is clearly quite
impossible!)

6. If I were you, I'd ..........

As in: If I were you, I'd go a bit slower / If I were you, I'd put that gun down !!
This form is also used in cases of reported speech.

My professor told me I'd do much better if I worked harder.

The magistrate informed him that he'd go to prison unless he stopped stealing.

The newspaper reported that unless the directors could increase sales, they'd have to close
the shop.

Type 3. The unfulfilled hypothesis

This refers to a situation which an event might have taken place, but did not, because a condition
was not fulfilled.
The verb of the main clause goes in the past conditional (would have + past participle).
The verb of the conditional clause goes in the past perfect (had + past participle).
Examples:

If you had eaten too much, you'd (you would) have got fatter.

You'd have got fatter if you'd eaten too much.

If everyone had worked fast, we'd have finished in time (but we didn't).

We wouldn't have finished in time unless everyone had worked fast (but we did).

If I had gone to London, I could have visited the British Museum (but I didn't).

If you had visited Scotland, you could have visited Edinburgh Castle (but you didn't).

Unless we'd been very confident of success, we wouldn't have even tried. (But we were
confident, we did try, and we succeeded).

Note: using " unless"

"Unless" means the same as "if ... not", and has a negative value. It is frequently (but not only) used
in conditional statements where the verb of the main clause is also in the negative.

You wouldn't have fallen over unless there'd been a banana skin on the ground.

= You wouldn't have fallen over if there hadn't been a banana skin on the ground.

4 Omission of "if", with inversion.

Sometimes, hypothetical conditional statements or unfulfilled hypothetical statementscan be
expressed omitting the word if.
When this happens the subject follows the auxiliary verb in the conditional clause
Examples:

Were the virus to reappear, hospitals would now be ready for it. (open hypothesis)

= If the virus reappeared, hospitals would now be ready for it.

or If the virus were to reappear, hospitals would now be ready for it.

Had I known, I'd never have gone there (unfulfilled hypothesis; implying "I did go there
because I did not know".)
= If I had known, I'd never have gone there.