Basic Word Order

English word order is strict and rather inflexible. As there are few endings in English that show person, number, case, and tense, English relies on word order to show relationships between words in a sentence.

In Russian, we rely on word endings to tell us how words interact in a sentence. You probably remember the phrase made up by Academician L.V. Scherba to demonstrate the work of endings and suffixes in Russian. (No English translation for this phrase.) Everything we need to know about the interaction of the characters in this sentence, we learn from the endings and the suffixes.

English nouns do not have any case endings (only personal pronouns have some case endings), so it is mostly the word order that tells you where things are in a sentence, and how they interact. Compare:

The dog sees the cat.

Собака видит кошку.

The cat sees the dog.

Кошка видит собаку.

The subject and the object in these sentences are completely the same in form. How do you know who sees whom? The rules of English word order tell you that.

Word order patterns

A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate and expressing a complete thought.

Word order arranges separate words into sentences in a certain way and indicates where to find the subject, the predicate, and the other parts of the sentence. Word order and context help to identify the meanings of individual words.

The main pattern of basic word order in English declarative sentences is SUBJECT + PREDICATE + OBJECT, often called SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT, for example: Tom writes stories. It means that if these three parts of the sentence are present in a statement (a declarative sentence), the subject is placed before the predicate, the predicate follows the subject, and the object is placed after the predicate. Adverbial modifiers are placed after the object, and adjectives are placed before their nouns.

Of course, some sentences may have just one word (Write!), or only a subject and a predicate (Tom writes.), or have an adverbial modifier and no object (Tom writes well.), and there are peculiarities, exceptions, and preferences in word order, but the pattern SUBJECT + PREDICATE + OBJECT (Tom writes stories.) is the most typical and the most common pattern of standard word order in English that serves as a basis for word order in different types of sentences.

Word order in different sentences

English sentences are divided into statements, questions, commands, and exclamatory sentences. Word order in different types of sentences has certain peculiarities.

Statements (Declarative sentences)

Statements (declarative sentences) are the most common type of sentences. A standard statement uses the basic word order pattern, i.e. SUBJECT + PREDICATE (+ object + adverbial modifier). Adverbial modifiers are placed at the end of the sentence after the object (or after the verb if there is no object). Attributes (adjectives, numerals) are placed before their nouns, and attributes in the form of nouns with prepositions are placed after their nouns.

Maria works.

Questions (Interrogative sentences)

General questions

Auxiliary verb + subject + main verb (+ object + adverbial modifier):

Do you smoke?

Special questions

Question word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb (+ object + adverbial modifier):

Where does he live?

Alternative questions

Alternative questions have the same word order as general questions.

Does he live in Paris or Rome?

Tag questions

Tag questions consist of two parts. The first part has the same word order as statements, and the second part is a short general question (the tag).

He lives here, doesn't he?

Commands (Imperative sentences)

Commands have the same word order as statements, but the subject (you) is usually omitted.

Go to your room.

Exclamatory sentences

Exclamatory sentences have the same word order as statements (i.e., the subject is before the predicate).

She is a great singer!

In some types of exclamatory sentences, the subject (it, this, that) and the linking verb are often omitted.

What a pity!

35. Syndetic compound sentences. Types of relations and their means of expression.

The sentence is the central syntactic construction used as the minimal communicative unit that has its primary predication, actualises a definite structural scheme and possesses definite intonation characteristics.

Compound sentences:

A compound sentence is a multiple sentence of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. Clauses combined by means of coordination are regarded as independent, they are linked in such a way that there is no hierarchy in the syntactic relationship, they have the same syntactic status. Two clauses are coordinated if they are connected by a conjunct or a coordinator. Coordinated clauses are sometimes called “conjoins”. Coordination can be asyndatic or syndatic.

Syndetic compound sentences:

In s.c.c. the type of coordination is expressed explicitly by means of coordinators, coordinating conjunctions and, but, for, so that The lights went out, the curtain went up and the show began. The peculiarity of and and or is that they can link more than two clauses. Coordinators can be divided into one-member, or simple (and, but) and multi-member (either…or).

Coordinators and conjuncts in a compound sentence express four logical types of coordination: copulative, disjunctive, adversative and causative-consecutive.

Form the semantico-syntactic point of view there are 2 basic types of connection:

1.Marked coordinative connection – copulative, causal, resultative, adversative, disjunctive, e.g. We cannot go upstairs for we are too tired.

2.Unmarked coordinative connection - is realized by the coordinative connector “and” and also asyndetically (copulative, enumerative, causal, resultative relations), e.g. Time passed, and she came to no conclusions. We cannot go upstairs, we are too tired.

Grammatical structure of compound sentences:

The semantic relations between the clauses making up the compound sentence depend partly on the lexical meaning of the conjunction uniting them, and partly on the meanings of the words making up the clauses themselves:

-Copulative conjunctions - and, neither…nor

-Disjunctive conjunctions - or, otherwise, either…or

-Adversative conjunctions - but, yet, still, nevertheless, however

As to the use of tenses in clauses making up a compound sentence, we should note that there is no general rule of their interdependence. However, in a number of cases we do find interdependence of co-ordinate clauses from this point of view.

The number of clauses in a compound sentence may be greater than 2, and in this case the conjunctions uniting the clauses may be different. The length of the CS in terms of the number of its clausal parts is in principle unlimited, since it is determined by the informative purpose of the speaker.