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WORD ORDER IN SENTENCES
1. Major Clause Patterns in English: 'Unmarked' Word Order
In contrast to German, English word order, i.e. the placement of core elements in a sentence, is
strongly regulated. As a rule, the subject precedes the verb phrase, which, in turn, is followed by other elements such as objects, complements, adverbials. In English, the position of a noun phrase is used
to signal its function in a given sentence (in German, this is usually done by using different case endings).
Some Major Clause Patterns
Copular Verb
He was very anxious.
Subject - Verb - Complement
Her brother has become a skinhead.
S - V - Complement
S–V
The sun is shining.
Intransitive Verb
S – V - Adverbial
She works in the next building.
S – V – Direct Object
She will never forgive me!
The guide showed the tourists the sights of
S – V – Indirect Object – Direct Object
London.
Transitive Verb
The guide showed the sights of London to
the tourists.
Most students found her helpful.
About 45,000 people applied for refugee
Prepositional Verb
status.
They accused her of cheating.
S – V – Direct Object – Indirect Object
with Preposition
S – V – Direct Object - Complement
S – Prepositional Verb – Prepositional
Object
S – V – Direct Object – Preposition –
Prepositional Object
Note that some verbs require an indirect object preceded by a preposition:
The guide described London's sights to the tourists. (Not: *The guide described the tourists
London's sights.) (But cf. the examples with "show" above!)
In such cases, the indirect object with preposition is usually placed after the direct object. However,
it may be moved forward if the direct object is longer and heavier:
The Prime Minister explained to the House the various reasons why the peace talks had
failed. (Note that the preposition must not be omitted!)
The Position of Adverbials
Adverbials can occur in a variety of positions in a clause. Circumstance adverbials are by far the
most common class of adverbials. They provide information on manner, time and place. Some examples:
They checked their equipment carefully.
(adverbial of manner)
A security guard was standing at the cashpoint machine.
(place adverbial)
The Battle of the Boyne took place in 1690.
(time adverbial)
In general, these adverbials show a strong preference for final position.
With time adverbials (and, to a lesser extent, with place adverbials) initial position is possible, too.
Adverbials of manner can be found in mid-position, too ("The storm slowly abated. // The captain
kindly invited us onto the bridge.").
Note that in mid-position there is a strong preference for one-word adverbials in all registers,
whereas noun phrases and the vast majority of prepositional phrases occur most commonly in final position. (However, fiction and news have a higher percentage of noun phrases in initial position than
conversation does.)
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Adverbials
of manner:
Place adverbials
Time adverbials
in initial
position
in midposition
in final
position
mainly used for
emphasis!
one-word adverbials, common
position
preferred position (esp. with
noun phrases)
mainly for emphasis / dramatic
effect / reasons
of cohesion
common position, used to set
up a new time
setting or to
identify significant points in
time
Verb
+
Object
Subject Auxiliary
one-word adverbials, usual with
such adverbs as
"always, never,
often"
preferred position
preferred position (esp. with
prepositional
phrases)
If there are different types of circumstance adverbials in a clause, they are usually arranged in the
following order:
Subject
Verb
The plane
took off
(Object /
Complement)
Adverbial of Manner
Place Adverbial
Time Adverbial
noisily
into the dark sky
just before dawn.
Variations on this basic pattern are possible – depending on the number of adverbials, the length of
each adverbial, and the intended emphasis. Commonly, the order is changed to avoid having a longer
adverbial precede a shorter one. Moreover, adverbials can be put in front-position to avoid having too
many adverbials at the end of a sentence. The following examples may illustrate this:
Commuters stream out of the station every morning like an army of
ants on the move.
A group of tramps settled last week on the wasteland by the shoe factory.
This morning a woman was walking quickly behind me on her way to
work.
The whole morning he was working on his speech in the office.
(adverbial of manner at the end)
(place adverbial at the end)
(adverbials in front- and final
position)
As a rule, do not put an adverbial between a verb and its direct object. This differs from German
usage:
Trevor spricht (V) gut (Adverbial) Deutsch (O).
Jenny spielt (V) wunderschön (Adverbial) Klavier (O).
Trevor speaks (V) German (O) well (Adverbial).
Jane plays (V) the piano (O) beautifully (Adverbial).
Note also that, in contrast to German, the different positioning of adverbials usually does not have
any effect on the word order of the core elements of the English sentence:
Gestern habe ich einen neuen Computer gekauft.
Ich habe gestern einen neuen Computer gekauft.
Yesterday I bought a new computer.
I bought a new computer yesterday.
For more details see:
Biber, Douglas, et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman, 1999, pp. 122
– 134, 141 – 152, 762 – 818.
Greenbaum, Sidney, and Randolph Quirk. A Student's Grammar of the English Language. Harlow: Longman, 1990, pp. 204 – 208.
Leech, Geoffrey, and Jan Svartvik. A Communicative Grammar of English. 2nd ed. Longman: London, 1994,
pp. 225 – 235, 245 – 248, 259 – 260.
Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. 2nd ed. Oxford: OUP, 1995, pp. 15 – 27, 606 – 614.
Ungerer, Friedrich. Englische Grammatik Heute. Stuttgart: Klett, 1999, pp. 80 – 83, 88 – 94, 103 – 117.
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2. Major Clause Patterns in English: 'Marked' Word Order
The following paragraphs are about 'marked' word order in English, i.e. about sentences in which
core clause elements are placed in an 'unusual' position to achieve cohesion, emphasis, contrast, or
some other stylistic effect.
Fronting
Elements which are usually found after the verb (i.e. in post-verbal position) can be moved forward to the beginning of a sentence to give them greater prominence. This stylistic device is called
"fronting". Here are some examples:
"A Welshman I was born and a Welshman I shall die."
(fronted complement)
"Bloody awful that was."
(fronted complement)
"Why don't you take up swimming for relaxation?" "Relaxation you call it."
(fronted object)
Some things you forget. Other things you never do.
(fronted object)
The main discourse functions of "fronting" are:
 organising information flow to achieve cohesion (i.e. linking directly back to something
that was said before)
 expression of contrast
 enabling particular elements to gain emphasis.
Quirk / Greenbaum (1990) state that fronting is "very common both in speech and in conventional
written material" (§18.14), a view shared by Leech / Svartvik (1994), who call fronting in informal
conversation "quite common" and also find evidence of it in more formal English (§§412/413). Biber
et al. (1999), however, argue that their own corpus findings suggest that the "fronting of core elements
is relatively rare" (ch. 11.2.2.7).
For more details see: Biber et al. (1999), pp. 900 - 911; Greenbaum / Quirk (1990), pp. 407 - 409; Leech /
Svartvik (1994), pp. 200 - 202; Swan (1995), pp. 206 - 208
Inversion
Fronting may co-occur with another stylistic device: inversion, i.e. a change in the sequence of
subject and verb. Through the skilful use of fronting combined with inversion, a speaker / writer can
exploit the potential of the two most prominent positions in the clause: the opening and the end.
It is possible to distinguish between two main types of inversion:
 subject-operator inversion
 subject-verb inversion
Subject-operator inversion – especially after negative or restrictive opening elements
Subject-operator inversion is required after opening elements that are negative or restrictive coordinators or adverbials, such as:
neither, nor, never, nowhere, on no condition, under no circumstances, at no time, not until
much later, not only, hardly, no sooner, rarely, scarcely, seldom, little, least of all, less, only, in
vain.
Negative Adverbial
Operator
(Auxiliary / Modal)
Subject
Verb
Scarcely
had
they
arrived
Never in all my life
have
I
felt
Only then
did
he
understand
Not for a million pounds
would
I
go
to prison for you.
At no time
must
this door
be
left unlocked.
Rest of Sentence
when the phone rang.
so humiliated.
what she had meant.
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Subject-operator inversion after most initial negative / restrictive elements has a rhetorical effect
and is virtually restricted to writing. However, after initial "nor" or "neither" this inversion is found in
conversation as well as writing.
Subject-operator inversion can also be found after opening elements consisting of the degree adverb
"so" followed by an adjective or adverb; similarly after clause-initial "such":
So absurd did his story sound that at first nobody believed him.
So great was our surprise that we were utterly speechless.
So greatly had he suffered that death came as a relief.
Such self-confidence did he feel that he ignored all our warnings.
This type of inversion can also be found in subordinate clauses of hypothetical condition, especially in rather formal usage:
Were we to withdraw our support, the enemy would defeat them within two weeks. (= If we were ...)
For more details see: Biber et al. (1999), pp. 915 - 921; Greenbaum / Quirk (1990), pp. 410 / 411; Leech /
Svartvik (1994), pp. 203 / 204; Swan (1995), pp. 298 / 299; Ungerer (1999), pp. 281 / 282.
Subject-verb inversion
Subject-verb inversion is normally limited as follows:
 The clause opens with an adverbial, especially one of place or direction. This adverbial often links the clause explicitly to the preceding text. The opening element may also be a subject complement linked to the preceding text.
 The verb phrase consists of a single verb, in the past or present tense.
 The verb is an intransitive verb of position (e.g. stand, lie) or of motion (e.g. come, go, fall).
It may also be a copular verb (be).
 The verb has less weight than the subject which, through subject-verb inversion, is usually
given end-focus.
 In informal speech, subject-verb inversion generally occurs only after "here" and "there".
Opening Adverbial
Verb
Subject
Here
is
Peter.
There
comes
the bus.
There, at the summit,
stood
the castle
Away
went
the car
Slowly out of its hangar
rolled
a gigantic aircraft.
Onto the stage bounded
the members of the band
Rest of Sentence
informal speech
in all its splendour.
like a whirlwind.
formal (literary
and academic)
style only
to loud applause.
Instead of an opening adverbial, there may be a complement:
Opening Complement
Verb
Subject
Even more serious
is
the threat to the environment.
Equally inexplicable
is
their popularity with teenagers.
Rest of Sentence
For more details see: Biber et al. (1999), pp. 911 – 915, 907 - 908; Greenbaum / Quirk (1990), pp. 409 /
410; Leech / Svartvik (1994), pp. 202 / 203; Swan (1995), pp. 289 / 290; Ungerer (1999), pp. 282 / 283.
Cleft sentences
Like fronting, a so-called 'cleft-sentence' is a device for giving heightened prominence to an item.
However, compared to fronting, a cleft sentence is a much more elaborate grammatical means, involving the division of the sentence into two clauses, each with its own verb.
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There are basically two types of cleft sentences – the it-type and the wh-type (usually introduced by
"what"):
'Unmarked' Pattern
We need more time.
Cleft Sentence
(it-type, or 'cleft sentence proper')
It's more time that we need.
What we need is more time.
More time is what we need.
(wh-type, or 'pseudo-cleft sentence')
It-clefts consist of:
 the pronoun it
 a form of the verb be, optionally accompanied by the negator not or an adverb such as only
 the specially focused element (a noun phrase, a prepositional phrase, an adverb phrase, or an adverbial clause)
 a relative-like dependent clause introduced by that, who/which, or zero, whose last element receives normal end-focus.
Unmarked pattern
Cleft-sentences with "it"
It was Jim // who broke his leg last week.
It was his leg // (that) Jim broke ...
Jim broke his leg last week when he was skiing.
It was only last week // that Jim broke his leg.
It was when he was skiing // that Jim broke his leg.
The cleft sentence with "it" reverses the usual order of "given / old information – new information"
by presenting the new – and important – information first. Compare:
Simple Sentence
(given information – new information)
Cleft Sentence with "it"
(new information – given information)
The metric system is used in most countries.
The metric system is used in most European countries.
It was introduced by Napoleon.
It was Napoleon // who introduced it.
given
new
new
given
Wh-clefts consist of:
 a clause introduced by a wh-word, usually what, with its own point of focus, typically at its end
 a form of the verb be
 the specially focused element (a noun phrase or an infinitive clause)
Unmarked pattern
Martin crashed his mother's car.
Cleft-sentences with "wh-"
What Martin crashed // was his mother's car.
What Martin did // was (to) crash his mother's car.
Cleft sentences with introductory "what" keep the usual order of "given / old – new information".
Compare:
Simple Sentence
(given information – new information)
Cleft Sentence with "what"
(given information – new information)
She hates living alone in that isolated house.
She hates living alone in that isolated house.
She fears burglary a great deal.
What she fears most // is burglary.
given
new
given
new
It-clefts are relatively common in all registers but most frequent in academic prose, while wh-clefts
are most frequent in conversation (cf. Biber et al.).
For more details see: Biber et al. (1999), pp. 958 - 964; Greenbaum / Quirk (1990), pp. 411 - 415; Leech /
Svartvik (1994), pp. 204 / 206; Swan (1995), pp. 114 - 117; Ungerer (1999), pp. 277 - 280.
F. Klein