What kind of sentence is this? (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory)
1.Tyler is the best cook I know!
2.She has a huge collection of marbles.
3.Wow, that was a loud sneeze!
4.Maggie put a bandage on my cut.
5.That's the loudest siren I've ever heard!
6.Please, don't be upset.
7. May I have a second serving of dessert?
8. Nina is reading a magazine about skateboarding.
9. The boys picked apples in the orchard.
10. Be careful with that paintbrush!
11. Please cut up the watermelon.
12. Keep your eyes on the road!
13. Watch where you swing that baseball bat!
14. Please let me know how I can be of service.
15. She gave him a book last Sunday.
Lection 12. Word Order
Word order is one of the main means in marking the relationship of words in the sentence.
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.
Word Order has three main functions:
1) The grammatical (formal) function – in this function WO marks the relationship words in a sentence or serves to generate a certain syntactic structure ( in interrogative sentences ).
2) the communicative function – in this function a certain WO serves to bring out the communicative structure of the sentence . Then came the day of our meeting!
3) The expressive ( the emphatic , the stylistic ) function – in this function the WO pattern serves to mark the communicative center and at the same time it makes the utterance more expressive. Terrible was the night!
The main difference between English and Russian is that in Russian the main function of WO is the communicative one. In English the grammatical function – each member of the sentence has a fixed position. In Russian, we rely on word endings to tell us how words interact in a sentence. You probably remember the example made up by Academician L.V. Scherba in order to show the work of endings and suffixes in Russian. (No English translation for this example.) Глокая куздра штеко будланула бокра и кудрячит бокрёнка. Everything we need to know about the interaction of the characters in this Russian sentence, we learn from the endings and suffixes.
There are two main WO patterns :
-direct WO , when the subject precedes the predicate
-indirect WO / inversion
English nouns do not have any case endings (only personal pronouns have some case endings), so it is mostly the word order that tells us where things are in a sentence, and how they interact. Compare:
The dog sees the cat.
The cat sees the dog.
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 us about it.
Word order patterns in English sentences
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.
English sentences are divided into declarative sentences (statements), interrogative sentences (questions), imperative sentences (commands, requests), and exclamatory sentences. Declarative sentences are the most common type of sentences. Word order in declarative sentences serves as a basis for word order in the other types of sentences.
The main minimal pattern of basic word order in English declarative sentences is SUBJECT + PREDICATE. Examples: Maria works. Time flies.
The most common pattern of basic word order in English declarative sentences is SUBJECT + PREDICATE + OBJECT, often called SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT (SVO) in English linguistic sources. Examples: Tom writes stories. The dog sees the cat.
An ordinary declarative sentence containing all five parts of the sentence, for example, "Mike read an interesting story yesterday", has the following word order:
The subject is placed at the beginning of the sentence before the predicate; the predicate follows the subject; the object is placed after the predicate; the adverbial modifier is placed after the object (or after the verb if there is no object); the attribute (an adjective) is placed before its noun (attributes in the form of a noun with a preposition are placed after their nouns).
Verb type and word order
Word order after the verb usually depends on the type of verb (transitive verb, intransitive verb, linking verb).
Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs require a direct object: Tom writes stories. Denis likes films. Anna bought a book. I saw him yesterday.
Some transitive verbs (e.g., bring, give, send, show, tell) are often followed by two objects: an indirect object and a direct object. For example: He gave me the key. She sent him a letter. Such sentences often have the following word order: He gave the key to me. She sent a letter to him.
Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object. Intransitive verbs may stand alone or may be followed by an adverbial modifier (an adverb, a phrase) or by a prepositional object.
Examples of sentences with intransitive verbs: Maria works. He is sleeping. She writes very quickly. He went there yesterday. They live in a small town. He spoke to the manager. I thought about it. I agree with you.
Linking verbs
Linking verbs (e.g., be, become, feel, get, grow, look, seem) are followed by a complement. The verb BE is the main linking verb. It is often followed by a noun or an adjective: He is a doctor. He is kind.
Other linking verbs are usually followed by an adjective (the linking verb "become" may also be followed by a noun): He became famous. She became a doctor. He feels happy. It is getting cold. It grew dark. She looked sad. He seems tired.
Declarative sentences
Subject + predicate (+ object + adverbial modifier):
Подлежащее + сказуемое (+ дополнение + обстоятельство):
Maria works.
Tom is a writer.
This book is interesting.
I live in Moscow.
Tom writes short stories for children.
He talked to Anna yesterday.
My son bought three history books.
He is writing a report now.