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Word Order Exercises

Read the word order rules and tendencies and then try the practice exercise.

 

Rules and Tendencies

  • For expressions of time and place, the order is subject + verb + object + place + time.
    I write my reports at my desk every morning. (subject/verb/object/place/time)
    Kate swims laps in the pool every night. (subject/verb/object/place/time)
  • We put adverbs of frequency before the main verb or after the verb to be.
    Adverbs of frequency include always, usually, normally, generally, often, sometimes, never. Sometimes is an exception — it can also be placed at the beginning of a sentence.
    John often gets to work early.
    John is often here early.
    Sometimes John gets to work early.
    John sometimes gets to work early.
  • We don’t normally put an adverb between a verb and its object.
    I like English a lot.
    I like a lot English.
  • Some questions have prepositions at the end of clauses.
    Where are you from?
    What school did you go to?
    What was the meeting about?
  • The subject and verb must be inverted in a variety of situations. See this explanation from about.com.

 

Practice Exercise

Every sentence has a common word order mistake that English language learners make. Write the correct word order of the sentence in the blanks. More than one answer may be possible.

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Additional word order exercises from around the web:

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/complex_tests/word_order1/task.php
http://www.better-english.com/grammar/wordorder.htm
http://www.autoenglish.org/mistakes/mis-order.pdf