Basic Word Order

English has some strict rules for word order, and they may be different to your native language. Do you know what these rules are? Have a look at the table below and then try the quiz.

Additional Information

  • Time expressions can also go at the start, but only if they are not the focus of the sentence.
  • If in doubt, put the time expression at the end of the sentence. It will always be correct.
  • In English, you cannot swap the order of the subject and verb (apart from in questions). The subject must come first and then the verb e.g Yesterday came the auditor came to ask questions.
  • In English, you can’t put anything between the verb and the object e.g. I sent yesterday the samples to you yesterday.

Now try out the quiz below!

1. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

2. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

3. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

4. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

5. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

6. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

7. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

8. Choose the correct sentence:

 
 
 

Refresh this page to try the quiz again

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