Sentence Structure & Word Order

• English
• Vocational Education

Module EN1

• Module Description (weekly plan)
• Notes/ Lesson Up: Sentence structure & word order
• Book: Business  Basics International Edition 
• Business Basics Workbook (self-study)
• Vocabulary lists

Contents:

Units in book:

• Unit 1: 1.1-1.2-1.3
  
• Unit 2: 2.1-2.2-2.3 

Assignments in book:

• Grammar
• Reading
• Vocabulary
• Language Notes

The Sentence

A sentence is a word or usually a group of words. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a :

1. full stop,
2. a question mark,
3. an exclamation mark.

Types of Sentences (according to form)

1. Simple sentences  (enkelvoudige zinnen)

Janet is a nice student.

   2. Complex sentences (samengestelde zinnen)

Janet is a nice student, but her sister is even nicer.

If I have time, I will certainly help you with your project.

Types of sentences (according to meaning)

1. Declarative sentences   (mededelend)       -> She speaks English. (+)

                                                                                           -> She does not speak English. (-)

2. Interrogative sentences   (vragend)            -> Do you speak English? (+)

                                                                                           -> Does she not speak English? (-)

3. Imperative sentences  (bevelend)                -> Shut the door! (+)

                                                                                            -> Do not walk on the grass! (-)

4. Exclamatory sentences  (uitroepend)         -> She's awesome! (+)

                                                                                             -> Wasn't that wonderful! (-)

Each of these types of sentences is either Affirmative (+) (bevestigend) or Negative (-) (ontkennend)

Give 1 example sentence for each of the type of sentences listed on the previous slide.

Word Classes
/ Parts of Speech

An example of a noun is:

1. Joanna
2. runs
3. happy
4. serious

An example of a Quantifier is:

1. two
2. and
3. much
4. walking

An example of an interjection is:

1. although
2. silly
3. Hey!
4. never

An example of an adjective is:

1. quickly
2. him
3. the
4. heavy

Words

Words belong to different categories; such a category is called a word class or a part of speech (woordsoort).

Nouns	Adverbs	Quantifiers
Articles	Particles	Prepositions
Adjectives	Pronouns	Conjunctions
Verbs	Numerals	Interjections

English is a S-V-O language.

What does S-V-O stand for?

Jennifer buys her groceries at Do It Center every weekend.

The Direct Object in this sentence is:

1. Jennifer
2. every weekend
3. at Do it Center
4. her groceries

Last month my friend bought a second-hand car.

The Subject in this sentence is:

1. a second-hand car
2. Last month
3. bought
4. my friend

Parsing

Indicating to what word class each word in a sentence belongs is called parsing (ontleden).

Here is an example of parsing a sentence:

' It had been a very pleasant and instructive evening.'

It = pers. pron	a= indef. art.	and= conj.
had= verb	very= adverb	instructive= adj
been= verb	pleasant= adj	evening=noun

What is Sentence Structure?

Sentences in English use a general order:

(1) Subject    (2) Verb   (3) Object

These general groups of words can be a single word each, or entire phrases. This is especially true for the object part of the sentence structure, which can represent any complement to the verb and additional information.

Basic Sentence Structure/ Affirmative structures

Subject	Verb(s)	Object/Additional information
I	like	Mathematics.
The students	dislike	their grumpy English teacher.
A group of vandals	destroyed	the classroom.

Explanation: 

The subject is the actor of the verb.

The verb is the action, event or state.

The object is the element (who/what) that the action is done to.

Additional Information

Sentences with additional information can be divided into specific parts: indirect object, direct object, place/location and time.

Subject	Verb(s)	Direct object	Indirect object	Prep. Phrase	Time
She	shares	her notes	with her classmates	in Teams online	after each class.

Explanation:

1. The indirect object is what is affected by the verb.

2. Prepositional phrases or places are noun phrases usually started by a preposition. 

3. The time is when the event happens.

* Not all groups of words are necessary in all sentences. A basic sentence in English should at least have: a subject, verb.

Subject	Verb(s)	Indirect object	Direct object	Prep. Phrase	Time
He	runs.
Janet	is having		dinner	at El Gaucho	at the moment.
She	is going			home

Adding details to sentences

To add information to subjects and objects we can use adjectives. To add information to verbs, we use adverbs. These create groups of words that form phrases, many words referring to one idea (noun, verb, object, location, time, etc.).

The tired old man swept the floor. (The whole noun phrase forms the subject.)

They ate too much chocolate cake. (The whole noun phrase forms the object.)

We are watching films on Netflix. (The whole verb form forms the verb.)

PUT IN THE CORRECT ORDER!
1. house/we/moved
2. look / very tired / you
3. really wants / Peter / his best friend's car
4. won't know what to do / the angry students /until they get their schedule

Question Structure

To form questions in the English language, we place the first verb before the subject. The rest of the sentence usually follows standard word order.

To form questions we usually add an auxiliary verb before the subject. This varies depending on tenses and the information asked for.

• He walks to school. -> Does he walk to school?

We do not need an auxiliary verb with the verb to be, which is placed before the subject to form a question.

• He is very sad. -> Is he very sad?

Questions formed with Question Words

Questions can also be formed with question words, which usually come at the very beginning of the sentence, before the verb.

Question word	First verb	Subject	Additional verbs	Additional information
	Do	you	like	the English lessons?
What	are	you	wearing	to the BO lesson?
Where	can	we	go	during our break?
Why	are	you	studying	so hard?

PUT IN THE CORRECT ORDER!
1. time / it / to go home / is / ?
2. the Prime Minister / do/ you/ know/ ?
3. with me / you / do / to go / want / to the OLC/ ?
4. help / my email account / can / anyone / me / with / ?

Negative Structures

Negative sentences are formed by adding not after the main verb.

• He is not listening.

The rest of the sentence follows standard structure rules.

Negative sentences often require an auxiliary verb, such as be, do or have. 

In these sentences, not comes after the auxiliary verb, but before any other verbs.

Negative sentences with auxiliary verbs

• I am not going to Spanish class.
  
• He does not know the answer.
  
• Do not forget your laptop.

Not should directly follow the main verb; no other words should come between a negative verb form.

• I do not understand the question. 

Negative Questions

For negative questions, the first verb is placed before the subject, and not follows the subject.

• Paul is not paying attention. -> Is Paul not paying attention?
• We are not late for our class. -> Are we not late for our class?

PUT IN THE CORRECT ORDER!
1. Jerome / not / a nice person / is / ?
2. not / the truth / is / he / telling / ?
3. coming back / they / not / next week / are / ?
4. not / finished / are / the new ICU rooms /?

Rebecca 

was

all morning?

stuck

in traffic

Is the word order in this sentence correct?

I write my reports every morning at my desk.

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

Leonardo

is

the Project Manager

at Albo Aruba?

What did you
learn today?

Do you have any questions?

https: