Word Order Rules in English

Word Order Rules in English
Table of contents
1. Basic sentence structure
2. Intransitive verb
3. Linking verb
4. Transitive verb
5. Indirect object
6. Reserved direct and indirect object
In theory, English sentences take a simple form much of the time. The basic rules for which words appear in a sentence can help you with most of the sentences you’ll need in academic writing.
If we push on these rules, we’ll find many exceptions, but the point here is only to provide a kind of template that can be followed much of the time.
This article outlines some basic sentence structures that can be used as templates and provides rules for the ordering of adverbs and adjectives in English sentences.
Basic sentence structure
Sentences are made of clauses, and the simplest sentence has only one clause. In fact, sentences with only one clause are called “simple sentences”. We’re going to look at variations of only this kind of sentence, since these patterns are simply repeated in the additional clauses added to more complicated sentences (“compound sentences,” “complex sentences,” and “compound-complex sentences”).
The following is an explanation of the most common and easily used clause patterns you’ll use or find used in English.
A clause is a string of words with a subject (the thing doing the action) and a predicate (the action itself). A subject must contain a noun, and a predicate must contain a verb. That said, the subject is usually made up of not only that noun but all of the words that come along with it (e.g. “The large book…”), and the predicate is made up of not only that verb, but all of the words that come along with it (e.g. “…sits on the table).
In the example sentences below, the verb position and all that follows it are part of the predicate.