Word order in an English question is a diagram. How to "build" sentences in English and understand all tense forms

No English sentence can be correctly constructed without knowing how a simple sentence is constructed.

In any language, a sentence is correct description real life situations. To correctly describe a situation, you need to take the words (names of objects and concepts) involved in this situation and combine them so that these words make a picture. If the words are combined correctly, it means that the interlocutor will have exactly the same picture in his head that was conceived by us.

In Russian, the main work on connecting words in a sentence is done by endings. Therefore, foreigners studying Russian are forced to memorize a huge number of Russian endings. AT English language there are no endings. They are not needed, because all word combinations in a sentence are performed by predicates. The predicate is what should be studied in English first of all. But the Russian sentence also has a predicate. Yes, there is, although in its significance it is much inferior to the English predicate, because the endings take on a huge share of the work. It turns out that in Russian the predicate works, as it were, in tandem with endings, and in English it works independently. This means that the English predicate contains something that compensates for the lack of endings, which the Russian predicate does not have.

This "something" is the nature of the action! Remember this concept. When constructing any English sentence, we must necessarily determine the nature of the action of the predicate. Without this, it is impossible to construct a single English phrase correctly.

REMEMBER:
In English, there are only 7 predicate formulas; but only they serve as the basis on which all further study of grammar is built; in any English sentence there is one of the seven formulas, or, in other words, no English sentence can be constructed without using one of the seven formulas.

Scheme of English predicate formulas.

General concepts used in the scheme:

1. Pledge (available in Russian).

Active (valid)- when the subject ( main member sentences) performs the action itself:

Students write a dictation - the subject of the student performs the action itself=> active

Passive (passive)- when the action is performed on the subject:

The dictation is written by the students. - the subject of the dictation is subject to the action of the complement (students)=>passive

2. The nature of the action (not available in Russian).

* Indefinite - a message about the action as an ordinary fact.

* Continuous - a message about an action that, in the described situation, requires spending a certain amount of time on itself.

* Perfect - the completion of the action (optional) + the importance of the message for the interlocutor + the opportunity for the interlocutor to use the message about the completed action.

* Perfect Continuous - a message about an action that takes place over a period of time (the period of time is indicated or

implied).

3. Time (available in Russian).

* Past - past

* Present - present

* Future - the future

As you can see from the figure - we will get 21 times of the English language.

As mentioned earlier, the formula for determining time consists of three variables. This is pledge, nature of action and time. So let's look at the formulas for correct construction suggestions:

ACTIVE - active voice

1. Indefinite - simple action

…verb… A simple verb is used without auxiliary verbs.

Past: He worked yesterday - He worked yesterday.

present: He works every morning - He works every morning.

Future: He will work tomorrow.

2. Continuous - continued action

To be + ... verb ... + ing. A verb is used with the auxiliary verb to be and the ending ing is added to the main verb.

In the past (( Past) tense verb to be become was (were - plural)

Present ( present) tense verb to be become is (are - plural)

To the future ( Future) tense verb to be become will be (shall - if the first person, i.e. I, We)

Past: He worked all day yesterday - He was working yesterday the whole day.

present: He is working now - He is working now.

Future: He will be working tomorrow the whole evening.

3. perfect - perfect action (to present moment time)

To have + ... verb ... ed (3rd form)

Past: He finished work yesterday by 6 o'clock - He had finished the work yesterday by 6.

present: He finished the work recently - He has finished the work recently.

Future: He will finish the work tomorrow by 3 o'clock - He will have finished the work tomorrow by 3.

4. perfect continuous - perfect continuous action

To have been + ... verb ... + ing

Past: He had been working for 2 hours when we returned.

present: He has been doing the work for 3 hours already.

Future: By the time you arrive, it will have been running for 2 hours. - When you come he will have been working for 2 hours already.

PASSIVE -- passive voice (passive).

When an action is performed on the subject.

1. Indefinite
to be + ... verb ... + ed (3rd form)

Past: The work was done yesterday - The work was done yesterday.

present: The work is done - The work is done.

Future: The work will be done tomorrow.

2. Continues
to be being + ... verb ... + ed (3rd form)

Past: was or were + being + ing + III f.ch. This house was being built for a whole year.

present: have or has + being + III f.ch. This house is being built now.

3.Perfect
to have been + ... verb ... + ed (3rd form)

Past: had + been + III f.ch. Five new houses had been built by last year in Moscow.

present: have or has + been + III f.ch. This house has been built recently.

Future: will + have + been + III f.ch. Five new houses will have been built by next year in Moscow.

4. PerfectContinues
does not exist

When constructing any phrase in English, we each time need to choose one formula that corresponds to the described situation. Having put the subject in the first place in the sentence, we begin the search for the desired formula - we are looking for one formula out of seven. First, we determine which pledge: Active or Passive. Does the subject itself perform the action (Active), or is the action performed on it (Passive)? After that, it remains for us to determine only the nature of the action. There are only 4 or 3 options left (depending on the deposit).

For example:

Mom is sleeping now. - itself performs the action or the action is performed on it? - herself (Active)

We do not need Passive formulas for this situation, we continue the search only from the four Active formulas.
Next, we determine the nature of the action Indefinite (Simple), Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous. The choice of the nature of the action is the most difficult moment in the analysis of the English predicate, because in Russian we do not do this, which means we have no experience.

More details on the methodology for presenting grammar can be found in the book by L. Kutuzov

Mastering any language, including English, begins with the study of individual sounds, letters and words. But literally after a few lessons, the next question arises - how to write a sentence in English. For many, this is a whole problem, since a well-structured English sentence differs markedly from free Russian.

Let's not waste time and start the lesson right away.

As we know from the Russian language course elementary school, the main members of the sentence are the subject (noun - object, person) and the predicate (verb - action). For example, "I am writing." Further, for specifics and just decorations are added different kind words - definitions, additions, circumstances, and so on: "I write beautifully", "I write with a pen", "I write a dictation" and so on.

Let's try to build the first sentence in English. For example, we want to say "I watch TV".

As you can see, it's simple - English words stand in exactly the same places as the Russians. This suggests that composing sentences in English is very easy and simple. I agree with you, but only partly. This was too simple an example, and in English there are some nuances that you need to know. Let's figure it out.

The place of each member in the English sentence is clearly indicated. Remember that in an affirmative sentence (at the end of which there is a period), the predicate always comes immediately after the subject.

If in Russian we can say both “I watch TV” and “I watch TV”, then in English there is only one way to put words - “I watch TV”. Any other word order in this sentence would be incorrect.

In most sentences in English (with rare exceptions), the verb (action) follows the noun or personal pronoun.

I see a boy.
I see (some) boy.

A dog has four legs.
(Any) dog has 4 legs.

By the way, now a little about the verb "to have". If in Russian we are used to using the construction “we have”, “they have”, “The dog (have)”, then in English the verb to have (to have) is used instead.

I have a book - I have a book (I have a book)
you have - you have (you have)
they have - they have (they have)
the dog has - the dog has (a dog has)

Another important point concerns the verb to be - to be.

If in Russian we are used to saying “the sky is blue”, “I am a student”, “they are from Russia”, then in English this will not work. There must be a connection between the noun and its definition. This connection is expressed using the verb to be.

Literally: “the sky is blue” (the sky is blue), “I am a student” (I am a student), “they are from Russia” (they are from Russia).

The verb to be changes according to faces, which is why you didn't see the word "be" in the previous examples.

I am
You are
She/he/it is
We are
They are

Now you know what to make correct sentence in English is not as easy as it seems at first glance.

You probably noticed that the meaning of the sentence itself does not change from the rearrangement of words in a Russian sentence. What difference does it make whether we say "There are many wolves in the forest" or "There are many wolves in the forest." And so, and so it says about the presence a large number wolves in the forest.

affirmative sentences

In English, word order is strictly fixed.

This means that every word has its place. Well, actually not to everyone, but only to two - the subject and the predicate. Let's remember our school days. The subject is who or what does the action; what or who the sentence is about. The predicate is what the person/thing does. From the latter follows the conclusion that the predicate is a verb. So, with regard to the English sentence, there is a central dogma, consisting of two points:

FIRST. The subject comes first, the predicate comes second, and everything else follows. Schematically, this can be represented as follows:

Table. Word order in an English sentence

1 PLACE

2ND PLACE

3RD PLACE

SUBJECT

PREDICATE

OTHER MEMBERS OF THE OFFER

Daniel

toworkeveryday.

These flowers

so beautiful!

Cats

don't eat

The following remark should be made to this table: BEFORE the subject, you can put a definition. And secondly, this scheme is used for affirmative sentences, i.e. those that end with a dot.

SECOND. An English sentence ALWAYS has a predicate, i.e. verb! Even if you don’t hear this verb in the Russian translation of this sentence. For example: There are many wolves in the forest. (there is not a single verb here, although you can remake this sentence for a convenient translation: “There are many wolves in the forest.” This version already has a verb - there is). - There are many wolves in the forest.

Interrogative sentences

This word order applies only to sentences that end with a period, that is, affirmative sentences. There are also interrogative sentences that end with a question mark. And this is where the difficulties with word order and all sorts of confusion begin.

So, there are 2 basic types of questions: general and. To the first we answer “yes” or “no”, and to the second we answer something specific, special (depending on what is asked in the question itself). Remember that the word order in any English sentence is FIXED, and this also applies to questions.

0 PLACE - QUESTION WORD

What - what? which?
Who - who?
Who(m) - to whom? by whom?
Where - where? where?
When - when?
Why - why?
How - how?
How much (many) - how much?
Which - which?
What - what?
Whose - whose?

1 PLACE - AUXILIARY VERB

is/are/am
do / does / did
will / would / shall
have / has
can / could
may/might
ought
should

2 PLACE - SUBJECT

3 PLACE - BASIC (SENSITIVE) VERB

3rd PLACE - OTHER WORDS

There are also a few comments about this structure.

NOTE 1. How to choose an auxiliary verb? Very simple: the auxiliary verb is the one that is first present in the original sentence. For example:

Danny is a worker ---> is
Anna will drive ---> will
They have finished the report ---> have

Therefore, to ask a question, you just need to rearrange the subject and predicate in places.

What if there is no auxiliary verb? For example: We visited the museum. Here we have only the main verb - visited. Therefore, when there is no visible auxiliary verb, then it is - do/does/did, depending on time. In our case, this did, because the verb is in .

NOTE 2. The main (semantic) verb, when you ask a question, goes clean, that is, without any endings, in the initial form.

NOTE 3 How to understand 0 place? This position in the question is called so because interrogative words are only in special questions, but they are not in general ones. It is by the question word that you determine what to answer. For example:

Mother gave her son a tasty medicine yesterday because he was ill.

Who? -Mother
Whom? - son
Whose son? - her
What? - medicine
What medicine? - tasty
When? - yesterday
Why? - because he was ill

In general questions (those to which you answer “yes” or “no”) there is no interrogative word, that is, the auxiliary verb immediately goes.

In conclusion, we offer you a small test:

In Russian, we can build a sentence however we want. We can say: “I bought a dress yesterday”, or “I bought a dress yesterday”, or “I bought a dress yesterday”, etc.

In English, the word order in a sentence is fixed. This means that we cannot rearrange the words as we like. They must stay in their designated places.

It is difficult for beginners to learn English to understand and get used to this.

Therefore, many often build English sentences using the word order as in Russian. Because of this, it is difficult for the interlocutor to understand the idea that you want to convey.

In this article, I will explain to you how to build sentences in English correctly, so that you can compose them competently, and any foreigner can easily understand you.

From the article you will learn:

What is a fixed word order in a sentence?

Offer- a combination of words that expresses a complete thought.

As I said, in Russian we can rearrange the words in a sentence the way we want.

For example:

We'll go to the cinema.

Let's go to the cinema.

As you can see, we can rearrange the words in a sentence, and this will not prevent the other person from understanding the idea that we want to convey to him.

In English, word order is fixed.

Fixed- fixed in a certain position.

This means that the words in the sentence have their places and cannot be rearranged.

Correctly:

We will go to the cinema.
We'll go to the cinema.

Not right:

To the cinema we will go.

Esl and the word order in the English sentence is wrong, then it will be difficult for the interlocutor to understand what idea you want to convey to him.

Let's take a closer look at how to correctly build all kinds of sentences in English.

Attention: Confused in English rules? Find out how easy it is to understand English grammar.

Word order in an affirmative English sentence

affirmative sentences- This proposals where we affirm some idea. Such sentences do not contain negation and do not imply an answer.

We can claim that something:

Happening in the present (We are building a house)
Will happen in the future (We will build a house)
Happened in the past (We built a house)

In English, affirmative sentences use direct word order.

The direct word order is that the 1st and 2nd places in a sentence are always occupied by certain words.

Let's take a closer look at this scheme for constructing affirmative sentences.

1st place - main character

Actor (subject)- the person/thing that performs the action in the sentence.

It could be:

The object or person itself: mother (mother), Mary (Mary), cup (cup), chairs (chairs), etc.
A word that replaces an object or person (pronoun): I (I), you (you), we (we), they (they), he (he), she (she), it (it)

For example:

Tom...
Volume....

She….
She is....

2nd place - action

action (predicate)- shows what happened, is happening or will happen.

That is, the action itself (verb) can stand:

1. In the present tense: study (study), work (work), sleep (sleep), eat (eat)

2. Past tense, which is formed with:

adding the ending -ed to regular verbs: studied (studied), worked (worked)
2nd/3rd form irregular verbs: slept/slept (slept), ate/eaten (ate)

Whether the verb is correct or incorrect, we can look in the dictionary.

3. In the future tense, which is usually formed using the auxiliary verb will: will study (I will study), will work (I will work), will sleep (I will sleep).

For example:

We travel.
We are travelling.

Tom left.
Tom is gone.

She will work.
She will work

Important nuance

One worth remembering important nuance. In Russian there are sentences in which we omit the action.

For example:

She is a teacher.

Children in the park.

Tom is smart.

In English sentences, the action must always be present, we cannot omit it. This is very common mistake among students.

In such cases, we use verb to be. This is special kind the verb we use when we say that someone is:

Is somewhere (Children in the park)
Is someone (She's a teacher)
Is somehow (Tom smart)

Depending on the time in which we use this verb, it changes its form:

Present tense - am, are, is
Past tense - was, were
In the future tense - will be

For example:

She is a doctor.
She is a doctor. (literally: She is a doctor)

Children are smart.
Children are smart. (literally: Children are smart)

I am at home.
I'm at home. (literally: I am at home)

Read more about the verb to be in each tense in the following articles:

Verb to be in present tense
Verb to be in past tense

So, direct word order means that certain words are in the 1st and 2nd places.

Let's see what it looks like again.

1 place	2nd place	3rd place
Actor	Action or verb to be	Other members of the proposal
I	work	here
my sister	lived	in New York
A cat	is	gray
They	were	at school

Now let's look at how to build negative sentences.

Word order in a negative English sentence

Negative sentences- when we deny something. That is, we say that something:

Doesn't happen (She doesn't work)
Didn't happen (She didn't work)
Won't happen (She won't work)

In Russian, to form a negation, we put the particle "not" before the action: not I come not I will read, not bought.

In English, to form a negation, we use the particle "not" and an auxiliary verb. See how this changes our word order:

Let's take a look at this diagram in detail.

1st place - character

Negative sentences also use direct word order, so the protagonist comes first.

2nd place - auxiliary verb + not

Auxiliary verbs- these are words that are not translated, but only serve as pointers.

They help us determine:

Time of what is happening (present, future, past);
Quantity actors(many or one).

Read more about auxiliary verbs in this article.

Each tense in English has its own auxiliary verb (do/does, have/has, did, had, will). Let's look at the auxiliary verbs of the three most used tenses.

1. Present simple tense (Present Simple Tense):

does when we talk about someone in singular(he she it)
do, for all other cases (me, you, we, they)

2. Past Simple Tense: did

3. Future Simple Tense: will

To show negation, we add the particle not to our auxiliary verb or the verb to be: does not, do not, did not, will not.

3rd place - action

After the auxiliary verb with the particle not, we put an action, which is now negative.

For example:

He does not work.
He does not work.

They will not buy.
They won't buy.

Remember: When we say that we did not do something in the past and use the auxiliary verb did, we no longer put the action itself in the past tense.

Since the auxiliary verb already shows us that it happened in the past.

Not right:

We didn't work ed.
We didn't work.

Correctly:

We didn't work.
We didn't work.

So let's take another look at the construction of a negative sentence.

1 place	2nd place	3rd place	4th place
Actor	Auxiliary verb + not	Action	Other members of the proposal
I	do not	work	here
my sister	does not	study	study
People	will not	buy	a car
They	did not	build	the house

Negative sentences with the verb to be

If the sentence uses the verb to be, then we simply put not after it.

Let's look at the plate.

1 place	2nd place	3rd place	4th place
Actor	verb to be	Particle not	Other members of the proposal
I	am	not	a doctor
They	were	not	at home
A cat	is	not	gray

Now let's look at the last type of sentence - questions.

Word order in an interrogative English sentence

Interrogative sentences These are sentences that express a question and suggest an answer to it. For example: Do you work?

In Russian, affirmative and interrogative sentences differ only:

intonation (in speech)
sign "?" at the end of a sentence (in writing)

In English, a statement and a question look different. Unlike statements, interrogative sentences have reverse order words.

The reverse word order means that the main character will not be in the first place.

Let's take a closer look at how to construct such sentences.

1st place - auxiliary verb

To make a sentence interrogative, you need to put an auxiliary verb in the first place in the sentence. I talked about them Auxiliary verb

Actor Action Other members of the proposal Does she work here? Did they study English? Will you buy a car?

Interrogative sentences with the verb to be

If the sentence uses the verb to be instead of the usual action, then we simply transfer it to the first place in the sentence.

Let's look at the diagram:

1 place	2nd place	4th place
verb to be	Actor	Other members of the proposal
Is	she	a doctor?
Are	they	at home?
was	a cat	grey?

Exception:

When we build a question with the verb to be in the future tense - will be, then we put only will in the first place. And be itself comes after the character.

For example:

Will she be a teacher?
Will she be a teacher?

Will they be at home?
Will she be at home?

So, we examined the word order in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. Now let's practice building such sentences in practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. I will go to the store.
2. She is beautiful.
3. We didn't buy a dress.
4. My girlfriend is in the park.
5. Has she read the book?
6. Is the house expensive?

In order to build even the simplest sentence in English, you need to know the word order in the language. This seemingly simple but very important topic is the starting point in learning English grammar.

Subject + predicate + direct object

In an ordinary affirmative sentence, the subject is placed immediately before the predicate (verb). The direct object, when present, comes immediately after the verb. For example:

They bought a car. — They bought a car.
We can't do that. - We can't do that.
The girl in a blue dress was playing the piano. — The girl in the blue dress was playing the piano.

Predicate

Note that by subject here we mean not only the main noun or pronoun, but also the adjectives or descriptive phrases that refer to it. The rest of the sentence, which does not refer to the subject, is called the predicate. For example:

The girl in a blue dress was playing the piano.

Indirect additions and circumstances

If there are any other parts in the sentence - indirect objects or circumstances - they usually occupy a strictly defined place.

Position of indirect object

after direct object if it contains the preposition to.

An indirect addition is put before by direct object when to is absent. For example:

The teacher gave dictionaries to the pupils. The teacher handed out dictionaries to the students.
The teacher gave them dictionaries. The teacher gave them dictionaries.

Position of circumstance

The circumstance can be placed in three places:

Before the subject (usually these are circumstances of time)

In the morning he was reading a book. — He was reading a book in the morning.

After the addition (here you can put almost any adverb or adverbial phrase):

He was reading a book at the library. — He was reading a book in the library.

Between the auxiliary and the main verb (as a rule, these are short adverbs):

He has already read this book. He has already read the book.

Normally, in standard English, no other words are placed between the subject and the predicate, or between the predicate and the object. But there are a few exceptions. Here are the most important ones:

Adverbs of frequency of action and indirect objects without the preposition to

I sometimes drink coffee in the morning. - I sometimes I drink coffee in the morning.
He showed the driver his bus pass. - He showed driver your bus pass.

If you follow these simple rules, you will be able to avoid mistakes in the arrangement of words in an English sentence. The examples given are intentionally simple - but the same rules can be applied to more . For example:

The woman,, never went to sleep before - A woman [who often felt lonely] never went to bed [without calling her sister].

Stylistic change in word order

Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, and writers or speakers often use non-standard word order for special effect. But if we now focus on exceptions, we digress from the main principles, and the problem of word order in a sentence can seem very complicated.

So here are a few more examples: you should be aware that such sentences exist, but don't try to use them unless absolutely necessary until you master the principles of normal word order (remember to learn how to walk first, and then run!):

Never before had he felt so miserable. He had never felt so miserable before.

If the sentence begins with never or never before, the subject and verb are often inverted, i.e. change places. Don't use inversion when never follows the subject!

Hardly had I finished cleaning the house, my friend called. I had hardly finished cleaning the house when my friend called.

(When a sentence begins with hardly, the subject and verb must always be inverted.)

Had they known, they'd never have done that. “If they knew this, they would never do such a thing.

(The inversion is used in hypothetical condition structures when the if is omitted.)

Whatever you can tell me, I know already. “Whatever you tell me, I already know it.

Here's the extended addendum, Whatever you can tell me, placed at the beginning of a sentence for artistic reasons: this sentence structure is not necessary, it's just .

Now, having mastered the rules of construction simple sentences, you can go to more complex sentences with accessory structures.

How do you feel about non-standard word order in English? Difficult, don't you understand? Share in the comments!