Word Order

English relies on word order to show relationships between words in a sentence.

English word order is strict and rather inflexible.
Example:
1. A cat sees a rat
2. A rat sees a cat
In both the sentences above, the subject, the object and the verb are in the
same form, so how do we decide who sees whom? Only the word order in English
language can tell us that.
The word order in English language is very important as it can completely
change the meaning of a sentence as well; let us look at the following example;
1. A cat eats a rat
2. A rat eats a cat
Hence a mere exchange in the position of subject and object changes the
meaning of a sentence.

Basic Word Order

The most common word order in English is;
Subject + Verb + Object
A cat

+ eats + a rat

Place & time

If we want to talk about place and time we follow the following word order;

Subject + Verb + Object + place

I

time

+ read + books + in the bed + at night

Position of Adverbs
Adverbs should come as near as possible to the verbs they qualify. This is
because the meaning of a sentence can change with the change in the position
of the adverb.
Examples;
Only he lent me five cents. (He and nobody else lent me five cents.)
He only lent me five cents. (He only lent me the money, he didnt do anything
else.)
He lent me only five cents. (He didnt lend me more than five cents.)
He lent only me five cents. (I.e. to nobody else)
The above examples clearly show that with the change of the position of adverb
only the meaning of the sentences changed.
Rules:
1. When the verbs do not have an object, adverbs can come immediately after
the verb.
Examples;
He walked slowly.
She smiled beautifully.
He spoke fluently.
2. When the verbs have an object, the adverbs would come after the objects.

Examples;
She sang the song beautifully.
He drove the car fast.
3. Adverbs of Frequency normally come before the verb. Examples
are: always, before, often, never, seldom etc.
Examples;
They seldom visit us.
She never admitted her fault.
(You) always speak the truth.

4. Adverbs of time usually come at the end of the sentences.

Example;
I will tell you the story tomorrow
If we dont want to emphasis on the time then we can place the adverb at the
beginning of the sentence.
Tomorrow I will tell you the story.

5. When the verb consists of an auxiliary, the adverb goes after it.
Examples;
They have never invited us to their parties.
I have always wanted to be a writer.
He was greatly praised for his novel idea.

6. An adverb which modifies an adjective or another adverb comes before it.

Examples;
She is very beautiful. (Here the adverb very modifies the adjective beautiful.)
They are highly competitive. (Here the adverb highly modifies the adjective
competitive.)

7. The words only, merely, even, not and never are usually placed before the
words they modify.
Examples;
I merely wanted to know his name.
She was not clever enough to see through his scheme.
He never keeps his word.

8. Adverbs of manner, like slowly, carefully, awfully, come after the direct
object.
Examples;
He drives the car carefully.

9. Adverbs of place come after the direct object or verb

Examples;
He stayed behind
I saw him here