Sentence Structure & Word Order

• English
• Vocational Education

The Sentence

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

1. a full stop: .
2. a question mark: ?
3. an exclamation mark: !

3 types of sentences

1. enkelvoudige zinnen (simple sentences)

I live in Venlo. (één persoonsvorm)

2. samengestelde zinnen (compouns sentences)

John plays footbaal and he often scores a goal. (meer dan één persoonsvorm)

3. complexe zinnen (complex sentences)

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

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)

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.

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 /?

Is the word order in this sentence correct?

I write my reports every morning at my desk.

1. Incorrect
2. Correct

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