ORDER OF WORDS

In English, owing to the fewness of the inflexions, the order (or

arrangement) of the words in a sentence is of the first importance.

The following is the usual order of words in an English sentence: -

1) The subject usually comes before the verb ; as ,

The dog bit the horse.
The people rang the bell for joy.

2) The object usually comes after the verb; as,

The horse bit the dog.

The King wears a crown.

3) When there is an indirect object and also a direct object , the indirect
precedes the direct ; as,

Lend me your ears.

4) When the adjective is used attributively it comes before the noun

which it qualifies ; as,

Few cats like cold water.

King Francis was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport.

5) When the adjective is used predicatively it comes after the noun ; as ,

The child is asleep.

The horse became restive.

6) The adjective phrase comes immediately after the noun; as,

 Old Tubal Cain was a man of might.

7) The adverb is generally placed close to the word which it modifies ;as,

John is a rather lazy boy.

He worked only two sums.

He never tells a lie.

Note – When an adverb is intended to modify a sentence as a whole,

it is placed at the beginning of a sentence; as,

Certainly he made a fool of himself.

Some more examples are adverbs like perhaps , surely .

8) All qualifying clauses are placed as close as possible to the words

which they qualify ; as,

He died in the village where he was born.

The dog that bites seldom barks.

The order of words in a sentence is sometimes altered for emphasis; as,

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Great is the struggle, and great is also the prize.

Blessed are the merciful.

Owing to faulty arrangement of words a sentence may be turned into

perfect nonsense; as,
Few people learn anything that is worth learning easily.

A gentleman has a dog to sell who wishes to go abroad.

It is, therefore, essential that all qualifying words, phrases, and clauses
should be placed as near as possible to the words to which they refer.