Word order: subject, verb, object
In English the order of words tells the meaning. "Dog bites man" and "Man bites dog" use the same words but mean different things.
- Subject: who or what does the action (Mira).
- Verb: the action (eats).
- Object: who or what receives it (mangoes).
Place and time words usually go at the end: Mira eats mangoes in summer. Adjectives (quality) go before a noun: sweet mangoes. Other languages may order words differently, so always check the pattern.
Agreement and gender
Agreement means words match each other.
- Verb agrees with the subject: Mira eats but The girls eat.
- This/these: this mango, these mangoes.
Gender is a class of nouns (for example masculine and feminine). English hardly uses it: only he, she, it, his and her show it. Many other languages, such as Hindi, Spanish and French, give every noun a gender and the adjective and verb must match it. Learn a new noun together with its gender.
Quantity, quality, place and time
Small words add detail.
- Quantity: one, two, many, a few, some, much, a lot of.
- Quality: sweet, big, red, tired (adjectives); slowly, quickly (adverbs).
- Place: in, on, under, next to, at.
- Time: at six, on Monday, in June, before, after, during.
Say many mangoes but much juice: many for things you can count, much for things you cannot.
Affirmation, negation and questions
The same idea can be a statement, a no or a question.
- Yes (affirmative): Mira eats mangoes.
- No (negative): Mira does not eat mangoes. (does not + plain verb)
- Question: Does Mira eat mangoes? (helper first)
- Wh-question: What does Mira eat? (question word, helper, subject, verb)
With am, is, are, can and will there is no extra helper: She is tired. She is not tired. Is she tired?
Logical relations: linking ideas
Linking words show how two ideas are related.
- and: adds (Mira eats mangoes and Ravi drinks juice).
- but: contrast (I like mangoes but I do not like pickles).
- because: reason (She smiled because it was sweet).
- so: result (It was hot, so we drank juice).
- if: condition (If it rains, we stay in).
Try it: write a sentence about your breakfast, then turn it into a negative, a question and a joined sentence using but.
Key formulas and definitions
- Statement: subject + verb + object (+ place/time)
- Negative: subject + do/does + not + base verb + object
- Question: do/does + subject + base verb + object?
- Agreement: one subject takes verb+s, many subjects take the plain verb
- Joining: sentence 1 + and / but / because / so + sentence 2
Worked examples
1. Put in order: "juice / drinks / Ravi".
Ravi drinks juice. Subject (Ravi), verb (drinks), object (juice).
2. Make it negative: "Mira eats mangoes."
Mira does not eat mangoes. (does not + plain verb, so eats becomes eat.)
3. Make it a question: "The girls eat mangoes."
Do the girls eat mangoes? (the subject is many, so do, not does.)
4. Join with because: "He was late. The bus broke down."
He was late because the bus broke down.
Common mistakes
- Putting the verb last, as in some other languages: "Mira mangoes eats". English wants S + V + O.
- Saying "The girls eats": a many-subject takes the plain verb, "The girls eat".
- Keeping the -s after does: "Does she eats?" is wrong. After does the verb is plain: "Does she eat?"
- Using many with uncountable words: say "much juice", not "many juice".