Correct wording in an English sentence. Building a sentence in English

In the lesson below, we will look at a very important grammatical topic - the construction of declarative sentences in English. The construction of a declarative sentence in Russian is very different from English. Therefore, be careful and pay enough attention to this topic.

First, answer the question - what is a declarative sentence? A declarative sentence is a sentence that expresses the idea of ​​the presence or absence of some actual or supposed phenomenon. Accordingly, they can be affirmative or negative. They are usually pronounced with a falling intonation.

The Russian language is characterized by a free word order, i.e. we can rearrange the words in a sentence and its meaning will remain the same. This is due to the fact that the Russian language has a developed system of case endings.

For example:

• The bear killed the rabbit.
• The hare was killed by the bear.

As you can see, the meaning of the sentence has not changed much. Only the semantic emphasis depends on which member of the sentence comes first. That is, in the first place is what we want to emphasize. The word "bear" is in the nominative case and is the subject of the sentence, wherever it appears. The word "hare" is in the accusative case and is a direct object, wherever it stands.

Now let's do the same with the English sentence:

• The bear killed the rabbit.
• The rabbit killed the bear.

The rearrangement of words in the English sentence radically changed its meaning. Now the second sentence is translated as "The hare killed the bear." And all because in English there are practically no case endings and the function of a word is determined by its place in the sentence. In English, the subject always comes before the verb. And the word after the verb will perform the functions of a direct object. Therefore, in the second English version, it turned out that the word "rabbit" became the subject.

Remember the rule:

The word order in an English declarative sentence is direct (that is, first the subject, and then the predicate) and strictly fixed!

Rules for constructing narrative sentences

Word order scheme in an English sentence

Following the rules of this scheme, when constructing sentences in English, the grammatical basis is first placed, that is, the subject and the predicate. Additions follow immediately after the predicate. The indirect object answers the question “to whom?”, the direct object answers the question “what?”, and the prepositional object answers the question “for what? how?".

As for the circumstances, the circumstances of place and time can be either at the end of the sentence, or in zero place before the subject. Review the following table:

According to the rules, the definition can be with any member of the sentence, which is expressed by a noun. It does not have a fixed place in the sentence, nor does it change the general obligatory scheme for the declarative sentence. For example:

If necessary, each member of a sentence expressed by a noun can have two definitions: left (located to the left of the word to which it refers) and right definition or attributive turns (located to the right of the word to which it refers).

Direct word order:

Inversion in a declarative sentence

Inversion in English is a change in the order of words in relation to the subject and predicate. That is, the location of the predicate (or part of it) in front of the subject is called inversion.

In declarative sentences, inversion is observed:

1. If the predicate is expressed by the turnover there is / are (there was / were, there'll be, there has been, there can be, etc.).
Examples:

• There is a big lake near our house - There is a large lake near our house (there is - predicate, a lake - subject)
• There was nothing on the table when I returned - There was nothing on the table when I returned

2. In short sentences expressing confirmation or negation with the words so or neither - "So (Neither) do (have, am, can) I", which are translated by the turnover "And I too." In such replica sentences, the subject is preceded by the auxiliary verb do (if the main verb was in Present Simple or Past Simple in the predicate of the previous sentence) or the verbs will, be, have and other auxiliary and modal verbs (if they were contained in the predicate of the previous sentence).

• She knows Spanish very well. − So does her brother. (She knows Spanish very well. - Her brother too.)
• I like the ice cream very much. - So do I. (I like ice cream. - Me too.)
• They came too late. − So did we. (They came too late. - So did we.)
• I haven't eaten this ace-cream yet. - Neither have I. (I haven't eaten this ice cream yet. - Neither have I.)
• She can't go home now. - Neither can I. (She can't go home now. - Neither can I.)

3. If the sentence begins with adverbs here - here, there - over there, now, then, and the subject is expressed by a noun.

• Here are the pencils you'd been looking for − Here are the pencils you were looking for
• Here is an example - Here is an example

If the subject is expressed by a personal pronoun, the direct word order is used in the sentence.

• Nege you are − Here you are
• Here it is

4. With the verbs had, were, should in a non-union conditional clause.

• Should you meet him in town, ask him to ring me up - If you meet him in town, ask him to call me

5. In words introducing direct speech, when these words are after direct speech and the subject is expressed by a noun.

• "Who can read the text?" - asked the teacher - "Who can read the text?" the teacher asked

If the subject in words introducing direct speech is expressed by a personal pronoun, inversion is not used.

• "Who can read the text?" - he asked - "Who can read the text?" - he asked

By remembering the rules for constructing declarative sentences in English, you will be able to correctly express your thoughts. The main thing is to remember what the direct word order looks like in English, that is, to learn the scheme. Good luck in learning English! ( 5 Votes: 4,20 out of 5)

Hi all! Grammar and syntax are the basis of both written and spoken human speech. Therefore, even if you do not want to delve into English grammar, and only aim to learn spoken American for comfortable communication, then you should know that you cannot do without basic knowledge of English syntax and grammar. And at the end of the first part of the audio course "So they say in America" ​​you received an extended grammatical addition to the entire course. Schemes for the formation of sentences in English

In the second part of the 52nd lesson, we will look at the rules for constructing sentences in English. As practice shows, this topic requires a fairly long time to study, so I took it out of the scope of the main article. New material is best learned through examples. In the course of studying the entire course, you met a sufficient number of examples of the construction of English sentences of various types, but today we will repeat them again.

To begin with, we list what types of sentences generally exist in English:

• Interrogative: Has she got a dog?
• Affirmative (narrative): Salt is white
• Negative: He is not a doctor

However, each of these types is built according to a certain scheme and sometimes in several ways. Therefore, in this article we will consider the most popular schemes for constructing sentences in English with examples from the live speech of native speakers.

Schemes for constructing English sentences

Let's start with the interrogative sentences:

1. Question word + be verb + noun (or pronoun) - Interrogative word + verb be + noun (pronoun):

• Who + are + you?
• What + was + that?
• Where + is + Eileen?
• How + were + they?
• When + was + it?

2. Question verb + noun (or pronoun) + verb + noun (or adverb) - Auxiliary verb + noun (pronoun) + verb + noun (adverb)

• Does + Mr. Learner + drive + a car?
• Do + they + live + here?
• Did + the teachers + study + the animals?

3. Diagram 6: General question + or + alternative. A disjunctive question contains an affirmation or negation + a short question

• Is he a teacher or a doctor?

4. Modal verb + subject + semantic verb. Special questions should begin with a question word

• Should we learn English?

Now consider the most popular declarative sentence schemes:

1. Verb + noun - Verb + noun

• Open + the door

2. Verb + adverb - Verb + adverb

• turn+right

3. Noun (or pronoun) + be verb + noun (or pronoun) - Noun (pronoun) + verb be + noun (pronoun)

• Martin Learner + is + a reporter
• He + is + a father

4. Noun (or pronoun) + be verb + adjective - Noun (pronoun) + verb be + adjective

• The children + are + intelligent
• They + are + busy

5. Noun (or pronoun) + be verb + adverb - Noun (pronoun) + verb be + adverb

• It + is + there

6. Noun (or pronoun) + verb - Noun (pronoun) + verb

• Parents + listen
• They + learn

7. Noun (or pronoun) + verb + noun (or pronoun) - Noun (pronoun) + verb + noun (pronoun)

• The woman + drives + a car
• We + read + a book

8. Noun (or pronoun) + verb + adverb - Noun (pronoun) + verb + adverb

• you + live + here

9. Noun (or pronoun) + be verb + verb + noun (or pronoun, or adverb) - 4. Noun (pronoun) + verb be + verb + noun (pronoun, adverb)

• The boy + is + buying + a shirt
• People + were + visiting + them
• You + are + going + downstairs

Well, now briefly about the negative sentences:

Scheme 1. Subject + auxiliary verb + not + predicate + object + circumstance

• She is not a saleswoman.

Carefully study each diagram and examples, and then follow Homework (Homework):

1. Determine the type and schema of each of the following sentences:

• Did you learn a lot of words at school today?
• Tomorrow my friend will bring me a new book
• There are some desks in the classroom

That's all! I wish you to have a great time, relax and soon take on the second part of the course "So they say in America"! Good luck!

Is it possible to build such an understandable system that would make it easy to build sentences in English and quickly understand all tense forms? Let's see.

First you need to figure out what generally accepted standards exist, and how you can not get lost in the apparent complexity while teaching English.

If you look in more detail at the structure of a sentence in English, it becomes obvious that in order to quickly learn how to express yourself concisely and clearly, you just need to train yourself to recognize the subject (who does?) And the predicate (what does?) in an English sentence.

In most sentences, the subject comes before the verb. The only exceptions are interrogative sentences. But in any case, you need to start simple. Thus, it will be easy to learn how to write sentences in English.

Simplicity is the key to success

Let's start with the simplest. This will be the base from which you will need to build on in the future. Understanding it will greatly simplify the job of automating the construction of sentences in our head on the fly.

It is worth knowing that English sentences, unlike Russian ones, are distinguished by simplicity, conciseness and brevity. Perhaps this is due to the English mentality, but now is not about that.

Long and very complex sentences in English can still be found. They are found in legal texts or in fiction, i.e. where appropriate. However, in live communication, long sentences are extremely rare. But to start, you need to build on the simple.

Let's find out what a simple sentence is in English. Any sentence is built in order to describe the real life situation as clearly as possible.

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to use words to describe the current situation and connect them so that the meaning is conveyed as succinctly as possible. If it is possible to convey the meaning correctly, then in the head of the one to whom the information is transmitted, an image of the same picture will be obtained.

In Russian, words are connected with the help of endings. However, in English the situation is completely different, there is no change in many endings.

On the one hand, this simplifies the process of memorization and study, and on the other hand, it requires maximum clarity in sentence construction and the correct use of prepositions.

Golden Rule

So, let's define the first and most important rule - direct word order! First it says who does it, then what it does. In Russian, any variations are available, for example:

• The boy is fishing.
• The boy is fishing.
• The boy is fishing.
• The boy is fishing.

In English, there is always only one word order - "A boy is catching some fish".
Remember this golden rule that you should start with when learning English. Everything is tied to verbs (simple predicates). They will, of course, stand in some form of one of the English tenses (from here you can immediately understand how to use tenses), three moods and two pledges. For beginners, the main thing is to understand the basics:

In English, sentence structure always follows a certain structure:

• Subject (who/what?),
• verb (what is he doing?),
• object (who/what? addition),
• place (where?),
• time (when?).

For example: "I like to walk with my dog ​​in the park in the evening."

• like to walk;
• with my dog;
• in the park;
• in the evening.

Time

For many who begin to learn a language, their head is spinning from an infinite number of temporary forms. If we take into account all of them, then it turns out 16. This is explained by the fact that the tense system is clearly different from the one used in the Russian language. Of course, there are also common points, but the main trump card of the system of English tenses is strict order, consistency, obedience to the laws of grammar and logic.

But times are not as terrible as they are painted. If you master at least six of the most consumed, you can feel confident in almost any communication situation - these are Present Simple, Past Simple, Future Simple, Present Continuous, Past Continuous, and Present Perfect.
Example:

• I go to work every day. - Present Simple (what happens regularly).
• I went to work yesterday. - Past Simple (stating a fact in the past).
• I will go to work tomorrow. - Future Simple (stating a fact in the future).
• I am going to work now. - Present Continuous (what is happening now).
• I was going to work when you called me. - Past Continuous (what happened at a certain point in time in the past).
• I have already gone to work. - Present Perfect (it is not known when the action took place, but there is its result in the present).

What is most important is the need to remember that each group of tenses has similar characteristics and norms for the formation of a semantic verb, as well as principles of use, and this is the key to the rapid assimilation of all tenses.

Once you can draw parallels and feel the differences, you can use all tenses without much difficulty. Therefore, for starters, just try to remember how the English sentences of the Simple group are built, starting with Present (present). It is extremely convenient to learn and memorize grammatical tenses by placing them in a table.

Readable tense tables are present in all textbooks used at the EnglishDom school.

So, do not be afraid of any difficulties. Everything starts simple, and everything ingenious is also simple. Having understood the basic principles of constructing a sentence, you can further attach and train all tenses, moods and pledges.

The main thing - you can not grab onto everything at once. Only after you have fully mastered one rule for yourself, move on to another. Review what you have learned from time to time so you don't forget. But what should never be forgotten is the basic principles of constructing an English sentence. So, it's always easy to start - train your skills on simple sentences, then, as you understand, complicate them.

Big and friendly family EnglishDom

Dear students and parents, we have prepared an English lesson for you, which will help you understand the basic rules when building an English sentence. First, we will consider the types of sentences for the verbs used, and then we will learn how to build affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences. At the end of the article are tables that can be saved and printed to be used as visual material.

Types of offers.

In English, there are two types of sentences: with a regular verb denoting an action, feeling or state, and with a copula verb to be. Now we will tell you what the difference is. If in Russian we use a verb, then in English a verb will also be used. For example, "I go to school" - here the verb "go", which in English sounds like "go". We put this verb in the English sentence: “I go to school”. If there is no verb in Russian, or rather, there is a verb “is”, which, according to the rules of the Russian language, is omitted (The weather is good - The weather is good), then in English this place is replaced by the verb to be, which is translated as “is”, "to be", "to exist". In other words, in Russian we often use sentences without a verb, in English this is impossible!

Consider first sentences with ordinary verbs, they have one trick - in the third person singular, the ending -s or -es is necessarily added to the verb. The third person singular is a noun meaning he, she or it, that is, not you or me, but someone one third. At first glance, this seems complicated and incomprehensible, but in fact, this rule makes learning English very easy! There is no person conjugation in English. See how difficult Russian is and how easy English is:

I I go to school. I go to school.

Vasya (he) walks to school. Vasya goes to school.

Nastya (she) walks to school. Nastya goes to school.

They are walk to school. they go to school.

We we go to school. We go to school.

While in Russian the endings of the verb actively change by person: I go, walk, walk, walk, in English only in the third person singular (he and she) did the ending -es appear. If the verb ends in a consonant, then -s is added (swim - swim s), and if on a vowel, then -es (go - go es).

Consider examples with the verb to be. If in Russian we do not use the verb (that is, we omit the verb “is”), then in the English translation the verb to be will appear. Katya (is) a beautiful girl. There is no verb in Russian, in English there will be a verb to be in the form is: Katya is a beautiful girl.

The difficulty is that the verb to be has three forms that you need to know by heart:

1. am- we use it when we talk about ourselves: I (am) a schoolboy. I am a pupil
2. is- use in the third person singular (he, she, it): Katya (she) is a beautiful girl. Katya is a beautiful girl.
3. are- we use it in the plural or in the second person (we, they, you, you): Vanya and Petya (they) are best friends. Vanya and Petya are best friend.

Affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences.

Recall once again that in English there are two types of sentences: with an ordinary verb, which has a corresponding translation into Russian, and with the verb to be, which is omitted in Russian. These two types of sentences have a different structure. Let's start with the verb to be. Let's analyze the same examples, but in different forms: affirmative, interrogative and negative. Read carefully the Russian sentences and their translation into English, try to determine the pattern.

I am a student. I am a pupil.

Am I a student? Am I'm pupil?

I am not a student. I am not a pupil.

Katya is a beautiful girl. Katya is a beautiful girl

Is Katya a beautiful girl? Is Katya a beautiful girl?

Katya is an ugly girl. Katya is not a beautiful girl.

Vanya and Petya are best friends. Vanya and Petya are best friend.

Vanya and Petya are best friends? Are Vanya and Petya best friends?

Vanya and Petya are not best friends. Vanya and Petya are not best friend.

So, in an affirmative sentence in English, there is a strict word order: subject (main noun), predicate (verb), secondary members of the sentence. If in Russian we can change the order of words as we please, while changing the meaning and emotional coloring, then in English this is strictly prohibited, you will not be understood. In Russian we say: “I love you”, “I love you” or “I love you” and so on, but in English there is only one option: “I love you” and nothing else. The same in the given examples: Katya is a beautiful girl. Where Katya is the subject, there is no predicate in Russian (it could be the verb “is”), a beautiful girl is the secondary members of the sentence. In an English sentence: Katya is the subject, is is the predicate, a beautiful girl are secondary members of the sentence. Hence the two rules:

1. When constructing an interrogative sentence in English, the predicate (verb) comes first.
2. When constructing a negative sentence, a negative particle not is added to the predicate (verb).

Now consider sentences with ordinary verbs, read the examples carefully:

I go to school. I go to school.

I go to school? Do I go to school.

I do not go to school. I do not go to school.

Nastya goes to school. Nastya goes to school.

Nastya goes to school? Does Nastya go to school?

Nastya does not go to school. Nastya doesn't go to school.

The principle is the same as in sentences with the verb to be, only instead of rearranging the verb itself, we have the so-called auxiliary verb to do. Why auxiliary? Because it helps us build the necessary sentence structure and grammar. Thus, when asked, it is not the main verb to go that goes to the first place, but the helper to do. When negated, the particle not is attached not directly to the main verb, but to the appeared verb to do. In addition, the verb to do always takes over the entire grammar of the main verb. In the second example, the verb to do took over the ending -es, which is given to the third person singular. Note that the ending of the main verb was gone because the auxiliary verb took it away.

Let's summarize the information received. To build a sentence in English, we first need to define a verb. Two options are possible: the usual verb, which has an analogue in English, denoting an action, feeling or state, or the verb to be, is to exist, which is not translated into Russian. Further, if this is a regular verb, you need to determine whether the ending will be -es (third person singular), if it is a verb to be, then you need to determine its form (am, is, are). We choose the necessary form of the sentence: affirmative, interrogative, negative. And we put everything in its place!

We use common abbreviations:

I am - i a m - I'm

he is - he i s - he's

she is - she i s - she's

it is - it i s - it's

they are - they a re - they're

we are - we are - we're

you are - you a re - you're

do not - don o t - don't

does not - doesn't - doesn't

Interesting fact: In affirmative sentences with a regular verb, the auxiliary verb to do is also sometimes used. It adds credibility and firmness to the proposal. For example:

I go to school. I go to school.

I do go to school! I really go to school!

You can choose the course of study that suits you on ours!

In the photo - Oksana Igorevna, a teacher at the OkiDoki language school