How to build sentences in English. Schemes for constructing English sentences in the groups of tenses Simple, Continuous, Perfect

02.07.2020

IN English language, as in Russian, there are five categories of sentences, the rules for constructing which you need to know accurately in order to successfully communicate in the language.

Simple sentence - compound sentence
declarative sentence - interrogative sentence - exclamatory sentence

Simple sentence in English

Simple sentences are those sentences in which there is only one actor (subject) and one action (predicate). With simple sentences, things are not so simple. You need to know a fixed word order - unfortunately, in English it is strict and it is highly undesirable to deviate from it.

For the English sentence, The main rule consists of two points:

1. The subject is in the first place, the predicate is in the second, and then everything else follows.

Schematically, this can be represented as follows:

Table 1. Word order in an English sentence


SUBJECT	PREDICATE	OTHER MEMBERS OF THE OFFER

		to work every day.

The following remark should be made to this table: BEFORE the subject, you can put a definition. And secondly, this scheme is used for affirmative English sentences, i.e. those that end with a dot.

2. An English sentence ALWAYS has a predicate, i.e. verb!

Even if you don’t hear this verb in the Russian translation of this sentence. For example: There are many wolves in the forest. (there is not a single verb here, although you can remake this sentence for a convenient translation: “There are many wolves in the forest.” This version already has a verb - there is). - There are many wolves in the forest.

Difficult sentence

We call a complex sentence a sentence of several simple sentences. As a rule, there are no difficulties with complex sentences, unless it is a complex sentence (that is, a sentence with a subordinate clause).

If you have already graduated from school a long time ago, then the term "subordinate clauses" will most likely not tell you anything. Therefore, let's refresh our memory: there are simple sentences (in which there is one predicate / verb), and there are complex sentences (they consist of several simple ones). In turn, complex sentences are divided into compound ones (in which you can put the union “and” between several simple sentences) and complex ones (in them from one simple sentence to another, you can ask the question “what? why? where? when? under what condition? how? etc.”) And the subordinate clauses are just those simple ones to which we give a question. They are also called dependents. The scheme of a complex sentence looks like this:

As can be seen from the diagram, various conjunctions serve as a link between the main and dependent clauses: where, when, which, whose, because, if, etc.

It all seems so far and incomprehensible, but in fact we use complex sentences much more often than we ourselves notice it. So, as unions often act:

Who used in relation to persons (= who):

I'll call George, who is good at computers.

Which refers to inanimate objects, animals, as well as to the main sentence as a whole (= which):

Don't buy the lipstick which we saw yesterday.

She has already finished the report which will allow her a pay rise.

That refers to both animate and inanimate objects (=which):

The man that we met yesterday is my ex.

The car that Tim bought used to be mine.

Table 2. English words connectors of complex sentences

It is important to observe the correct punctuation (punctuation marks) in complex sentences.

The structure of complex sentences, as a rule, corresponds to two possible schemes.

Main clause + union + subordinate clause

Relative clause + , + Main clause

Alan couldn't come to the meeting as he was ill.

Things get more complicated if the subordinate clause starts with who, which, or where. Sometimes a comma is needed, sometimes not - it depends on how IMPORTANT this clause is for the meaning, whether it is stressed, accented.

Main clause + conjunction + Significant subordinate clause

The driver didn't remember the place where he had left the car.

The subordinate clause EXPLAINS the word place. Without this subordinate clause, the clause will lose its meaning, so it is significant. This means that a comma before it is not needed - it cannot be separated from the main sentence in any way.

Main clause + , + Insignificant subordinate clause

The driver didn't remember the parking lot in his neighborhood, where only expensive cars are parked.

The main sentence already contains a specification - in his neighborhood. Therefore, the subordinate clause is DESCRIPTIVE, it does not provide important information. This means that it can be separated from the main clause by a comma.

Also, subordinate clauses can interrupt the main thing, "wedged" into it. In this case, select or not select with commas on both sides.

The driver didn't remember the place where he had left the car well.

The driver didn't remember the parking lot in his neighborhood, where only expensive cars are parked, well.

How to write sentences in English

Declarative sentence

The classification into declarative, interrogative and exclamatory sentences is based on punctuation marks. At the end of the narrative we put a period, at the end of the question - a question mark, at the end of the exclamation - an exclamation mark. However, they differ not only in punctuation, but also in word order. In declarative sentences, the word order is direct - we talked about them above.

Interrogative sentence

So, there are 2 basic types of questions: general and. We answer “yes” or “no” to the first, and to the second we answer something specific, special (depending on what is asked in the question itself). Remember that the word order in any English sentence is FIXED, and this also applies to questions.

0 place- QUESTION WORD

What - what? which?
Who - who?
Who(m) - to whom? by whom?
Where - where? where?
When - when?
Why - why?
How - how?
How much (many) - how much?
Which - which?
What - what?
Whose - whose?

1st place- AUXILIARY

is/are/am
do / does / did
will / would / shall
have / has
can / could
may/might
ought
should

2nd place- SUBJECT

3rd place- BASIC (SENSITIVE) VERB

4th place- OTHER WORDS

There are also a few notes about this structure:

NOTE 1. How to choose an auxiliary verb? Very simple: the auxiliary verb is the one that is first present in the original sentence. For example:

Danny is a worker ---> is
Anna will drive ---> will
They have finished the report ---> have

Therefore, to ask a question, you just need to rearrange the subject and predicate in places.

What if there is no auxiliary verb? For example: We visited the museum. Here we have only the main verb - visited. Therefore, when there is no visible auxiliary verb, then it is do / does / did, depending on the tense. In our case, this is did, since the verb is in .

NOTE 2. The main (semantic) verb, when you ask a question, goes clean, that is, without any endings, in its initial form.

NOTE 3. How to understand 0 place? This position in the question is called so because interrogative words are only in special questions, but they are not in general questions. It is by the question word that you determine what to answer. For example:

Mother gave her son a tasty medicine yesterday because he was ill.

Who? -Mother
Whom? - son
Whose son? - her
What? - medicine
What medicine? - tasty
When? - yesterday
Why? - because he was ill

In general questions (those to which you answer “yes” or “no”) there is no interrogative word, that is, the auxiliary verb immediately goes.

Exclamatory sentence

As a rule, exclamatory sentences begin with what (what for .., what ...) or how (how ...). Here, too, you need to be careful with word order.

What..!

Table 3 Word order of the English exclamatory sentence

How..!

In exclamations, after how it is customary to put either an adjective or an adverb.

How sweet! - How nice!

How lovely! - How funny!

Sometimes you can find a more detailed construction: How + adjective / adverb + subject + predicate.

How interesting it was to hear her story!

How wonderful it is to see you!

In order not to miss new useful materials,

The construction of sentences in English is a painful topic for many, but this material must be well understood, since the sentence is the basis of written and spoken language.

I will immediately make a reservation that in this article we are considering rules for constructing a standard sentence in English. We will not pay attention to elliptical constructions, exclamations, complex inversions and other types of sentences that differ in their form from the standard one. If you know the "skeleton" of an English sentence, you can easily build any phrase.

Read about non-standard offers in the article "".

What is an English sentence

Each sentence expresses a complete thought. To make the thought look logical and understandable, it is necessary to use certain members of the sentence. Every English sentence has two obligatory elements: the subject is the main character of the sentence (answers the question “who?”, “What?”), the predicate is what the subject does (answers the question “what to do?”).

Subject can be expressed as (I, you, them, everyone, etc.) or (mom, cat, work, apple, etc.). It usually comes first in a sentence. Predicate is expressed (go, write, think, fall, etc.) and follows the subject, that is, it is in second place in the sentence.

(Who?) They (what did?) thought. - They thought.
(Who?) The cat (what is he doing?) is coming. - The cat is going.
(What?) The apple (what will it do?) will fall. - The apple will fall.

Predicate is the most important part of the sentence. Only the predicate can show what is happening, happened or will happen. An English predicate can consist of two elements: the main verb - the "main" verb, which shows what the subject does, and - the verb, which helps to distinguish tenses.

The subject and predicate are the main parts of the sentence. As mentioned above, without them it is impossible correct construction sentences in English. In addition, there are also secondary members, these include:

Addition- stands after the predicate and answers any case question, except for questions of the nominative case. Addition is direct and indirect. The direct answers the questions of the accusative case: “whom?”, “What?”; indirect - to all other case questions: “who?”, “what?”, “to whom?”, “what?” etc. As a rule, in a sentence, a direct object comes first, then an indirect one.
I see a girl with him. - I see (who?) girl(with whom?) with him.

She is reading a book to the children. She is reading (what?) book(to whom?) children.
Definition- stands next to the subject or object and describes its properties, that is, answers the question “which?”, “Whose?”.
I see a beautiful girl with him. - I see (what?) beautiful girl with him.

my red cat lies on the window. - (Whose?) My(which?) ginger the cat lies on the window.
Circumstance- can be at the beginning or at the end of the sentence, says “where?”, “When?”, “How?”, “Why?” some action has taken place.
My red cat lies on the window. - My red cat lies (where?) on the window.

Yesterday I saw her with him. - (When?) Yesterday I saw her with him.

He behaved differently. - He behaved (how?) differently.

Rules for constructing sentences in English

There are two main word orders in English: direct and reverse. Direct is used in affirmative and negative sentences, reverse - in questions.

The English sentence differs from the Russian one in word order. In Russian it is free:

Mom washed the frame.
Mom washed the frame.
Mom washed the frame.

As you can see, from the change in the places of the terms - mothers and frames - the meaning of the sentence has not changed. And in English, all three sentences will be translated as follows:

mother was washing the frame.

This is because English sentences have a fixed word order. English words cannot "jump" from place to place, as Russians do. The English language is strict and conservative, like the English themselves, it does not like change. Therefore, each type of proposal has its own unbreakable patterns.

Word order in affirmation and negation in English

The direct word order in an English sentence is as follows: the subject comes first, the predicate comes second, and the object comes third. In some cases, circumstance may come first. In an English sentence, the main verb may have an auxiliary verb. But, as you already know, the auxiliary verb is part of the predicate, so even with it the word order remains direct.

Word order in an affirmative sentence
Circumstance		Predicate	Addition (possibly with a definition)	Circumstance
Yesterday	I	learned	English words. English words.	--
--	My little sister My little sister	will visit will visit	me	three days. after three days.

Word order in a negative English sentence is also direct. To show negation, we use the particle not, which corresponds to the Russian particle "not". Also, in a negative sentence there is always an auxiliary verb, because it is adjacent to it not, adjoin the main verb not can not.

Word order in a negative sentence
Circumstance	Subject (possibly with definition)	Auxiliary verb + not	Main verb	Complement (possibly with a definition)	Circumstance
Yesterday	I	did not	learn	English words. English words.	--
--	My little sister My little sister	will not	visit will visit	me	three days. after three days.

Word order in a question in English

In a Russian question and statement, the word order can be the same. Only by the intonation of the speaker do we understand that we have been asked a question. In English, a statement and a question look different:

They live in the city. - They live in the city.
Do they live in the city? - Do they live in the city?

The English interrogative sentence has a reverse word order. This means that the subject and verb are reversed. But the English language does not like to go far from the direct order, so only part of the predicate, the auxiliary verb, is put in the first place, and the main verb still comes after the subject. Another feature is that in the question the circumstance is not put in the first place.

Word order in an interrogative sentence
Auxiliary	Subject (possibly with definition)	Main verb	Addition (possibly with a definition)	Circumstance
Did	I	learn	English words? English words?	--
Will	my little sister My little sister	visit will visit	me	three days? after three days?

Short Answers

IN oral speech, as a rule, we answer the question briefly. For example, to the question "Do they work in the office?" we will answer “Yes” or “No” rather than repeating the whole phrase: “Yes, they work in the office / No, they do not work in the office.” We manage with a short answer, and such an answer is understandable to the interlocutor.

The English also use short answers. But in English you can't just say Yes/no, such an answer will seem rude and unfriendly. An English short answer must also contain a subject and an auxiliary verb. The subject and auxiliary verb remain those that were in the question, for example:

If the question contains a pronoun you(you, you), so the question is addressed to you. Therefore, you need to answer it on your own behalf, and not on behalf of you:

And now we offer to watch the video from the teacher Minoo. It will tell you about the word order in an English sentence. And at the end of the article, you will find a table with all the proposal schemes that you can download, and a test.

(*.pdf, 200 Kb)

Test

Word order in English: rules for constructing sentences

In Russian, we can build a sentence however we want. We can say: “I bought a dress yesterday”, or “I bought a dress yesterday”, or “I bought a dress yesterday”, etc.

In English, the word order in a sentence is fixed. This means that we cannot rearrange the words as we like. They must stay in their designated places.

It is difficult for beginners to learn English to understand and get used to this.

Therefore, many often build English sentences using the word order as in Russian. Because of this, it is difficult for the interlocutor to understand the idea that you want to convey.

In this article, I will explain to you how to build sentences in English correctly, so that you can compose them competently, and any foreigner can easily understand you.

From the article you will learn:

What is a fixed word order in a sentence?

Sentence- a combination of words that expresses a complete thought.

As I said, in Russian we can rearrange the words in a sentence the way we want.

For example:

We'll go to the cinema.

Let's go to the cinema.

As you can see, we can rearrange the words in a sentence, and this will not prevent the other person from understanding the idea that we want to convey to him.

In English, word order is fixed.

Fixed- fixed in a certain position.

This means that the words in the sentence have their places and cannot be rearranged.

Right:

We will go to the cinema.
We'll go to the cinema.

Not right:

To the cinema we will go.

Esl and the word order in the English sentence is wrong, then it will be difficult for the interlocutor to understand what idea you want to convey to him.

Let's take a closer look at how to correctly build all kinds of sentences in English.

Attention: Confused in English rules? Find out how easy it is to understand English grammar.

Word order in an affirmative English sentence

affirmative sentences- this proposals where we affirm some idea. Such sentences do not contain negation and do not imply an answer.

We can claim that something:

Happening in the present (We are building a house)
Will happen in the future (We will build a house)
Happened in the past (We built a house)

In English, affirmative sentences use direct word order.

The direct word order is that the 1st and 2nd places in a sentence are always occupied by certain words.

Let's take a closer look at this scheme for constructing affirmative sentences.

1st place - main character

Actor (subject)- the person/thing that performs the action in the sentence.

It could be:

The object or person itself: mother (mother), Mary (Mary), cup (cup), chairs (chairs), etc.
A word that replaces an object or person (pronoun): I (I), you (you), we (we), they (they), he (he), she (she), it (it)

For example:

Tom...
Volume....

She….
She....

2nd place - action

action (predicate)- shows what happened, is happening or will happen.

That is, the action itself (verb) can stand:

1. In the present tense: study (study), work (work), sleep (sleep), eat (eat)

2. Past tense, which is formed with:

adding the ending -ed to regular verbs: studied (studied), worked (worked)
2nd / 3rd forms of irregular verbs: slept / slept (slept), ate / eaten (ate)

Whether the verb is correct or incorrect, we can look in the dictionary.

3. In the future tense, which is usually formed using the auxiliary verb will: will study (I will study), will work (I will work), will sleep (I will sleep).

For example:

We travel.
We are travelling.

Tom left.
Tom is gone.

She will work.
She will work

Important nuance

It is worth remembering one important nuance. In Russian there are sentences in which we omit the action.

For example:

She is a teacher.

Children in the park.

Tom is smart.

In English sentences, the action must always be present, we cannot omit it. This is a very common mistake among students.

In such cases, we use verb to be. This is a special kind of verb that we use when we say that someone:

Is somewhere (Children in the park)
Is someone (She's a teacher)
Is somehow (Tom smart)

Depending on the time in which we use this verb, it changes its form:

Present tense - am, are, is
Past tense - was, were
In the future tense - will be

For example:

She is a doctor.
She is a doctor. (literally: She is a doctor)

Children are smart.
Children are smart. (literally: Children are smart)

I am at home.
I'm home. (literally: I am at home)

Read more about the verb to be in each tense in the following articles:

Verb to be in present tense
Verb to be in past tense

So, direct word order means that certain words are in the 1st and 2nd places.

Let's see what it looks like again.

1st place	2nd place	3rd place
Actor	Action or verb to be	Other members of the proposal
I	work	here
my sister	lived	in New York
A cat	is	gray
They	were	at school

Now let's look at how to build negative sentences.

Word order in a negative English sentence

Negative sentences- when we deny something. That is, we say that something:

Doesn't happen (She doesn't work)
Didn't happen (She didn't work)
Won't happen (She won't work)

In Russian, to form a negation, we put the particle "not" before the action: not I come not I will read, not bought.

In English, to form a negation, we use the particle "not" and an auxiliary verb. See how this changes our word order:

Let's take a look at this diagram in detail.

1st place - character

Negative sentences also use direct word order, so the protagonist comes first.

2nd place - auxiliary verb + not

Auxiliary verbs- these are words that are not translated, but only serve as pointers.

They help us determine:

Time of what is happening (present, future, past);
Number of actors (many or one).

Read more about auxiliary verbs in this article.

Each tense in English has its own auxiliary verb (do/does, have/has, did, had, will). Let's look at the auxiliary verbs of the three most used tenses.

1. Present simple tense (Present Simple Tense):

does, when we talk about someone in the singular (he, she, it)
do, for all other cases (me, you, we, they)

2. Past Simple Tense: did

3. Future Simple Tense: will

To show negation, we add the particle not to our auxiliary verb or the verb to be: does not, do not, did not, will not.

3rd place - action

After the auxiliary verb with the particle not, we put an action, which is now negative.

For example:

He does not work.
He does not work.

They will not buy.
They won't buy.

Remember: When we say that we did not do something in the past and use the auxiliary verb did, we no longer put the action itself in the past tense.

Since the auxiliary verb already shows us that it happened in the past.

Not right:

We didn't work ed.
We didn't work.

Right:

We didn't work.
We didn't work.

So let's take another look at the construction of a negative sentence.

1st place	2nd place	3rd place	4th place
Actor	Auxiliary verb + not	Action	Other members of the proposal
I	do not	work	here
my sister	does not	study	study
People	will not	buy	a car
They	did not	build	the house

Negative sentences with the verb to be

If the sentence uses the verb to be, then we simply put not after it.

Let's look at the plate.

1st place	2nd place	3rd place	4th place
Actor	verb to be	Particle not	Other members of the proposal
I	am	not	a doctor
They	were	not	at home
A cat	is	not	gray

Now let's look at the last type of sentence - questions.

Word order in an interrogative English sentence

Interrogative sentences These are sentences that express a question and suggest an answer to it. For example: Do you work?

In Russian, affirmative and interrogative sentences differ only:

intonation (in speech)
sign "?" at the end of a sentence (in writing)

In English, a statement and a question look different. Unlike statements, interrogative sentences have reverse word order.

The reverse word order means that the main character will not be in the first place.

Let's take a closer look at how to construct such sentences.

1st place - auxiliary verb

To make a sentence interrogative, you need to put an auxiliary verb in the first place in the sentence. I talked about them Auxiliary verb

Actor Action Other members of the proposal Does she work here? Did they study English? Will you buy a car?

Interrogative sentences with the verb to be

If the sentence uses the verb to be instead of the usual action, then we simply transfer it to the first place in the sentence.

Let's look at the diagram:

1st place	2nd place	4th place
verb to be	Actor	Other members of the proposal
Is	she	a doctor?
Are	they	at home?
was	a cat	grey?

An exception:

When we build a question with the verb to be in the future tense - will be, then we put only will in the first place. And be itself comes after the character.

For example:

Will she be a teacher?
Will she be a teacher?

Will they be at home?
Will she be at home?

So, we examined the word order in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. Now let's practice building such sentences in practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. I will go to the store.
2. She is beautiful.
3. We didn't buy a dress.
4. My girlfriend is in the park.
5. Has she read the book?
6. Is the house expensive?

As often in exams, in various tests, we are faced with the need to correctly compose a phrase from a set of words. If in Russian it almost doesn’t matter whether you start a sentence with a subject or a predicate, then in English there are certain principles that must be observed. Properly organized structure of the statement is the key to competent speech.

From the first days of acquaintance with English, it is necessary to remember a strict sentence scheme, word order. A clear sequence facilitates understanding, listening to speech. In written speech, language is presented not as a set of words, but as a structured statement.

Word order in an English sentence

Believe me, having mastered the basics of the interaction of the members of the proposal, it is safe to say that soon you will be able to speak. Yes, at first in simple phrases of two or three words, but gradually expand your vocabulary and diversify your speech. So, the rules of construction:

Subject + predicate + object + circumstance

Subject + predicate + object + adverbal modifier

The boy showed the mark-book yesterday. (The boy showed the diary yesterday)

subject skaz. additional the situation

Well, that's not all. There can be several circumstances or additions in one phrase. How to put everything in its place, not only from the lexical side, but also from the grammatical side? Let's look at an example:

The construction of sentences in English is based on the fact that if there are several additions, then they alternate as follows:

indirect add. (to whom?) + direct (what) + with a preposition (to whom?)

She wrote her friend a letter. But: She wrote a letter to her friend. — She wrote a letter to her friend. = She wrote a letter to her friend. (there is no grammatical difference in Russian)

As can be seen from the example, if an indirect object is without a preposition, then it precedes the direct one, and if a preposition is used, then it comes after it.

According to the word order in the English sentence, circumstances arranged like this:

mode of action (goals, reasons) (how?) + places (where? where?) + time (when?)

He was running quickly to his house at 6 o'clock yesterday. He ran home quickly at 6 o'clock yesterday.

If there is a need to logically highlight the circumstance of place or time, then it can be brought to the fore.

Moscow he visited many museums last year. In Moscow, he visited many museums last year.
last year he visited many museums in Moscow. — Last year he visited many museums in Moscow.

There is also such a member of the sentence as definition. This free bird is always in front of the word to which it refers. Sometimes one definition is not enough to fully characterize the subject, so it is necessary to use several. How, what and where to put?

Article or possessive pronoun(or noun in Possesive Case), numerals + adjectives: my beautiful yellow hat , Tom's ugly big old Italian hunting boots, the first difficult examination question.
Adjectives in this order: Emotional attitude →fact: a nice sunny day - a beautiful sunny day.
Facts, if there are more than one, are arranged in the following order: size → age → color → from where → from what. Not necessarily in the sentence you will find all the characteristics, it can be two or three adjectives (definitions are most often adjectives), which means that skipping one of the elements of the scheme, put everything in the right order. Let's look at some examples: a nice small black plastic bag, a new black plastic bag.

A famous Scottish poet was born in 1750. - characterizes the subject - emotic. coloring + from where (Famous poet was born in 1750)

So, faced with the question, how to write sentences in english look at every word. First of all, it is necessary to find the main members (who performs the action, what, or over what, then - what happens, the action itself) and put them in first place. Then, minor members in accordance with the scheme.

But, I would also like to point out questions that are not exactly a violation, but a slight change in order. Thus, the subject and predicate firmly hold on to their places and do not yield to anyone, just like the circumstance and object. But, an interrogative sentence can begin with an auxiliary verb, modal or with a special word.

Did he live in Minsk? — Did he live in Minsk?

Do do you have a computer? - You have a computer?

Can will you take me to the museum? — Can you take me to the museum?

What kind of book are you reading now? - What book are you reading now?

Cases of violation of the direct word order in an English sentence

Of course, not without difficulty! The above scheme is most likely valid for 80% of affirmative statements. But there are some features worth remembering.

Such a grammatical phenomenon as inversion turns everything upside down. What it is? In cases where the structure of the sentence in English is broken, the reverse order of the subject and predicate is noted. But there is a certain, limited set of such situations.

1. In units of speech with turnover there is/there are the subject comes after the predicate.

There is a round table in the middle of the room. There is a round table in the middle of the room.

2. If the phrase begins with direct speech (with ""), and indirect follows it, the subject also changes places with the verb.

"I haven't painted for ages" said my friend. “I haven't painted in ages,” my friend said.

3. In statements beginning with "here", but only if the subject is expressed by a noun. But, if a pronoun is used in its place after here, then the direct order is preserved.

Here are the gloves you are looking for. “Here are the gloves you are looking for.

Here comes our teacher. Here comes our teacher.

BUT: Here it is. - Here it is. Here he comes. “Here he comes.

4. If the sentence begins with adverbs or conjunctions such as never (never), seldom (rarely), little (few), in vain (in vain), scarcely (barely), not only (not only), hardly (barely), then there is an inversion. Most often, disruption is used to give emotional coloring to the statement, and these words, which are brought to the fore, reinforce and emphasize the meaning.

In wine doesshedye her hair. — She dyes her hair in vain.

Never in his life has hegone abroad. He has never traveled abroad in his life.

Seldom can he come to see us. He rarely visits us.

5. In brief remarks, for example, such as So did I, Neither do I (And so did I).

Every morning I take a shower. - So do I. - I take a shower every morning. And me too.

She didn't read this book. — Neither did I. — She didn't read this book. And me too.

In principle, everything is very specific in syntactic constructions. With many rules and just as many exceptions, it is not difficult to build statements if you follow the instructions exactly. So, remember that the composition of sentences in English strictly obeys the scheme. Follow her, and then you will succeed!

For success in mastering the English language, it is extremely important to understand its features of the arrangement of words and their order in sentences. It probably seems to you that this is not very simple and that memorization is necessary to master their device. a large number poorly understood rules. Some theoretical knowledge is, of course, necessary, but everything can be explained in an accessible and easily understandable form. We decided to present the topic of constructing English sentences as accessible as possible and tried to make the acquaintance with this material interesting. Let's get started.

Classification of members of the proposal.

First of all, it is necessary to understand what constituent parts a well-formed sentence consists, that is, to clarify the question of which members of the sentence are necessary for its writing or pronunciation. As you probably guess, any of the written or spoken sentences must carry a semantic load, and in order to convey it with maximum accuracy, the presence of main and, providing additional information, non-main members is considered a necessary condition. At a minimum, in a sentence written in English, two main ones, represented by the subject and the predicate, should be involved. You cannot do without these fundamental components, so you need to consider them more closely.

Members of the proposal

Subject

The subject is one of the most important components of the sentence, which, answering questions such as “who?” and “what?”, draws the main participant. This mission can be performed by pronouns or nouns, as well as proper names. One of the most important features of English is that the location of a word within a sentence determines its functional features. According to the rule, the subject is located before another main participant in the process, called the predicate.

Predicate

The predicate is called another main or main member, which forms the foundation and is responsible for information about the ongoing action. The questions to be answered are formulated as “what does it do?” or “what are they doing?”. This duty is entrusted to verbs. Various designs, used to show grammatical tenses, may require the addition of an auxiliary verb. A simple sentence can consist of a subject and a predicate, with the latter necessarily located later than the first. To decorate the base with details, the participation of other members will be required.

Addition

An addition is a non-main member of a sentence that answers the questions of all cases except for the nominative. In sentences, they are placed after the predicate. There is an additional division: additions that answer the questions “what?” and “who?”, which corresponds to the accusative case, are classified as direct, and all the rest are indirect.

Definition

Definitions are words that are placed immediately before subjects or objects and, giving answers to such types of questions as “what?” or “whose?” reveal their qualities.

Circumstance

Circumstances can find their place at the beginning and end of sentences. Sometimes they can squeeze between the main members. They tell how, why, where or when the described action happened or is happening.

For greater clarity, we illustrate everything using examples.

Examples of subjects expressed by nouns:

A snake-snakes;

A musician - musicians;

A building - buildings .

The nouns are singular on the left and plural on the right.

It should be remembered that the presence of articles introduces some additional difficulties and there cannot be an indefinite article before plural nouns.

We have already mentioned that it is expressed by a verb and can be of two types:

Auxiliary. This part of speechused to express time.And this is a very important point if necessary.composesentences in English. Auxiliary verb toit has no such meaning in itself and cannot be translated into Russian in any way. However, his presence is necessary if the temporary form requires it.

Example:

Forpresent simple– do / does;

Forpast perfect – had;

ForFuture Continuous – will be.

main or semantic verb. With its help, the actions of the subject are indicated.

Example:

Sheruns.

Wewent.

Definition

Can be represented by the most different parts speech. Consider the most popular options:

Adjective

Nice- Cute;

Brave- brave.

Participle

Sold- sold;

Crying- crying.

Participial

madeofplastic – madefrom plastic;

laughingout loud-loudlaughing.

Numerals

First- first;

Thirty- thirty.

Nouns in the possessive case, etc.

Nick's- Nika;

Diana's- Diana.

You are probably interestedhow to build sentences in englishwith the definition, and what place it occupies in it. This part of speech can be placed before the subject or before the object. Let's look at examples to understand the scheme of this proposal.

1. Herwavyhairissobeautiful. Her wavy hair is so beautiful.

2. Ireadagreatbook. - I read a wonderful book.

It should be noted thathow to build a sentence in english, if the definition is expressed participle turnover. In this case, it always comes after the subject or object.

For example:

The girl speaking on stage is my sister.

The girl on stage is my sister.

Addition

Always comes after the predicate. There are two types of supplements:

1. Direct(answering questions in the accusative case):

Isawher.

I saw her.

2. Indirect(other):

We are proud of you.

In the event that both objects occur at once in the sentence, then the direct always comes first, and only after it follows the indirect.

Circumstance

It denotes a place, a time, a reason, and so on.

The circumstance is expressed:

adverb (today, slowly);

Noun with preposition (inParis, behindthescenes).

It is directly related to the predicate, but it can also be at the beginning of a sentence and at its end.

So, we have considered the components of sentences in the English language.Consequentlyit's time to move on to the next section. It is in it that we will answer the question: “How to write English sentences correctly?". Well, let's get started.

How sentences are built in English: the structure of an English sentence

It is difficult to imagine a student who has never thought abouthow to write sentences in english. And more often than not, this thought caused a stupor. We decided to tell you a simple way to understand thathow to write sentences in english. And this means that after a while you yourself will be able to compose the text. Separately, it should be noted that at the end of the article we have prepared exercises for you to test your knowledge. After passing them, you will be able to find out for yourself whether you have mastered the material and whether you can tell,how an English sentence is constructed.And we are moving on to the basic rules.

How to write sentences in English?For that, To answer this question, you should familiarize yourself with the structure of English sentences. Namely, with the order of words in them. For example, in Russian we can say the following options: I love you very much, I love you very much, I love you very much. BUTHow to writeon-Englishsentencewith these words?Iloveyouverymuch. So and only so. In English, words do not change places, but always remain in a certain order. In this regard, this language is much simpler than ours. In the meantime, we have found the first answer to the questionhow to build sentences in english. And it consists in the fact that they are built according to the scheme given by the rules. So it's time to study and memorize these schemes. Go.

How to write a sentence in Englishin the affirmative

We have already said that all expressions and sentences are built according to a certain pattern. Below we give an exampleEnglishhow to make an offersimple plan and affirmative form.

The default schema looks like this:

Subject + predicate + addition + circumstance

My little sister will visit me in three days.

However, sometimes the circumstance is at the beginning of the word and then the scheme looks like this:

Circumstance+ subject +predicate+ addition.

YesterdayIlearnedEnglishwords.

Below we provide examples ofhow to write a sentence in englishin affirmative form.

1. Yesterday I bought a Lego construction set to my nephew.

2. We'll go home after training.

3. He is trying to find this spelling rule.

4. I have no idea how to learn to play the guitar.

How to write a sentence in Englishin negative form

In order to turn an affirmation into a negation, it is worth using a particlenotto the auxiliary verb. By the way, it is the auxiliary verb that is a prerequisite for this category of sentences. In all other respects, the scheme is identical to the first option:

Subject + auxiliary verb withnot+ main verb + object + circumstance.

My little sister willnotvisit me in three days.

Circumstance+ subject + auxiliary verb + main verb + object. in question form

The word order in a simple question remains the same, only the auxiliary verb comes first. Accordingly, the scheme of such a proposal:

Auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + object + circumstance.

Did they go fishing the day before yesterday? -They arewenton thefishingthe day before yesterday?

Many people are probably interestedhow to make a sentence in english from wordswhen, whatetc. You probably know that these words are found in a number of interrogative sentences. So, they are put in the first place, leaving the rest unchanged. As a result, we get the following options for questions:

Whatdoyouthinkaboutourpresident?

When did she move to her parents?

In the event that we are dealing with disjunctive questions, then the sentence looks like this:

They will not agree with their terms, will they?

As you can see, in this option it is worth moving away from the usual scheme negative proposals. Separation questions consist of an affirmation or denial in the first part and a short answer in the second.

We have considered the options for the formation of sentences in English and we hope that we have answered all your questions. As you can see, this topic turned out to be easier than you thought. And it remains for us to wish you good luck in mastering the English language and to remind you that below we have prepared exercises for you to complete on your own.