Each language has its own unique way of constructing sentences, and these differences are what make learning a foreign language both fascinating and challenging. Let's explore how sentences are structured in English, including how questions are formed and the proper word order within a sentence.
How to Make Sentences in English
When I first moved to Spain many years ago, I was baffled by the fact that people referred to the Rolling Stones as ‘Los Rollings’. In English, if we wanted to shorten the name of this band, we would call them ‘The Stones’. This difference is all about word order.
If you’re a native speaker of a Latin-based language like Spanish or Italian, you might find English sentence structure both familiar and frustrating. On one hand, English follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order, much like Latin languages, but it also has some peculiarities that can seem strange at first. Here we look at some sentence structures that are common and highlight where they differ from Italian or Spanish.
The Basic Order
- Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
In English, the most common sentence structure is:
Examples:
- I eat apples. (Subject: I, Verb: eat, Object: apples)
- She likes coffee. (Subject: She, Verb: likes, Object: coffee)
- They watch movies. (Subject: They, Verb: watch, Object: movies)
This structure is similar in both Spanish and Italian. However, as soon as we start asking questions or using negatives, the picture gets just a little more complicated. About 25 years ago I had some classes in a company in Barcelona at 8am. My student Sylvia, a beginner student, asked me ‘But Natalie……what does ‘does’ actually mean?’. She looked even more confused when I told her it didn’t have a meaning, it was just there ‘to help the main verb’. I don’t blame her for feeling frustrated! Question forms can be more difficult than in Latin languages.
Here are a few of the tricks you need to understand the logic of adjective order.
Word Order in Questions
In Latin-based languages, you can often form a question just by changing your intonation. In English, we need auxiliary verbs to form questions.
Standard question structure:
- (Question Word) + Auxiliary Verb + Subject + Main Verb
Examples:
- Do you like pizza?
- What does he want?
- Where did she go?
- How often do you clean your shoes?
In sentences that already contain an auxiliary verb, like present continuous (He is sleeping), or present perfect (He has seen the film), instead of adding an auxiliary verb, we change the order of the auxiliary verb and the subject.
Look at these examples:
- He has seen the film. > Has he seen the film?
- Albert is running. > Is Albert running?
- They were talking. > Were they talking?
- Your parents have travelled a lot. > Have your parents travelled a lot?
Adjective Placement: A Common Mistake
Adjective placement is something that my students often get wrong. This is mainly because in Latin languages adjectives come after the noun, not before as in English. This is the answer to the question: Why are ‘The Rolling Stones’ often referred to as ‘Los Rollings’ in Spain? In Spain people assumed that the first word of the band name is the noun, when in fact it is the second word that is the noun.
Look at the position of the adjectives in these sentences:
- The old house.
- An interesting story.
- A red car.
- A black cat.
Why not write a long list of things that you can see around you, for example in your living room, and practise them every day? Frequent repetition is an important part of language learning.
Prepositions Can Be Tricky
Prepositions in English are often unpredictable. You cannot always translate them directly from your language.
Some common mistakes include:
- Depend on (not depend of)
- Good at (not good in)
- Listen to music (not listen music)
Unfortunately, prepositions do not always follow a logical pattern, so it is important to practice as much as possible. To do this you can consult these articles that may help you:
L1 interference – what is this?
L1 is how language teachers refer to a student’s mother tongue. L1 interference is an inevitable part of the mother tongue having an influence on how you speak a foreign language. The only way to combat this is to practise, practise and practise more. However, be kind to yourself. It is not only inevitable that
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is the most common sentence structure in English?
a) Subject + Object + Verb
b) Verb + Subject + Object
c) Subject + Verb + Object
d) Object + Subject + Verb
2. How do we typically form yes/no questions in English?
a) By raising intonation at the end of the sentence
b) By adding an auxiliary verb and changing word order
c) By removing the subject from the sentence
d) By repeating the main verb twice
3. Which of the following sentences correctly follows the question structure in English?
a) "Where she went?"
b) "What he does want?"
c) "Do you like pizza?"
d) "You are watching TV?"
4. In English, where do adjectives typically appear in relation to nouns?
a) After the noun
b) Before the noun
c) At the end of the sentence
d) Between the noun and verb
5. Why do Spanish speakers sometimes refer to "The Rolling Stones" as "Los Rollings"?
a) Because adjectives come after the noun in Spanish
b) Because "Los Rollings" is the official Spanish translation
c) Because "Stones" is difficult to pronounce
d) Because English does not allow shortened names
6. Which of the following sentences uses the correct preposition?
a) "She is good in playing chess."
b) "He depends of his parents."
c) "They listen music every day."
d) "She is good at dancing."
7. What is L1 interference?
a) The effect of one’s first language on learning a second language
b) The way auxiliary verbs change word order
c) A method of improving pronunciation
d) A specific type of prepositional error
8. How do we form questions in the present continuous tense?
a) By adding "do" before the main verb
b) By switching the auxiliary verb and the subject
c) By placing the question word at the end
d) By using the base form of the verb without an auxiliary
Answer Key
c, b, c, b, a, d, a, b
