Basic English Word Order: Place & Time

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson,

you'll learn how to talk about place and time

correctly in an English sentence. Now, this is important because in every language, the

order of words in a sentence varies. It's different. And in English, we have certain

patterns that we follow. Now, I'm not talking

about English poetry or fancy English prose.

I'm talking about regular English sentences,

conversational English, business English,

and so on. Okay? So, what's the basic order

that we follow? You probably know that already,

but let's do a quick review of that, and then

let's look at what to do when you need to mention

information related to place and time. All right? Let's get started.

So, in our basic English sentence, we follow

this order. Subject, verb, and object. Okay?

What does all that mean? I'm going to just review it quickly for you.

So, the subject is the doer of the action. Who

is doing the action? The verb tells us what that

action is, and the object is what receives the

action. Okay? Or what the verb is doing the action

to or for or something like that. Okay? So, let's look at the example sentence.

You speak English very well. That's the correct

word order because in English, we expect to hear

first a mention of the subject, then of the verb,

and then of the object, and then after that,

any other information. So, the mistake that students sometimes make is to say something

like, "You speak very well English." That's not

correct because you speak, speak what? English.

And then, any other details like very well. So,

this is the basic rule. Okay? There's a lot of

details that we can go into about subject verb

order. You need to know it, and if you don't know

this basic subject verb order really, really well

in your sleep, then please watch our engVid lesson

on basic word order in English. Okay? All right. Now, let's look at another example.

Of that basic order, "He borrowed $100 from

me." He is the subject, borrowed is the verb,

borrowed what? $100, and then any other information, from me. So, we do not say,

"He borrowed from me $100." We need to say, "He

borrowed $100 from me." Okay? Again, that's the

review of a basic subject verb order that English

sentences follow. But what happens when we have

other information that we need to communicate

that's related to place and time? What do we

say first? Is there a pattern? Does it matter?

Yes, it matters because English speakers expect

to hear things in a certain order. Now, if you

stop an English speaker on the street and ask him,

"In this sentence, do I say place first or do I

say time first?" They're going to look at you like,

"I don't know. I just say what I say." So, they

don't know that. Okay? When you speak a language,

of course, you're not always familiar with all

the grammatical rules that you're following,

and the same in your language. Right? But as

a grammar teacher and as an English teacher,

I'm telling you there is an actual order that

we follow normally. So, this is what it is.

And by learning it, you can sound more natural

yourself. Okay. So, the rule is this, that if you

need to mention information about place, first

mention that, and then afterwards mention time.

So, place first, then time. Got it? Let's

look at some examples. "They go to the market

every day." Okay? So, what happened here? Where's

the place? The market. They go to the market,

and where's the time? Every day. Not, they go

every day to the market. They go, where? To the

market, when? Every day. Okay? Where and when.

Next, "We're leaving for Italy in May." Okay?

Leaving for where? For Italy, when? In May. All

right? Where and when. Place and time. Okay?

Just say that. Place and time. Where and when.

Next, "I forgot my cell phone at the bank

yesterday." I forgot my cell phone where? At the

bank. When? Yesterday. Okay? That's really it,

and even though it seems really simple, it can

get a little bit confusing, so let's do a quiz

to find out that you have actually understood

this simple but important rule very well.

So, now let's look at these eight sentences. Some

of these are correct, and some are incorrect,

based on what we have just learned about place

and time. All right? So, let's get started.

Number one, "We left at 7 o'clock for the airport."

We left at 7 for the airport. Is that right or

wrong? What's the rule that we said? It's a

usage rule. Okay? Sometimes English speakers

might play around with it, but for you, follow

this rule and it'll help you to always be right.

So, what's the principle? Place and then time. So,

in number one, "We left", where? For the airport.

When? At 7. So, this one was wrong, the way it

was. Okay? The first one was wrong. Sorry about

that. Okay. So, it should be, "We left for the airport at 7."

Number two, "I walk to the store every day." I

walk to the store every day. Is that correct?

Well, I walk, where? To the store. When? Every

day. So, this one is absolutely fine. Okay.

Number three, "He was born in 1975 in London."

He was born in 1975 in London. Is that right

or wrong? Let's check. "He was born", where? Oops.

We have "when" first, so that's not right. Okay?

So, we should say, "He was born in London in

1975." Right? He was born where? In London. When?

In 1975. Getting it? Where, when? Place,

time. Okay? That's the rule we're following.

Number four, "Peter didn't go yesterday to the office."

Peter didn't go yesterday to the office. Is it right or wrong? What do you say?

It is... Yes? It's wrong. Okay? Because Peter didn't go...

It should be, "Peter didn't go", where? To the office. When? Yesterday. Okay? Are

you getting it? Are you starting to see the rhythm of it?

Number five, "We've lived for 10 years in this building."

We've lived for 10 years in this building.

Is that correct or incorrect? Think about it.

It is actually incorrect, because we should say, "We've lived", where?

"in this building", time. We're talking about time. When? For 10 years. Okay?

Number six, "She dropped the kids to school

early." She dropped the kids to school early.

So, she dropped the kids, where? To school.

When? Early. So, that one was correct. Okay?

That one's right. Number seven, "I'm joining in the fall university."

I'm joining in the fall university. Is it right

or wrong? Doesn't sound right, does it? No,

it's wrong. So, I'm joining where? Which place? University. When?

In the fall. Okay? Good. And the last one, "We saw him at the mall last night."

We saw him at the mall last night. Is that right or wrong? That is actually

right, because where? We saw him where? At the mall. And when?

Last night. Okay? All right. So, I hope that

by doing these exercises, by listening to the

explanation of the guidelines, that you have

kind of understood and absorbed this principle

of place before time when we are constructing

an English sentence. Try to remember that when

you create your sentences, try to write just now

some sentences. That's the best way to do it.

Not just theoretically, but also practically in

your own life. Talk about some things happening

around you. Talk about some... Write some sentences

about what you did, what members of your family

did. And use place and time in your own examples.

That's the best way for you to remember these

rules. Okay? Now, here are some other things you

can do to really master this very important area.

Okay? So, number one, go to our website,

www.engvid.com. There, you can do a quiz on this

and practice a little bit more. You can also

watch the other lesson that I've mentioned,

and there may be other lessons that have to do

with word order, which will help you to really

master even the basic word order, subject, verb,

object, in case that's something you're not sure

about. You want to really master that. Plus, you

will also find on our website a free resource,

which you can download, a page with information

about this. It summarizes this subject,

so please download that; I wrote that for you.

And of course, please, if you haven't already,

subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can continue to get lots of useful lessons,

which I hope will shorten your learning path in English. Okay?

Bye for now. All the best with your English.