A1
English word order: who, action, and place
See a sentence as parts with jobs, rather than a bag of words. In a simple statement, name the person or thing first, then the action or state, followed by any information the sentence needs.
Find the subject and verb
In “We read books”, We is the subject, read is the verb and books is the object. Languages use different word orders, so translating the position of every word directly can produce an incorrect English sentence.
Not every sentence needs an object
“He sleeps” is already a complete sentence. “He is at home” describes a state. Keep the verb is: “He at home” is not a standard English sentence.
Remember useful chunks
“In the park” and “at home” are place phrases. Build “They play” first, then add “in the park”. Practising chunks gives you a manageable structure to recall rather than a whole list of unrelated words.
Examples
- We read books.
- He is at home.
- They play in the park.