Basic word order in English

The basic word order of an English sentence is Subject + Predicate.

The predicate is the part of the sentence that tells something about

the subject. The predicate always includes the verb.

So, Subject + Predicate word order can be broken down into smaller

pieces like this:
subject + verb
Or
subject + verb + object
Let's review the definitions of these parts of speech.
 subject = noun or pronoun
The person, place, or thing that the sentence is about.
 verb = action or state of being
one verb or a verb phrase
 object = the noun or nouns that receives the action of the verb or is
affected by the action of the verb.
Unlike some languages, English usually requires you to put the subject near
the beginning of the sentence before the verb. Native speakers rarely stray from
this word order in correct English.
Examples:
Look for the correct word order in these examples. The examples are color-
coded.
subject + verb + object

Correct: Correct:
The teacher taught. The students listen.
Incorrect: Incorrect:
Taught the teacher. Listen the students.
 Correct: Correct:
He gave flowers to her. She smiled at the boy.
Incorrect: Incorrect:
Flowers to her he gave. At the boy she smiled.

The sentences above are simple English sentences. Remember, in English

sentences, word order is very specific. The subject always comes before
the verb.
To make sentences more descriptive and complex, we
add adjectives, adverbs, and indirect objects.
In the next three sections, you will learn word order with adjectives,
adverbs, and indirect objects.
Word order: adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. There are many adjectives in
English. Here are a few:
happy        sad        funny        blue        large
 quiet        pretty        three        green        simple
We can make sentences more descriptive by adding adjectives to describe
the subjects and objects in a sentence.
Adjectives often come before the noun that they describe. 
Examples: 
The smart teacher taught the quiet students. 
The happy students listened to the serious teacher.

Adjectives can also be placed at the end of a sentences by using a stative

verbs. (Stative verbs express a state rather than an action: seem, love,
be, is, know.)
Examples:
The teacher is smart. The students are quiet. 
The students seem happy, but the teacher looks serious.

All of these sentences still follow the Subject + Verb + Object word

order:
Complete Subject: The smart teacher
Verb: taught
 Object: the quiet students
 
Complete Subject: The happy students
Verb phrase: listened to
Object: the serious teacher

Subject: The students

Verb: seem
Adjective: happy.

Subject: The teacher

Verb: is
Adjective: smart.

Often, there is more than one adjective in a sentence. Adjectives have their

own word order in a sentence as shown in this chart:

Example:
The smart American teacher taught the quiet, young Chinese students.
The Chinese students are quiet and young.
Word order: adverbs
We can also make sentences more descriptive and complex by
adding adverbs. An adverb is a word that describes or gives more
information about a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or even an entire
sentence. There are many adverbs in English. Here are a few:

yesterday        quickly        really        heavily        fast       
sometimes
hard        suddenly        today        too        never        very
Examples:
(The adverbs are in purple.)
The teacher quickly taught the students.
 Yesterday, the teacher taught the students.
 Yesterday, the teacher quickly  taught the students.
 The teacher quickly taught the students yesterday.

These sentences still follow the Subject + Verb + Object word order.

Sometimes the adverb is placed at the beginning of the sentence before
the subject, but the subject still comes before its verb.

Adverbs can be placed in three places in a sentence.

Placement of adverbs in a sentence

In English, we never put an adverb between a verb and the object.
Correct: She always cooks pizza.
Incorrect: She cooks always pizza.

Adverbs and adverb phrases can be placed in three places in a

sentence:
1. At the front of the sentence, before the subject
 Yesterday, the teacher taught the students.
 Suddenly, I ran to the door.
 At the corner, she turned right.
2. At the end of a sentence, after the object
 The students will take the test tomorrow.
 John invited his friends too.
 She will arrive home in an hour.
3. In the middle of a sentence (before or after the verb) or in the
middle of a group of verbs
 before the verb:
She often studies before class.
Jack rarely checks his mailbox.
 after the verb:
The student works quietly at her desk.
Billy looks fondly at his mother.
 in the middle of a group of verbs:
The teacher will quickly teach the students.
Lisa has nearly finished the race.
Adverbs are usually placed near the verb that they modify. Most adverbs
can be placed in any of the positions in a sentence without changing the
meaning of the sentence. (But different placements emphasize
different things. Placing the adverb at the end gives more emphasis
to the adverb.)
Example:
1. Suddenly, I ran to the door.
2. I suddenly ran to the door.
3. I ran to the door suddenly.
The placement of suddenly does not change the meaning of the sentence.
However, the placement of some adverbs can greatly change the meaning
of a sentence.
Example:
1. Only I love you. (I love you. Nobody else loves you.)
2. I only love you. (I love you. I do not love anything else.)
3. I love only you. (You are the only person I love. I do not love anybody
else.)
4. I love you only. (You are the only person I love. I do not love anybody
else.)
The fourth sentence has the same meaning as the third sentence, but the
third sentence has a stronger emphasis.
More than one adverb in a sentence
When there is more than one adverb in a sentence, they usually go in this
order: manner, place, frequency, time. There are several rules for order of
adverbs in a sentence that we will discuss in another lesson.
Word order: indirect object
An indirect object is a person or thing that the action is done to or for.
A direct object is a person or thing that is affected by the action of
the verb. The direct object receives the action of the verb.
 Word order of the indirect object is important in English. The indirect
object usually comes right before the direct object, but not always.

The indirect object can be placed before or after the direct object in a

sentence depending on whether you use the preposition "to."
The indirect object comes after the direct object when it is formed
with the preposition to. When it is placed here, it is called the object of
the preposition.

He gave flowers. He is telling the story.

He gave flowers to his mother. He is telling the story to her.
 

The indirect object comes before the direct object if to is not used.

 

He gave flowers. He is telling the story.

He gave his mother flowers. She is telling her the story.

He mailed the package.
He mailed his family the package.