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The order of Words

THE ORDER OF WORDS

 1. Direct Questions:
  • "When will you go?" I said to him.
  • "Why have you come?" I said to him.
2. Indirect Questions:
  • I asked him when he would go.
  • I asked him why he had come.
3. Note the position of fill and both in the following:
 
All my books
Both my brothers
All this work
Both these boys
All that money
All the books
All your friends
Both his brothers
All their friends
Both these books
Both our books
Both the boys
 
 Note: All & Both come before & not after my, his, her, its, our, your, their, this, that, these, those, and the.
 
4. The comes before & not after whole:
  • The whole day (all the day long)
5. One of my friends (Not: my one friend) or A friend of mine
  •    Some of my books (Not: my some books)
  •    These things of mine (Not: my these things)
6. Note the position of all and both when the Verb has more than one word.
  • They will all go.
  • They have both gone.
  • We may all go.
  • You are both going.
  • We were all pleased.
  • They are both injured.
It is safer to use the form: all of us, both of us, all of you, both of you, all of them, both of them.
 
7. Note the position of not in the following sentences.
  • I should not have gone (Not: I should have not gone)
  • He might not have played (Not: He might have not played)
8. My friend and I went. (Put the 1st Person last)
  • You and your brother must go. (Put the 2 nd Person first)
  • You, your brother and I can go. (2nd Person, 3rd Person, 1st Person)
9. Note the question order of words in the following cases:
  • No sooner did he see me, than he ran away.
  • Scarcely had the game started, when we scored a goal.
  • Hardly had I taken my seat when the bus started.
  • Never before had I seen such wonderful scenery.
  • You're a dunce and so is he. He likes cricket and so do I.
  • You're not a dunce and neither is he. (and nor is he)
10. Note the position of only, at least, not only, neither, either:
  • He scored only two runs: We must score at least one hundred runs.
  • He speaks not only Urdu but also Punjabi.
  • He likes neither hockey nor football.
  • You must go either today or tomorrow.
  • Note: He read in the newspaper that a train accident had occurred.
  • Not: He read that a train accident had occurred in the newspaper.
11. The Relative Pronouns who, which, whom and whose must be placed as close as possible to the word to which they refer:
  • My brother, who is older than I am, is in Class X.
  • Not: My brother is in Class X who is older than I am.
  • The car which I was driving ran into a tree.
  • Not: The car ran into a tree which I was driving.
  • The boy, whose book was lost, got punished.
  • Not: The boy got punished whose book was lost.
12 . I gave him a book (Not: I gave a book to him)
  • I taught him a lesson (Not: I taught a lesson to him)
  • I showed him the photo (Not: I showed the photo to him).
13. If the subject of the sentence is a Pronoun (I, he, she, it we, you, they) do not separate it from the Verb by putting a Participle Phrase in between:
  • Being a dunce, he failed.
  • Not: He, being a dunce, failed.
  • Seeing the robbers, he hid himself.
  • Not: He, seeing the robbers, hid .
  • Feeling tired, I lay down.
  • Not: I, feeling tired, lay down.
14. Don't put a word between to and the Verb.
  • I told him to finish his work quickly.
  • Not: I told him to quickly finish his work.