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Question 1:
Choose the sentence with the right word order
A. My purse my brother found outside the house.
B. Outside the house found my brother my purse.
C. My brother outside the house found my purse.
D. My brother found my purse outside the house
Feedback English has a rigid word order that cannot be changed without changing the meaning of the sentence.In the test we are given a declarative sentence (statement). The standard word order in declarative sentences is SUBJECT + PREDICATE (Verb) + object + adverbial modifier. We are to find the subject, the predicate, the object and/or the adverbial modifier in the test sentence.The subject is placed at the beginning of the sentence and is usually expressed by a noun or a pronoun. In the test we are given three common nouns: ‘purse’, ‘house’ and ‘brother’. When looking for the subject in a sentence, we need to look for the verb first. A verb is a word that helps a subject perform an action (ran, drank, fights, swims). In the test sentence there is only one action verb ‘found’ that is in the past simple tense, thus, it is the predicate. The predicate stands after the subject and is usually represented by a main verb or by the combination of an auxiliary or modal verb with a main verb.As ‘a house’ or ‘a purse’ cannot ‘find’, we understand that in the test sentence ‘brother’ (who?) is the subject, ‘purse’ is the object and ‘house’ is the part of the adverbial modifier of place in the test sentence (found where? → outside the house). Thus, we found the subject, the predicate, the object and the adverbial modifier of place of the test sentence: ‘My brother found my purse outside the house.’.Therefore, we are to choose ANSWER 4.

These questions are from this test. Would you like to take a practice test?

Test 2-Word order | Intermediate English