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.