The Meanings Denoted by English Word Order

【Abstract】The paper tends to reveal various meanings denoted by English word order especially in written English， and attempts to make clearer the factors resulting in different word order and crystallize the different effects of different word orders in the hope that it might remind the Chinese students of using proper word orders to make their English writings more effective. Since English is a hypotaxis language and Chinese is a parataxis language， they differ much from each other in word order； however， this is usually neglected in either teaching or teaching materials. Thus， the point of the paper is to emphasize the importance of learning and teaching some knowledge on English word order.

【Key words】reveal； word order； factors crystallize

Introduction

Hypotaxis mainly depends on the lexical and grammatical devices in one language， and parataxis depends on its internal logical sequences or connections. Chinese is a typical parataxis language， thus its word order is more fixed and much less flexible and variable than English language. As a result of the potential mother tongue influence， Chinese students are much less aware of the meanings denoted by word order， let alone proper using. However， word order is important and is frequently applied by native speakers either in spoken English or written.

To illustrate the significance of word order， the paper will first present briefly the word order of simple sentence， complicated sentence and the possible positions of modification element （attribute and adverbial）， and then analyze the factors resulting in word order：stylistic effect （balance， relevance， emphasis， prosody）， temporal order， pragmatic and cognitive constraint. And to make the point more distinct， the paper will compare the features of English and Chinese word order and reveal the general misunderstanding or mistakes frequently made by the Chinese students and caused by mother tongue influence.

1. English simple sentence construction

In English there are seven basic simple sentence constructions and their order is not always fixed but frequently changed according to certain need. The table below shows their possible inversions.

Sentence constructions Possible inversions Example Possible Purposes

1. SV VS 1.“Help”， cried he. 1. emphasis

2. SVC CVS， CSV 1. Very strange it seemed.

2. More serious was the question of how the President would present the joint announcement. 1. emphasis， relevance， contrast

2. balance， emphasis

3. SVO OSV

OVS 1. A horrible mess youve made of it.

2. Not a winning number did I have all night. 1. emphasis， relevance， contrast

2. emphasis

4. SVOC SVCO

CSVO 1. She made clear her whole-hearted support to the project.

2. A scandal I call it. 1. balance

2. emphasis， relevance， contrast

5. SVOO SVO①O②

SVO②O① 1. She bought me a flower.

2. She bought a flower to me.

3. Ive given the key to the woman who lives in the house next to the garage. 1. emphasis

2. emphasis

3. balance， emphasis

6. SVA AVS

ASV 1. In this chapter will be found a partial answer.

2. Stealthily the girl crept out of the door. 1. emphasis， relevance

2. emphasis

7. SVOA SVAO

ASVO

AVSO 1. A pretty girl wore around her neck a scarf which hung down to her waist.

2. Quickly the woman finished her work.

3. Never have I found him in such a good mood. 1. balance

2. emphasis

3. emphasis

Note：Since the examples are not put in certain context， the purposes for the changing of the word order can not be explained definitely and completely.

2. Position of Modification Elements：Attribute and adverbial

Modified elements Modifying elements Possible position

Attribute noun Numeral premodifier

Noun

Adjective either premodifier or postmodifier

Participle

Infinitive postmodifier

Clause

Adverb

Preposition

Adverbial Adjective

Adverb

Sentence Adjective Flexible： either premodifier or postmodifier，

Possible position in a sentence： at the beginning， in the middle or at the end of a sentence.

Noun

Participle

Infinitive

Clause

Adverb

Preposition

In the Chinese language， the attribute has only one position in a sentence， that is， in front of the head word， no matter how long it is， while it has two possible positions in English language. Besides， adverbial， the most flexible and the most varied part in English， has three possible positions in a sentence and is much more flexible than the Chinese， which can be found in the inversions of SVA and SVOA. Further， different positions of adverbial have different effects and denote different meanings and a successful writer will choose some position to meet certain need and reach certain effect in a certain context.

3. English complex sentence construction

3.1 The Right-branching or Loose Sentence （English Rhetorical options）

In writing a complicated English sentence， the choice of a word order is even more important， for many issues will be put into consideration

The loose sentence is one of the most common sentence patterns in English rhetoric. In a loose sentence， the main idea is put at the beginning of the sentence， and supportive or qualifying information comes after it. There is no limit to the amount of information that may be added， the only restriction being imposed by considerations of meaning， clarity， and effectiveness. Moreover， the information may be given in a wide variety of forms：from words to phrases to clauses， or a mixture of all.

The stylistic effect of a loose sentence is therefore natural， relaxed， and the pattern is preferred when a tense climactic effect is not intended.

3.2 The Left-branching or Periodic Sentence

In contrast to the loose sentence， the periodic sentence has its main idea at the end of the sentence. Supportive or qualifying statements are placed before the main clause or assertion：

As we paddled southwest past the candle factory， the rain beat against us.

With his fine Roman nose， his clear gray eyes， black moustache， surmounted by the white-bound helmet of gold， he looked like a crusader.

In left branching， the readers comprehension of a sentence is delayed till he comes to the end of the sentence. This brings an element of suspense to the reading. The more anticipatory constituents there are， the greater the suspense， and the greater the burden on the readers mind and memory. This is because the reader not only has to“store up” in his memory all the anticipatory constituents but， at the same time， has to interpret their significance to the total comprehension of the main assertion at the end.

The stylistic effect of a periodic sentence， especially a long one with many anticipatory statements， is a cumulative effect of tenseness， suspense and dramatic climax. This is in great contrast to the natural and relaxed effect of a loose sentence.

Used in the right context， the periodic sentence can be rhetorically very effective. Used too often in a passage， however， it can make reading heavy and laborious.

3.3 Mid-branching

Mid-branching， as the name implies， is to have major parts of a main clause （main assertion） separated by the insertion of supportive or qualifying information. This may take several forms.The most common form is the separation of Subject from predicate：

1）The essay， as a species of literature， was invented by Montaingne.

2）My terror， as I lay there in the dark， was great.

4. Factors resulting in word order

4.1 Stylistic effects

Stylistics：A Coursebook for Chinese EFL Students Written by 錢瑗 Foreign language teaching and research press P70-77

Syntax and the composition of text

Texts may be indefinitely various in terms of length， medium， purpose， topic， genre， period； but they all share the same property， namely， linearity. Spoken texts occur linearly in time and written texts linearly in space. In order to make the message easy to understand， a writer should segment the sequence into suitable units for readers to process. For effective communication， the presentation of information should guide the reader to distinguish units of high information value from those of low information value.

The positioning of subordinate constituents （clauses/phrases） before or after the main constituent （branching） also affects the readers processing of information.

Subordinate clauses may be positioned initially， medially， and at the end of their super ordinate clause. Initial clauses are said to be LEFT-BRANCHING； medial clauses NESTING； and final clauses RIGHT-BRANCHING. Non-initial coordinate clauses are also designated as right branch clauses.

Left-branching and nesting postpone the presentment of the main clause and make the reader wait for completed information. Initial or medial subordinate clauses are often referred to as Anticipatory structures， because the reader has to bear in mind points of contributory information until he gets to the essential matter. The longer the anticipatory constituent is， the heavier the burden on the readers memory. A long anticipatory constituent often brings an element of suspense into syntax.

Right-branching reduces the burden on the readers immediate syntactic memory and makes it easy for his processing of information. Right branch subordinate clauses usually comment on the main clauses or supplement it with more details. Right banch coordinate clauses and more and more information to the initial clause.

A sentence with right branch clauses is traditionally called a loose sentence， whereas a sentence with left branch clauses a periodic sentence.

Right-branching is common in speech， in relaxed and informal presentation of ideas. A writer may favour right-branching and the use of short， simple sentences to represent a narrative style of simplicity， directness and intensity. Left-branching is better adapted to writing， because a printed page enables the reader to retrace the course of a sentence at need. Long periodic structure is often used to reinforce the serious and thoughtful nature of what is being talked about. A text in which long period structure predominates may give the impression of studied formality， circumvention and sophistication of attitude. Generally， a writer would maneuver long or short sentences， periodic or loose structure to suit his purpose.

Phrase order， often loosely termed as word order， refers to the order of the elements in a clause. The basic phrase order in an English clause is more or less foxed：SV（O）（C）（A）， with A being mobile in position. An examination of some randomly chosen extracts shows that the basic phrase order is generally adopted unless the writer has reasons for deviations.

In neutral circumstances， the new or most important information is placed towards the end of a clause （end-focus principle）. By analogy， the final clause of a multiple sentence carries the maxim emphasis （principle of resolution）.

Any variation from the above described normal phrase order calls attention to itself and is thus emphatic. The variation is mainly of two kinds：Fronting and Postponement.

Postponement refers to the movement of an element towards the end of a clause， emphasizing it as new， relatively consequential， of greater importance， and possibly climatic.

While postponement gives focus to the most relevant part of a message， fronting often indicates that the fronted element is the next most relevant part of a message. The fronting of a part of the V（i.e.-ing participle） has a twofold function：to serve the purpose of end-weight， when the S is long； and to use the initial part to“set the scene”.

4.1.1 Balance

4.1.2 Relevance

e.g. （A New English Grammar Course book） by Zhang Zhenbang

（1） Mr. White fried two small pieces of fish. One of these he fed to his cat. The other he ate himself.

（2） We really should not resent being called paupers. Paupers we are， and paupers we shall remain.

4.1.3 Contrast and parallel

e.g. （1） Joan he gave nothing， but George he gave 10 shilings.

（2） Fool Joe may be. But thief he is not.

4.1.4 Emphasis

4.2 Temporal order， （A Functional Approach to discourse Coherence）

Normally， if texts are to represent the world as they are， they must also reflect the orderings in which events take place or states of affair exist. A principle of text sequencing is that“without overt indications to the contrary， the order of mention of certain items may be assumed to reflect the order of these items in reality or in our conceptualization of reality” （Dik， 1997a：435）. This is the same as saying that textual description of events or states of affair should follow either the order， which actually exists in the worlds described， or the order in which we perceive the worlds. As Dijk further pointed out， “as long as the ordering within the discourse is in accordance with these natural defaults， this adds to the overall coherence. Where such orders are shifted around， overt markers must warn the interpreter of this marked situation”（Dijk， 1997a：436）. Van Dijk voiced a similar view that“it is an important cognitive task for a speaker or writer to represent relations between the facts as relations within or among propositions and to express these again in the linear ordering of words， phrases， and sentences” （1985：108）. Therefore， a discourse is not just a set of sentences but an ordered sequence， with conventional constraints on the possible orderings if it is to be meaningful and coherent.

4.3 Pragmatic constraints and cognitive constraints （A Functional Approach to discourse Coherence）

Why do discourse producers choose to adopt discourse orderings that are different from actual temporal order of the events represented？ 1） What are the pragmatic and cognitive constraints that make the discourse producer choose a different discourse ordering？ 2） In what way are meanings construed differently when the discourse ordering differs from the actual temporal order of events？

E.g. I arrived home last night to find that my house was flooded. Someone had forgot to turn off the bathroom tap， and water had been pouring out the whole day. Before I phoned the plumber， I checked to see that the electricity supply was turned off， because I didnt want there to be a fire as well as a flood.

—John &Liz Soars：Headway Advance p.10

Action 1：I arrived home

Action 2：I found that my house was flooded.

Action 3：Someone had forgot to turn off the bathroom tap.

Action 4：Water had been pouring out the whole day.

Action 5：I phoned the plumber.

Action 6：I turned off the electricity supply.

From a semantic and pragmatic point of view， the clauses in the text are a list of relation. The actions are listed one after another in a chronological order. Although the reader can sense the cause-effect relations， the relations are not mandatory. There are more compact clause relations. According to Hoey （1983）， texts that have clearer clause relations are more likely to be considered as coherent.

Actions 5 and 6 can be represented in the following different ordering：

a）I turned off the electricity supply， then I phoned the plumber.

b）I turned off the electricity supply， before I phoned the plumber.

c）After I turned off the electricity supply， I phoned the plumber.

d）Before I phoned the plumber， I turned off the electricity supply.

e）I turned off the electricity supply， after I had phoned the plumber.

Among these five options， the ordering in sentences a）-c） corresponds to the actual temporal order in which the two actions took place； whereas the ordering in sentences d） and e） corresponds to the reversed order. What is the significance of these orderings？ And what is the most important message the writer is trying to convey here.

Obviously， sentence a） is simply listing the two actions and does not emphasize either action. In sentences c） and e）， the action of“turning off the electricity supply” is put in the subordinate or embedded clause. Information in the subordinate or embedded clause is intuitively considered to be less important （van Dijk， 1977； Quirk et al.， 1985）. Now sentences b） and d） are left， in which the action of“turning off the electricity supply” is put in the main clause， but the order is different.

There are at least three reasons why sentence d） is preferred to sentence b）. First， when the writer found his/her house flooded， an immediate action would be to phone the plumber to get rid of the flood. In sentence d）， however， this action is denoted by a subordinate clause， which is put in the initial position of the sentence. Thus a combination of degradation and foregrounding of the action of phoning the plumber produces a special effect：the action of turning off the electricity supply is more important. This effect is not produced in sentence b）. Second， a general pragmatic principle is that the final position of the sentence is assigned more informational value. Third， sentence d） is more coherent with the previous sentences， in that“before I phoned the plumber” is connected topically with the“flood mentioned previously， whereas“I turned off the electricity supply” introduced another topic.

5. The influence of Chinese word order on Chinese students English writing

5.1 Feature of Chinese word order

The complication of sentences in Chinese is developed in the way a bamboo grows with each upper piece coming out from the lower one which comes out from the base， hence， the“bamboo-type”.

5.2 Feature of English word order

（English-Chinese Comparative Studies & Translation）

A complicated concept may be expressed by a complicated sentence structure. The complication of sentences in English is developed in the way as a tree with its branches produced from their stem and their twigs produced from the branches， hence， the“tree-type”. English language depends on coordination， subordination and embedding to achieve its variety and complication.

The comparative Study at the Syntactic Level （English-Chinese Comparative Studies & Translation）

An English sentence is built in the shape of a tree while a Chinese one is formed in the shape of bamboo joints. This difference brings about different ways to secure effective and vividness. Rhetorically considered， the essentials of an English sentence are UNITY， COHERENCE， EMPHASIS and EUPHONY.

By unity we mean a sentence shall be a unit and show this oneness of thought. A sentence violates the principle of unity

1） If it contains too much；

2） If it contains too little；

1） If the relationship between its parts is not correctly indicated；

2） If there is any change of the point of view.

By coherence we refer to the grammatical construction and the proper relationship of words in the sentence and they should be made unmistakably clear. Coherence is violated

1） when a word， a phrase， or a clause is so placed that it appears to modify the wrong word in the sentence；

2） when the participle phrases， verbal-noun phrases， infinitive phrases and elliptical clauses are incorrectly referred to；

3） when the pronouns are incorrectly referred to；

4） when the grammatical construction is changed after a coordination conjunction.

Emphasis involves the arrangement of words that brings into prominence the central idea and subordinates the minor details.

The basic rules to secure emphasis are：

1） Ideas are placed at the beginning or at the end of a sentence receive the greated emphasis；

2） Ideas are often made emphatic by contrast or antithesis

3） Emphasis may be gained by the use of climax.

Eeuphony indicates the pleasing effect to the ear. In order to secure euphony， we should do the following：

1） to avoid the careless repetition of a word at brief intervals；

2） to avoid the repetition of like sounds；

3） to avoid tongue twists in the speech.

Those are the essential rules to secure effectiveness and smoothness of the English speech. They are not necessarily proper and applicable to the Chinese speech.

5.3 Main influence on English writing （mistakes， abnormal sentences， sentences causing misunderstanding or difficulty in understanding）

Problem：No adult writer writes in only simple， compound or complex sentences， unless for a specific purpose. Normally， a writer would combine the use of these three sentence structures into an effective whole. However， after years of English learning， Chinese students are poor at writing a good complicated English sentence， complex or compound and complex sentence. Besides， in writing a complex English sentence， they always put main information and background information into a mixture， neglecting relevance or balance of a sentence， making the reader much confused. Therefore，

6. Analysis of a text

While I was waiting to enter university， I saw in a local newspaper a teaching post advertised at a school in a suburb of London about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of money and wanting to do something useful， I applied， fearing as I did so， that without a degree and with no experience of teaching my chances of landing the job were slim.

However， three days later a letter arrived， summoning me to Croydon for an interview. It proved an awkward journey：a train to Croydon station； a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at least a quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived on a hot June morning too depressed to feel nervous.

The school was a dreary， gabled Victorian house of red brick and with big staring sash windows. The front garden was a gravel square； four evergreen shrubs stood at each corner， where they struggled to survive the dust and fumes from a busy main road.

It was clearly the headmaster himself that opened the door. He was short and rotund. He had a sandy-colored moustache， a freckled forehead and hardly any hair. He was wearing a tweed suit- one felt somehow he had always worn it- and across his ample stomach was looped a silver watch-chain.

He looked at me with an air of surprised disapproval， as a colonel might look at a private whose bootlaces were undone…. The narrow sunless hall smelled unpleasantly of stale cabbage； the cream-printed walls had gone a dingy margarine colour， except where they were scarred with ink marks； it was all silent. His study， judging by the crumbs on the carpet， was also his dining room. On the mantelpiece there was a salt cellar and pepper-pot….

7. Conclusions

Based on the above analysis of the text， some conclusions can be made about temporal coherence：1） a global conformity between discourse ordering and temporal order of events contributes to discourse coherence； 2） at a local level， writers can temporally represent later events before earlier events； 3） whether the writer chooses a normal ordering or a reversed ordering largely depends on two aspects：a） whether the representation is under some semantic， pragmatic and cognitive constraints； b） which element the writer intends to emphasize； and 4） subordination and pre-positioning of events are often involved when event sequences are shifted around.

References：

[1]Cheng，Xiaotang.（2005）.A Functional Approach To Discourse Coherence.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press.

[2]Xiao，Liming.（2002）.English-Chinese Comparative Studies & Translation.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[3]Guo，Zhenhua.（1999）.A Concise Chinese Grammar.Beijing： Beijing Foreign Languages Printing House.

[4]Feng，Cuihua.（2005）.English Rhetorical Options.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press.

[5]Hu，Shuzhong.（1999）.Comparative Studies in English & Chinese Rhetoric.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[6]Xu，Guozhang.Wang，Zongyan.（1994）.Discourse Cohesion and Coherence.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[7]Peng，Weixuan.（2002）.A Comprehensive Comparison Between English and Chinese Texts.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[8]Zhang，Zhenbang.（2000）.A New English Grammar Coursebook.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

作者簡介：闫淑梅（1973.9-），女，汉族，河南中牟县人，本科，副教授，教研员，从事中学英语教研教学、中小学教师培训方面的研究。