Sentence elements in English word order

We often think of English as having a Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O) word order and this is frequently the order that children start off with in early writing.

The boy kicked the ball.      The dog chased the cat.       Daddy drove the car.

However, there are five sentence/clause elements in our language: 

S – subject

V – verb

O – object (which can be direct or indirect)

A – adverbial

C – complement (see link for more on complements)

Most usual sentence constructions are:

SV             The sword vanished.

SVO           The sword cut the tree.

SVC           The sword was heavy. 

SVOC        The sword cut the tree open.

SVOO        The sword gave the knight a nasty gash.  ('the knight' is the indirect object, 'a nasty gash' is the direct object)

As a very flexible sentence element, adverbials can be added in various positions in these constructions. Try adding one of these adverbials to the sentences in different positions to explore how these can be used.  'in a flash'       'unfortunately'     'with one strike'

In particular, using adverbials in different positions can create different effects for the reader by emphasizing certain information in the sentence.  When using adverbials in different positions, punctuation should also be considered.  Commas will be needed to make sure meaning is clear.

With one strike, the sword cut the tree open.     (A,S,V,O,C)

The sword, with one strike, cut the tree open.    (S,A,V,O,C)

The sword cut the tree open with one strike.      (S,V.O,C,A)