science

Verb–object word order

Verb–object word order is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Verb–object word order rather than just read about it. In short: Verb–object word order (VO) is a word order where the verb typically comes before the object. About 53% of documented languages have this order.

Key takeaways

Verb–object word order belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Verb–object word order to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Verb–object word order from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Verb–object word order (VO) is a word order where the verb typically comes before the object. About 53% of documented languages have this order. For example, Japanese would be considered an OV language, and English would be considered to be VO. A basic sentence demonstrating this would be as follows.

Japanese: Inu ga neko (object) o oikaketa (verb) English: The dog chased (verb) the cat (object) Winfred P. Lehmann is the first to propose the reduction of the six possible permutations of word order to just two main ones, VO and OV, in what he calls the Fundamental Principle of Placement (FPP), arguing that the subject is not a primary element of a sentence. VO languages are primarily right-branching, or head-initial: heads are generally found at the beginning of their phrases. VO languages have a tendency to favor the use of prepositions instead of postpositions, with only 42 using postpositions of the documented 498 VO languages. Some languages, such as Finnish, Hungarian, Russian, Turkish and Yiddish, use both VO and OV constructions, but in other instances, such as Early Middle English, some dialects may use VO and others OV. Languages that contain both OV and VO constructions may solidify into one or the other construction in the course of their historical development. A language that moves the verb or verb phrase more than the object will have surface VO word order, and a language that moves the object more than the verb or verb phrase will have surface OV word order.

Subsets Subject–verb–object Verb–subject–object Verb–object–subject

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Verb–object word order

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Verb–object word order claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Verb–object word order before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Verb–object word order ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Verb–object word order

In research: Verb–object word order appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Verb–object word order in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Verb–object word order is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Linguistic typology, Word order, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Verb–object word order outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Verb–object word order in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Verb–object word order means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Verb–object word order out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Verb–object word order in simple terms?

Verb–object word order (VO) is a word order where the verb typically comes before the object. About 53% of documented languages have this order.

Why does Verb–object word order matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Verb–object word order?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Verb–object word order.