Theme: Word order in Middle English

What to do with Multiple Prepositions

What if you wanted to tell someone all the information above in one sentence? Well, here are a few different ways:

• 
  “Sarah writes poetry in the park by herself at night because it’s fun.“
  
• 
  “In the park, Sarah writes poetry at night by herself because it’s fun.“
  
• 
  “At night, Sarah writes poetry in the park by herself because it’s fun.“
  
• 
  “Sarah writes poetry by herself in the park at night because it’s fun.“
  
• 
  “At night, in the park by herself, Sarah writes poetry because it’s fun.“
  

Note that, usually, the why prepositional phrase comes at the end of the sentence. It tends to sound better there, and people are still able to emphasize it when it’s at the end through tone of voice. 

As you can see, the word order in English sentences for prepositional phrases is flexible. In general, you can choose the order that makes the most sense to you. 

And don’t worry too much. In most cases, people don’t use sentences this long in conversations! Instead, you’re more likely to hear a simple: “Sarah writes poetry in the park at night.“

3. 
   And Now Modifiers
   

A modifier is a word that modifies (adds info or meaning to) another word, usually a noun or verb. Below is an English word order chart describing each type of modifier with examples.