Theme: syntax in oe contents I. Introduction II. Main body. Structural relations of old english

Subject-Verb.

This, of course, is how most Modern English sentences are arranged.

Verb-Subject.

This word-order still occurs in Modern English sentences like "There are plenty of fish in the sea," and often in questions, such as "Are you sleeping?"

Subject . . . Verb.

The finite verb is delayed until the end of the clause.

Each of these can occur in several different environments, but each is also typical of particular kinds of clause.

1.1. Subject-Verb

This is the standard word-order of the Modern English clause, and it is very common in Old English. It is typical of independent clauses, though it also occurs frequently in subordinate clauses: Ēac swylċe ðā nȳtenu of eallum cynne and eallum fugolcynne cōmon tō Noe, intō ðām arce, swā swā God bebēad ‘Also the beasts of each species and (of) each species of bird came to Noah, into the ark, as God commanded’ The direct object, when it is a noun or noun phrase, will generally follow the verb: God bletsode ðā Noe and his suna and cwæð him tō: "Weaxað and bēoð ġemenifylde and āfyllað ðā eorðan."

God then blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: "Increase and be multiplied and fill the earth."

Old English has a tendency to place pronoun objects - direct and indirect - early in the clause. A pronoun object will usually come between the subject and the verb:

And iċ hine ġesēo and bēo ġemyndiġ ðæs ēċean weddes ðe ġeset is betwux Gode and eallum libbendum flǣsce.

And I will see it and be mindful of the eternal covenant that is established between God and all living flesh.

If the clause has both a direct and an indirect object, and one of them is a pronoun, the pronoun will come first:

Hēr ġē magon ġehȳran þæt hē ġyfð ūs anweald, ġif wē on hine ġelȳfað, Godes bearn tō bēonne.

Here you may hear that he gives us the power, if we believe in him, to be God's children.

If the indirect object had been a noun and the direct object a pronoun, the direct object would have come first.

Though you will most frequently find a noun object after the verb and a pronoun before, there is no hard-and-fast rule for the placement of objects. Sometimes a pronoun object stands after the verb, and sometimes the object will come before the subject:and iċ fordō hī mid ðǣre eorðan samod.

I will destroy them together with the earth.

Ðone cyning hī brōhton cucene tō Iosue.

They brought the king alive to Joshua.

Adverbial elements, including prepositional phrases and adverb clauses occur in various places in the sentence, e. g. God bletsode ðā Noe ‘God then blessed Noah’