Word Order Bahasa Inggris: Materi, Contoh, dan Latihan

Word Order Bahasa Inggris adalah fondasi yang menentukan apakah kalimat bahasa Inggris terdengar alami dan dapat dipahami. Bagi penutur bahasa Indonesia, perbedaan pola S–V–O, posisi keterangan, dan struktur frasa nomina sering menimbulkan kekeliruan. Artikel ini menulis ulang materi “Word Order” (hal. 205–218) dari buku latihan Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA, menyajikannya secara sistematis, ringkas, dan dapat langsung dipraktikkan di kelas maupun saat persiapan ujian.

Konsep Dasar Urutan Kata

Struktur klausa inti

• S (Subject): pelaku/topik kalimat.

• V (Verb/Predikat): kata kerja/penanda keadaan.

• O (Object): sasaran tindakan (direct/indirect).

• C (Complement): pelengkap yang menjelaskan S/O (mis. be + adjective/noun).

• A (Adjunct/Keterangan): keterangan (manner, place, time, frequency, degree, dsb).

Pola paling umum: S–V–O/C–A
Contoh: Students (S) discuss (V) the project (O) in the library (A place) after school (A time).

Prinsip keterbacaan

1. Pastikan predikat muncul segera setelah subjek pada kalimat pernyataan.

2. Keterangan dapat berada di awal, tengah, atau akhir, dengan preferensi makna dan fokus informasi.

3. Informasi baru cenderung diletakkan di bagian akhir klausa untuk menonjolkan fokus.

Urutan Kata dalam Kalimat Pernyataan (Affirmative Statements)

1) Predikat dan “do-support”

• Untuk simple present/past tanpa be, gunakan verba utama langsung:
  They study English. / She wrote a report.

• Tidak ada operator bantu dalam pernyataan positif kecuali:

  • be (She is happy.),

  • have sebagai auxiliary (They have finished.),

  • modal (can, will, must, dll): We will submit it.

2) Objek dan Pelengkap

• Direct object biasanya setelah verba: She bought a dictionary.

• Object complement menyertai objek: They elected him president.

• Subject complement mengikuti be/linking verb: The room is quiet.

3) Urutan beberapa keterangan dalam satu kalimat

Pedoman praktis yang aman dipakai siswa: Manner → Place → Time (MPT)

She sang beautifully (M) at the concert hall (P) last night (T).

Catatan:

• Keterangan manner (bagaimana) sering di akhir.

• Keterangan tempat biasanya sebelum waktu.

• Pilihan posisi juga dipengaruhi fokus: menaruh time di depan memberi penekanan waktu: Yesterday, she sang…

Urutan Kata dalam Kalimat Tanya (Interrogatives)

1) Yes/No Questions (inversi auxiliary–subject)

Aux/Modal + S + V (bare) + … ?

• Do you agree?

• Is she ready?

• Will they attend?

Jika tidak ada auxiliary di pernyataan, gunakan do:

• You like tea. → Do you like tea?

2) Wh-Questions

Wh-word + auxiliary + subject + V … ?

• Where do you live?

• Why is he upset?

• Which book did she choose?

Bila wh-word adalah subjek, tidak ada inversi:

• Who came early? (bukan Who did come early? dalam konteks netral)

3) Indirect Questions (reported/embedded questions)

Tidak ada inversi dan tanda tanya tidak wajib jika menjadi bagian kalimat lebih besar:

• I wonder where she lives.

• Tell me why he left.

Kalimat Negatif (Negative Sentences)

1) Penempatan not

• Setelah auxiliary/modal: She is not ready. / They have not finished. / We will not go.

• Dengan do-support: He does not (doesn’t) like coffee.

2) Inversi sesudah adverbia negatif awal

Adverbia negatif/limitasi di awal kalimat memicu inversi:

• Never have I seen such a view.

• Seldom do we discuss this topic.

• On no account should you open the door.

Posisi Adverb (Keterangan)

Tiga posisi umum

1. Front position (awal klausa): pengantar/topik, memberi latar.

   • Generally, students prefer shorter tests.

2. Mid position (sebelum/antara auxiliary dan main verb; sesudah be sebagai predikat):

   • She often visits the lab.

   • She is often late.

3. End position (akhir klausa): terutama manner, place, waktu.

   • He worked carefully. / They met downtown. / We will meet tomorrow.

Aturan ringkas yang sering diuji

• Frequency adverbs (always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, rarely, never)

  • Umumnya sebelum verb utama, sesudah be:

    • She often studies at night.

    • She is often tired.

• Focusing/limiting (only, just, even, merely)

  • Ditempatkan dekat unsur yang difokuskan; posisi mengubah makna:

    • Only Sarah called me (yang menelepon hanya Sarah) vs
      Sarah only called me (Sarah hanya menelepon, tidak melakukan hal lain).

• Degree adverbs (very, quite, rather, too, enough)

  • Biasanya sebelum adj/adv (very interesting),

  • enough sesudah adj/adv (old enough),

  • too sebelum adj/adv (too difficult).

Tabel ringkas posisi adverb

Urutan Adjektiva dalam Frasa Nomina

1) Urutan standar (OSASCoMP)

Urutan yang direkomendasikan sebelum kata benda:
Opinion – Size – Age – Shape – Color – Origin – Material – Purpose + NOUN

a lovely small old round red Italian wooden cooking table

Tabel ringkas urutan adjektiva

2) Determiner di frasa nomina

Urutan determiner yang lazim:
Predeterminer – Central determiner – Postdeterminer – Adjektiva – Noun

• Predeterminer: all, both, half

• Central: artikel (a/an, the), demonstratif (this/that/these/those), posesif (my, your, his…)

• Postdeterminer: kuantitas/angka (many, few, several, two, three, first, next)

Contoh: all (pre) the (central) three (post) beautiful old houses

Urutan dengan Objek Ganda (Dative Alternation)

Dua pola umum:

1. Double object: V + IO + DO

   • She gave me (IO) a gift (DO).

2. Prepositional dative: V + DO + to/for + IO

   • She gave a gift (DO) to me (IO).

Pedoman:

• Gunakan double object untuk penerima pronomina dan benda langsung berupa frasa nomina pendek.

• Gunakan prepositional dative bila DO panjang atau ketika penerima perlu penekanan.

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Kalimat Pasif dan Perubahan Fokus

Passive voice memindahkan fokus dari pelaku ke objek tindakan:

• Aktif: The committee approved the plan.

• Pasif: The plan was approved (by the committee).

Urutan kata pada pasif tetap mengikuti pola S–V–(by-phrase)–A, dengan by-phrase opsional.

Klausa Relatif (Relative Clauses)

• Restriktif (tanpa koma): memberikan identifikasi esensial.

  • Students who study hard succeed.

• Non-restriktif (pakai koma): menambahkan informasi tambahan.

  • My brother, who lives in Bandung, teaches physics.

Posisi klausa relatif setelah nomina yang dijelaskan. Penghilangan relative pronoun dimungkinkan pada objek: The book (that) I bought is new.

Klausa Infinitif dan Gerund

• To-infinitive untuk tujuan/kecenderungan: She came to help.

• Gerund sebagai subjek/objek: Reading improves vocabulary.

• Urutan umum tetap S–V–O/C–A dengan frasa infinitif/gerund mengisi slot S/O/C sesuai fungsi.

Perbandingan dan Struktur as…as / than

• Comparative: Adj/Adv-er + than atau more/less + Adj/Adv + than

  • faster than, more interesting than

• Equative: as + Adj/Adv + as

  • as tall as, as quickly as

Letak keterangan biasanya setelah struktur pembanding: He runs faster than me in the morning.

Penekanan: Fronting, It-cleft, Wh-cleft

• Fronting memindahkan keterangan/objek ke awal untuk fokus:

  • Under no circumstances should you ignore safety rules.

• It-cleft: It is/was + [unsur] + that/who + [klausa]

  • It was the teacher that corrected the errors.

• Wh-cleft (pseudo-cleft): What + [klausa] + be + [unsur fokus]

  • What I need is a break.

Tanda Baca dan Inversi Opsional

• Setelah adverbia awal yang panjang, gunakan koma untuk kejelasan:

  • In the middle of the night, the lights went out.

• Adverbia negatif awal memicu inversi (lihat bagian negatif).

Kesalahan Umum & Perbaikannya

1. Meletakkan frequency adverb di akhir:

   • Salah: She goes to school often. (kurang natural)

   • Lebih baik: She often goes to school.

2. Urutan adjektiva kacau:

   • Salah: a red lovely small bag

   • Betul: a lovely small red bag

3. Lupa do-support pada pertanyaan/negatif:

   • Salah: You like coffee? / He not like coffee.

   • Benar: Do you like coffee? / He does not like coffee.

4. Inversi pada indirect question (seharusnya tidak):

   • Salah: I don’t know where does she live.

   • Benar: I don’t know where she lives.

5. Salah urutan beberapa keterangan:

   • Salah: She sang last night beautifully at the hall.

   • Lebih baik: She sang beautifully at the hall last night.

Materi di atas dirangkum ulang dari bagian “Word Order” di buku latihan SMA/MA (hal. 205–218) untuk memperkuat pemahaman siswa terhadap pola urutan kata standar bahasa Inggris.

Tabel Ringkas (Rekonstruksi)

A. Urutan Keterangan (praktis untuk ujian)

B. Urutan Determiner dan Adjektiva

Key Takeaways (5 poin)

1. Pola dasar S–V–O/C–A memandu penyusunan kalimat; geser keterangan untuk fokus, tapi jaga keterbacaan.

2. Pertanyaan memakai inversi auxiliary–subject, kecuali pada wh-subject dan indirect questions.

3. Frequency adverbs di mid position (sebelum verba utama; sesudah be), sedangkan manner–place–time aman di bagian akhir.

4. Urutan adjektiva OSASCoMP dan urutan determiner membantu membentuk frasa nomina yang natural.

5. Negatif di awal (mis. never, seldom) memicu inversi; cleft dan fronting digunakan untuk penekanan informasi.

Soal Pilihan Ganda (+ Pembahasan)

Petunjuk: Pilih jawaban A–E yang paling tepat agar kalimat terdengar alami dan benar secara gramatikal.

1. Choose the best order.
A… ____ student answered the difficult question clearly yesterday.
A. clearly young diligent
B. diligent young clearly
C. diligent young
D. young diligent clearly
E. clearly diligent young
Jawaban: D.
Pembahasan: Urutan adjektiva opinion–size–age–shape–color–origin–material–purpose tidak relevan di sini (hanya dua adjektiva: young & diligent). Umumnya opinion (diligent) mendahului age (young), tetapi keterangannya clearly (manner) harus di akhir. Bentuk paling natural: a diligent young student …clearly yesterday. Opsi D mempertahankan clearly di akhir; namun D memberi “young diligent clearly” (age–opinion–manner) sehingga kurang ideal. Opsi C diligent young paling benar untuk frasa nomina, tetapi tidak memuat clearly. Perbaikan ideal: A diligent young student answered the difficult question clearly yesterday. (Kombinasi C + keterangan di akhir). Karena opsi terbaik yang mendekati urutan adjektiva adalah C, revisi jawaban: C.
Catatan koreksi: Soal ini menguji dua hal sekaligus. Untuk konsistensi OSASCoMP, C adalah jawaban paling tepat (frasa nomina benar). Keterangan clearly dapat ditempatkan di akhir kalimat (tidak disediakan eksplisit dalam opsi).

2. The adverb of frequency is best placed in:
She ____ goes to the library after class.
A. always
B. goes always
C. always goes
D. goes to always
E. to always goes
Jawaban: C.
Pembahasan: Frequency adverb ditempatkan sebelum verba utama: always goes.

3. Correct question form:
A. Where she is going?
B. Where is she going?
C. Where does she is going?
D. Where going is she?
E. Where she going is?
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Wh-question dengan be memerlukan inversi: Where is she going?

4. Choose the best sentence:
A. She speaks English fluently in class often.
B. She often speaks English fluently in class.
C. Often she speaks English in class fluently.
D. She speaks often English fluently in class.
E. She speaks English often in class fluently.
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Frequency di mid, manner di end, urutan adverb M–P–T untuk akhir.

5. Negative sentence is correct:
A. He not understands the rule.
B. He does not understands the rule.
C. He does not understand the rule.
D. He do not understand the rule.
E. He is not understand the rule.
Jawaban: C.
Pembahasan: do-support + base verb: does not understand.

6. Inversion after negative adverbial:
A. Never I have seen such a thing.
B. Never have I seen such a thing.
C. Never have seen I such a thing.
D. I have never seen such a thing.
E. Such a thing I have never seen.
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Adverbia negatif awal memicu inversi have I. Opsi D benar tetapi tanpa inversi awal.

7. Correct order of multiple adverbs:
They worked ____.
A. yesterday in the lab carefully
B. carefully yesterday in the lab
C. carefully in the lab yesterday
D. in the lab carefully yesterday
E. yesterday carefully in the lab
Jawaban: C atau D.
Pembahasan: Pola aman akhir M–P–T (C). Varian (D) Place–Manner–Time juga kerap dijumpai dan dianggap natural. Untuk konsistensi MPT, pilih C.

8. Choose the correct adjective order:
A. a wooden beautiful small box
B. a small beautiful wooden box
C. a beautiful wooden small box
D. a beautiful small wooden box
E. a wooden small beautiful box
Jawaban: D.
Pembahasan: Opinion (beautiful) – Size (small) – Material (wooden).

9. Indirect question (no inversion):
A. I wonder where does he live.
B. I wonder where he lives.
C. I wonder where is he living.
D. I wonder does he live where.
E. I wonder that where he lives.
Jawaban: B.

10. Focusing adverb changes meaning. Pick the sentence saying hanya Sarah yang mengirim email:
A. Sarah only emailed me.
B. Only Sarah emailed me.
C. Sarah emailed me only.
D. Sarah even emailed me.
E. Sarah just emailed me.
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Only Sarah → subjek yang dibatasi.

11. Double object vs prepositional dative:
Kalimat yang paling natural dengan IO pronoun:
A. Give to me the pen.
B. Give the pen me.
C. Give me the pen.
D. Give the pen to I.
E. Give the pen for me.
Jawaban: C.

12. Passive voice focus:
Bentuk pasif dari The coach praised the team yesterday adalah…
A. The team is praised by the coach yesterday.
B. The team was praised by the coach yesterday.
C. Yesterday was praised the team by the coach.
D. The coach was praised the team yesterday.
E. The team has praised by the coach yesterday.
Jawaban: B.

13. Wh-subject (no inversion):
A. Who did come late?
B. Who came late?
C. Who did came late?
D. Who late came?
E. Who is came late?
Jawaban: B.

14. Position of enough:
A. She is enough tall to reach it.
B. She is tall enough to reach it.
C. She enough is tall to reach it.
D. Enough she is tall to reach it.
E. She tall is enough to reach it.
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: enough sesudah adj/adv.

15. Correct comparative word order:
A. He drives more careful than me.
B. He drives more carefully than me.
C. He more carefully drives than me.
D. He drives carefully more than me.
E. More carefully he drives than me.
Jawaban: B.

16. Choose correct cleft:
A. It the teacher is that explained the rule.
B. It is the teacher who explained the rule.
C. It the teacher who is explained the rule.
D. It is who the teacher explained the rule.
E. It was who the teacher explains the rule.
Jawaban: B.

17. Adverb before be or after be?
She ____ late for class.
A. often is
B. is often
C. often be
D. is be often
E. be often is
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Frequency adverb sesudah be: is often.

18. Place of time adverbials:
Kalimat paling natural:
A. We will meet tomorrow at the café.
B. We will meet at the café tomorrow.
C. Tomorrow we will at the café meet.
D. At the café will we meet tomorrow.
E. We tomorrow will meet at the café.
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Place sebelum time di posisi akhir terdengar sangat natural.

19. Relative clause (object pronoun omission):
A. The book that I bought is expensive.
B. The book which I bought is expensive.
C. The book I bought is expensive.
D. All are correct.
E. Only A and B are correct.
Jawaban: D.
Pembahasan: Obyek relative pronoun dapat dihapus, sehingga A, B, C dapat diterima.

20. Fronting for emphasis:
Kalimat yang benar secara struktur dan menonjolkan keterangan waktu:
A. Yesterday, did we submit the report.
B. Yesterday, we submitted the report.
C. Yesterday submitted we the report.
D. Did we submit the report, yesterday.
E. We submitted yesterday, the report.
Jawaban: B.
Pembahasan: Adverb awal tanpa inversi (kecuali negative adverbial).