Poor as a Churchmouse

Word Order Practice

Listen to each sentence and arrange the words in the correct order. Click on words to move them to your answer area.

Green checkmark (✓) means your current word order is correct so far. Red X (✗) means there's an error in the order.

Why Word Order Matters in English

Word order is crucial in English because it affects meaning. Unlike some languages that use case endings or particles to show word relationships, English relies heavily on word order to convey meaning.

This exercise helps you:

  • Internalize English sentence patterns
  • Recognize how idiomatic expressions fit into sentences
  • Develop a natural feel for correct English structure
  • Improve both listening and grammar simultaneously
1
0
/8
Heart is Gerald king a tonight like dining
Gerald Heart is dining like a king tonight
Listen
2
0
/24
it A him to like can as big as and as enjoy he meal is wants much gold dust this he one to as
A meal as big as this one is like gold dust to him and he wants to enjoy it as much as he can
Listen
3
0
/20
is going cafe in close to on the to is has a move get eating soon however He he because
He has to get a move on however because the cafe he is eating in is going to close soon
Listen
4
0
/20
mouse drop piece Gerald he is a but as church as today saw a a poor wealthy paper man of
Gerald is as poor as a church mouse but today he saw a wealthy man drop a piece of paper
Listen
5
0
/15
the to picking shot was man Gerald there it a giving up it and Like
Like a shot Gerald was there picking it up and giving it to the man
Listen
6
0
/21
was know a dropped since fit and bill didn't it That he the important paper man piece very of the it
That fit the bill since it was a very important piece of paper and the man didn't know he dropped it
Listen
7
0
/13
a wealthy for very was help and gave The his Gerald man tip
The man was very wealthy and gave Gerald a tip for his help
Listen
8
0
/20
for is was buy big he to That week and enough tonight a tip celebrating Gerald in food this cafe
That tip was big enough to buy Gerald food for a week and tonight he is celebrating in this cafe
Listen

Tips for Effective Practice

  1. Always listen to the audio first before attempting to order the words
  2. Pay attention to common patterns like subject-verb-object
  3. Notice how idiomatic expressions are positioned in sentences
  4. If you make a mistake, use it as a learning opportunity - try to understand why the correct order is different
  5. After completing each sentence, listen to the audio again while reading your correctly ordered sentence