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
like Gerald is tonight king dining a Heart
Gerald Heart is dining like a king tonight
Listen
2
0
/24
like as it to much and wants enjoy he A to can gold meal as big as him this dust he as is one
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
get move the has to is is cafe soon because however He going on in he close to eating a
He has to get a move on however because the cafe he is eating in is going to close soon
Listen
4
0
/20
a poor saw as paper church a piece as a is Gerald he but today of man mouse wealthy drop
Gerald is as poor as a church mouse but today he saw a wealthy man drop a piece of paper
Listen
5
0
/15
man was the to a up it and it shot giving Gerald picking there Like
Like a shot Gerald was there picking it up and giving it to the man
Listen
6
0
/21
it important since piece a didn't the know it he of bill fit That was man very the and dropped paper
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
wealthy was man help very The his gave Gerald and for tip a
The man was very wealthy and gave Gerald a tip for his help
Listen
8
0
/20
Gerald was cafe week is celebrating a food and tonight enough he buy for tip to this big in That
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