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