<p>Someone may guide you to a comprehensive source, but if you want to do prepositioning or left branching, all you need to care about is to make them appear in a logical sense. This basic sense is the same for most languages.</p>

<p><strong>You put time first, then the location</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... </p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>You put more prominent attributes first</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>There's a big bad wolf. (big is more obvious than bad)</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>You put what you want to emphasize first</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>If you give them a quick, short, sharp, shock, they won't do it again...</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>You prioritize common noun phrases and stick them close</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Python is a good object-oriented programming language.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I'm not giving you Chinese examples because in Chinese they are exactly the same. There may be situations I'm missing out. Anyway, you do what you feel right.</p>

<p>However there are several situations where "right" is different in English and Chinese. </p>

<p><strong>Addresses</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>我来自中国上海。(I'm not, but you don't know any other city names do you?)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In English you say <code>I'm from New York, New York.</code></p>

<p><strong>Date and time</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>牛顿生于1643年1月4日。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In English you mess up. Is it <code>1-4-1643</code> or <code>4-1-1643</code>?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-30T00:52:35.003Z
+1, but that's just Americans messing up the date :P
Ming
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-29T04:31:17.800Z
2014-10-29T04:31:17.800Z
Wang Dingwei
<p>Chinese Syntax is: S V O
there are different prepositional phrases, for instance:
p.p. that express a place, time, objective, mean ...</p>

<p>How do i know the proper order of the different prepositional phrases?</p>

<sentence-structure><phrase><syntax><preposition>
What is the order of different prepositional phrases?
# What is the order of different prepositional phrases?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-28)

Chinese Syntax is: S V O
there are different prepositional phrases, for instance:
p.p. that express a place, time, objective, mean ...

How do i know the proper order of the different prepositional phrases?

**Tags:** sentence-structure, phrase, syntax, preposition


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-10-29. Score: 2

Someone may guide you to a comprehensive source, but if you want to do prepositioning or left branching, all you need to care about is to make them appear in a logical sense. This basic sense is the same for most languages.

**You put time first, then the location**

> A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

**You put more prominent attributes first**

> There's a big bad wolf. (big is more obvious than bad)

**You put what you want to emphasize first**

> If you give them a quick, short, sharp, shock, they won't do it again...

**You prioritize common noun phrases and stick them close**

> Python is a good object-oriented programming language.

I'm not giving you Chinese examples because in Chinese they are exactly the same. There may be situations I'm missing out. Anyway, you do what you feel right.

However there are several situations where "right" is different in English and Chinese.

**Addresses**

> 我来自中国上海。(I'm not, but you don't know any other city names do you?)

In English you say `I'm from New York, New York.`

**Date and time**

> 牛顿生于1643年1月4日。

In English you mess up. Is it `1-4-1643` or `4-1-1643`?

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: +1, but that's just Americans messing up the date :P  

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