So with a verb like “make,” “watch” or “teach,” you can get a simple subject-plus-verb-plus-object sentence structure. Copular verbs express being, seeming or the senses.

So-called Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language also builds sentences around a subject-object-verb construction. “Consistent word order appears early in a new sign language,” she says.

A Word, Please: If you’re an object in a sentence, use ‘me’ Grammar expert June Casagrande delves into whether to choose “me” or “I” when the pronoun is an object.