How to explain word order

How would you explain to 14 years old ESL students the different word order at the end of the following sentences:
1. "I hate you!" she said.
2. "I hate you!" said the girl.
Best regards
Leif Knudsen.

Reply To: How to explain word order

I’m afraid I know that teaching grammar to teenagers is hard work (but someone has to do it). I think the most simple explanation would be to remind them there are other common cases when the subject-verb order is inverted:

Questions: did you see her?
After neither, nor, so: I don’t like Big Brother. – Nor do I
If they are familiar with reported speech, you can tell them that, unless the subject is a pronoun, inversion is often used with verbs like say and ask ( above all in novels, tales, plays, …)

Good luck

Reply To: How to explain word order

Is it possible to, in a context, say

‘I hate you’, did the girl say. Then she turned away.

Thanks

Reply To: How to explain word order

No, this is not possible, unless it is a question, where we want to confirm what the girl said:

"I hate you", did the girl say?

or more commonly:

Did the girl say "I hate you"?

In your context, though, it’s followed by another sentence (Then she turned away) and it’s difficult to see how it could work as a question in this context.

Keith