Signing For Dummies (9 page)

English:
I haven’t eaten.

Sign:
ME EAT — NOT YET

Structuring Sentences

Putting a sentence together in English is pretty basic. You usually put it in subject-verb-direct object order, perhaps throwing in an indirect object between the verb and the direct object. In ASL, however, you can choose to assemble your sentence in different orders, depending on the content of your dialogue.

Some sentences should only be signed in a natural English order because rearranging them would cause confusion. However, most of the time, you can get your point across in a variety of ways without worrying about the word order.

Sign is not a written language. It is a form of communication passed down through generations of the Deaf. Some people have attempted to make an artificial sign system for writing purposes, but few people know it because its use is so limited. Consequently, ASL has no punctuation because, in its natural state, it isn’t meant to be a written language. To write about Sign, as in this book, you must translate it as closely as possible into a written language such as English.

Subjecting yourself to nouns and verbs in simple sentences

Unlike English grammar rules, which dictate that the subject must go before the verb, Sign allows you to put the subject before or after the verb when dealing with simple sentences; it doesn’t matter which word comes first. The same goes for exclamations; you can place them either at the beginning or the end of a simple sentence. See the section “
Exclaiming in Simple Sentences
” later in this chapter. The following examples illustrate how simple sentences work.

English:
He ran.

Sign:
HE RAN

Sign:
RAN HIM

English:
She fell.

Sign:
SHE FELL

Sign:
FELL HER

Placing subjects and objects

Start with a basic subject-verb sentence. You can sign it either in subject-verb or verb-subject order. Here are some examples:

English:
He sells.

Sign:
HE SELLS

English:
I eat.

Sign:
ME EAT

English:
She drives.

Sign:
SHE DRIVES

Although these tiny sentences get the point across, the world would be pretty boring if that’s how people communicated all the time. So add a direct object to each of these sentences to make them a little more interesting.

In case you haven’t had a grammar class in a few years, a
direct object
is a word that goes after the verb and answers the question “What?” or “Whom?” However, in ASL, the direct object can go either before the subject or after the verb.

English:
He sells food.

Sign:
HE SELLS FOOD

Sign:
FOOD HE SELLS

English:
I eat pizza.

Sign:
ME EAT PIZZA

Sign:
PIZZA ME EAT