Quote Originally Posted by chaika View Post
Russian word order is more flexible, English is pretty inflexible. In Russian you put the new information (what you want to stress is new to your reader or listener) at the end of a sentence. In English we have to use different methods. In the below, the new information is underlined.

Ваня читает книгу. Vanya is reading a book. This is the unmarked sentence, meaning no particular emphasis on anything. It answers the question Что делает Ваня?
Книгу читает Ваня. It is Vanya (not Dima) who is reading a book. Кто читает книгу?
Ваня книгу читает. Vanya is reading a book (not burning it). Что делает Ваня.
Читает книгу Ваня. A book is being read by Vanya. Кто читает книгу?
Читает Ваня книгу. Vanya is reading a book (not a magazine). Что читает Ваня?
I think these are right. Maybe native speakers could correct anything that seems wrong.
Well, that makes sense, but you're stretching it I think. For example, if I wanted to empasize that it's Vanya who is reading a book I would most likely just say Ваня читает книгу but I would put more stress on the word Ваня, would make it higher in pitch, rather than saying читает книгу Ваня in flat intonation