SQL was designed to be English-like, which means the expressions should more or less read like English sentences. In the [initial paper][1] you can see the example sentences they translate into SQL.

> Q1. Find the names of employees in the toy department. 
> 
> Q2: Find the names and salaries of employees who are in the toy
> department and whose manager is Anderson. 
> 
> etc.

You will notice these sentences naturally follow this template:

 Find <property> of <entity> where <some condition>

Which leads to the SQL syntax:

 SELECT <columns> FROM <table> WHERE <predicate>


 [1]: http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/chamberlin/sequel-1974.pdf