Four Kinds of Sentences According to Use

Declarative - A declarative sentence makes a statement. A declarative sentence ends

with a period.
Example: The house will be built on a hill.
Interrogative - An interrogative sentence asks a question. An interrogative sentence
ends with a question mark.
Example: How did you ind the card!
Exclamatory - An exclamatory sentence shows strong feeling. An exclamatory sentence
ends with an exclamation mark.
Example: The monster is attacking"
Imerative - An imperative sentence gives a command.
Example: #heryl$ try the other door.
%ometimes the sub&ect o an imperative sentence 'you( is understood.
Example: )ook in the closet. '*ou$ look in the closet.(
SIMPLE SENTENCE
A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a
verb, and it expresses a complete thought. In the following simple sentences,
subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.
A. Some students like to study in the mornings.
B. uan and Arturo play football every afternoon.
!. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.
"he three examples above are all simple sentences. #ote that sentence B
contains a compound subject, and sentence ! contains a compound verb.
Simple sentences, therefore, contain a subject and verb and express a
complete thought, but they can also contain a compound subjects or verbs.
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a
coordinator. "he coordinators are as follows$ for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
%&elpful hint$ "he first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.'
(xcept for very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded by a
comma. In the following compound sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are
in green, and the coordinators and the commas that precede them are in red.
A. I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak (nglish.
B. Alejandro played football, so )aria went shopping.
!. Alejandro played football, for )aria went shopping.
"he above three sentences are compound sentences. (ach sentence contains
two independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinator with a comma
preceding it. #ote how the conscious use of coordinators can change the
relationship between the clauses. Sentences B and !, for example, are
identical except for the coordinators. In sentence B, which action occurred
first* +bviously, ,Alejandro played football, first, and as a conse-uence, ,)aria
went shopping. In sentence !, ,)aria went shopping, first. In sentence !,
,Alejandro played football, because, possibly, he didn.t have anything else to
do, for orbecause ,)aria went shopping., &ow can the use of other
coordinators change the relationship between the two clauses* /hat
implications would the use of ,yet, or ,but, have on the meaning of the
sentence*
COMPLEX SENTENCE
A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more
dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such
as because, since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that,
who, or which. In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow,
verbs are in green, and the subordinators and their commas %when re-uired'
are in red.

A. /hen he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the
last page.
B. "he teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error.
!. "he students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.
0. After they finished studying, uan and )aria went to the movies.
(. uan and )aria went to the movies after they finishedstudying.
/hen a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A and
0, a comma is re-uired at the end of the dependent clause. /hen the
independent clause begins the sentence with subordinators in the middle as in
sentences B, !, and (, no comma is re-uired. If a comma is placed before the
subordinators in sentences B, !, and (, it is wrong.
#ote that sentences 0 and ( are the same except sentence 0 begins with the
dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence ( begins with
the independent clause which contains no comma. "he comma after the
dependent clause in sentence 0 is re-uired, and experienced listeners of
(nglish will often hear a slight pause there. In sentence (, however, there will
be no pause when the independent clause begins the sentence.
COMPLEX SENTENCES / ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
1inally, sentences containing adjective clauses %or dependent clauses' are also
complex because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause.
"he subjects, verbs, and subordinators are marked the same as in the previous
sentences, and in these sentences, the independent clauses are also
underlined.

A. "he woman who%m' my mom talked to sells cosmetics .
B. "he book that onathan read is on the shelf .
!. "he house which AbrahA) 2incoln was born inis still standing .
0. "he town where I grew up is in the 3nited States .
Adjective !lauses are studied in this site separately, but for now it is important
to know that sentences containing adjective clauses are complex.
!oordinating con"unctions
#oordinating con&unctions$ also called coordinators$ are con&unctions that &oin two or
more items o equal syntactic importance$ such as words$ main clauses$ or sentences. +n
English the mnemonic acronym FANBOYS can be used to remember the
coordinators for$ and$ nor$ but$ or$ yet$ and so.
,-.,/.
These are not the only coordinating
con&unctions0 various others are used$ including
,1.:ch. 2,3.:p. 454
6and nor6 '7ritish($ 6but nor6
'7ritish($ 6or nor6 '7ritish($ 6neither6 '6They neither gamble nor smoke6($ 6no more6
'6They gamble and smoke no more6($ and 6only6 '6#an we perorm! 8nly i we
practise6(.
Here are the meanings and some examples o coordinating con&unctions in English:
for# presents a reason '6He is gambling with his health$ or he has been smoking
ar too long.6( 'though 6or6 is more commonly used as a preposition(
and# presents non-contrasting item's( or idea's( '6They gamble$ and they
smoke.6(
nor# presents a non-contrasting negative idea '6They don9t gamble nor smoke.6(
$ut# presents a contrast or exception '6They gamble$ but they don9t smoke.6(
or# presents an alternative item or idea '6Every day they gamble or they smoke.6(
yet# presents a contrast or exception '6They gamble$ yet they don9t smoke.6(
so# presents a consequence '6He gambled well last night$ so he smoked a cigar to
celebrate.6(
!orrelative con"unctions
#orrelative con&unctions are pairs o con&unctions that work together to coordinate two
items. English examples include bothand$ [n]either[n]or$ and not [only]but
[also]$ whether... or.
Examples:
Either do your work or prepare or a trip to the oice.
%ot only is he handsome $ut he is also brilliant.
%either the basketball team nor the ootball team is doing well.
&oth the cross country team and the swimming team are doing well.
'hether you stay or go is your decision.
Su$ordinating con"unctions
%ubordinating con&unctions$ also called subordinators$ are con&unctions that introduce
a dependent clause. The most common subordinating con&unctions in the English
language include the ollowing: after$ although$ as if$ as much as$ as long as$ as soon
as$ as though$ because$ before$ but$ een if$ een though$ if$ in that$ in order
that$ lest$ since$ so
that$ than$ that$ though$ unless$ until$ when$ wheneer$ where$ whereer$ whether$
and while. #omplementi:ers can be considered to be special subordinating con&unctions
that introduce complement clauses 'e.g.$ 6+ wonder whether he9ll be late. + hope that he9ll
be on time6(. %ome subordinating con&unctions 'until$ while($ when used to introduce a
phrase instead o a ull clause$ become prepositions with identical meanings.
CLAUSES & PHRASES
CLAUSES
A clause is a collection of grammatically-related words including a
predicate and a subject (though sometimes is the subject is implied)
A collection of grammatically-related words without a subject or
without a predicate is called a phrase Clauses are the building bloc!s
of sentences" e#ery sentence consists of one or more clauses
$f a clause can stand alone as a sentence% it is an independent
clause% as in the following e&ample" Independent" the 'rime
(inister is in )ttawa Some clauses% howe#er% cannot stand alone as
sentences" in this case% they are dependent clauses orsubordinate
clauses Consider the same clause with the subordinating conjunction
*because* added to the beginning"
Dependent" when the 'rime (inister is in )ttawa $n this case% the
clause could not be a sentence by itself% since the conjunction
*because* suggests that the clause is pro#iding an e&planation for
something else Since this dependent clause answers the +uestion
*when%* just li!e an ad#erb% it is called a dependent adverb
clause (or simply an ad#erb clause% since ad#erb clauses are always
dependent clauses)
PHRASES
A phrase is a group of two or more grammatically lin!ed wordswithout
a subject and predicate -- a group of grammatically-lin!ed
words with a subject and predicate is called a clause ,he group
*teacher both students and* is not a phrase because the words ha#e
no grammatical relationship to one another Similarly% the group *bay
the across* is not a phrase $n both cases% the words need to be
rearranged in order to create phrases ,he group *both teachers and
students* and the group *across the bay* are both phrases -ou use
phrase to add information to a sentence and can perform the functions
of a subject% an object% a subject or object complement% a #erb% an
adjecti#e% or an ad#erb
,he highlighted words in each of the following sentences ma!e up a
phrase"
She bought some spinach when she went to the corner store
Lightning flashed brightly in the night sk
,hey heard high pitched cries in the middle of the night