There are four sentence types in English. The first sentence type is the most common:
Declarative
A declarative sentence "declares" or states a fact, arrangement or opinion. Declarative sentences can be either positive or negative. A declarative sentences ends with a period (.).
Examples
I'll meet you at the train station.
The sun rises in the East.
He doesn't get up early.
Imperative
The imperative commands (or sometimes requests). The imperative takes no subject as 'you' is the implied subject. The imperative form ends with either a period (.) or an exclamation point (!).
Examples
Open the door.
Finish your homework
Pick up that mess.
Interrogative
The interrogative asks a question. In the interrogative form the auxiliary verb precedes the subject which is then followed by the main verb (i.e., Are you coming ....?). The interrogative form ends with a question mark (?).
Examples
How long have you lived in France?
When does the bus leave?
Do you enjoy listening to classical music?
Exclamatory
The exclamatory form emphasizes a statement (either declarative or imperative) with an exclamation point (!).
Examples
Hurry up!
That sounds fantastic!
I can't believe you said that!
Sentence Types
All of these sentence types further fall into four basic sentence type categories in English.
• Simple
• Compound
• Complex
• Compound - Complex
Simple Sentences
Simple sentences contain no conjunction (i.e., and, but, or, etc.).
Examples
Frank ate his dinner quickly.
Peter and Sue visited the museum last Saturday.
Are you coming to the party?
Compound Sentences
Compound sentences contain two statements that are connected by a conjunction (i.e., and, but, or, etc.).
Examples
I wanted to come, but it was late.
The company had an excellent year, so they gave everyone a bonus.
I went shopping, and my wife went to her classes.
Complex Sentences
Complex sentences contain a dependent clause and at least one independent clause. The two clauses are connected by a subordinator (i.e, which, who, although, despite, if, since, etc.).
Examples
My daughter, who was late for class, arrived shortly after the bell rang.
That's the man who bought our house
Although it was difficult, the class passed the test with excellent marks.
Compound - Complex Sentences
Compound - complex sentences contain at least one dependent clause and more than one independent clause. The clauses are connected by both conjunctions (i.e., but, so, and, etc.) and subordinators (i.e., who, because, although, etc.)
Examples
John, who briefly visited last month, won the prize, and he took a short vacation.
Jack forgot his friend's birthday, so he sent him a card when he finally remembered.
The report which Tom complied was presented to the board, but it was rejected because it was too complex.
Building a sentence
A sentence is a group of words which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!). A sentence contains or implies a predicate and a subject.
Sentences contain clauses.
Simple sentences have one clause.
Compound sentences and complex sentences have two or more clauses.
Sentences can contain subjects and objects.
The subject in a sentence is generally the person or thing carrying out an action. The object in a sentence is involved in an action but does not carry it out, the object comes after the verb.
For example:
The boy climbed a tree.
If you want to say more about the subject (the boy) or the object (the tree), you can add an adjective.
For example:
The young boy climbed a tall tree.
If you want to say more about how he climbed the tree you can use an adverb.
For example:
The young boy quickly climbed a tall tree.
The sentence becomes more interesting as it gives the reader or listener more information.
There are more things you can add to enrich your sentence.
Parts of a sentence Description
Adjective Describes things or people.
Adverb Alters the meaning of the verb slightly
Article a, an - indefinite articles
the - definite articles
Conjunction Joins words or sentences together
Interjection A short word showing emotion or feeling
Noun Names things
Preposition Relates one thing to another
Pronoun used instead of a noun to avoid repetition
Proper noun (subject) The actual names of people or places etc.
Verb Action or doing word
