Kinds of Sentences

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 find the card?
Exclamatory - An exclamatory sentence shows strong
feeling. An exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation
mark.
Example: The monster is attacking!
Imperative - An imperative sentence gives a command.
Example: Cheryl, try the other door.
Sometimes the subject of an imperative sentence (you) is
understood.
Example: Look in the closet. (You, look in the closet.)
Types of Sentences
The various types are Simple, Complex and Compound (also sometimes a fourth
type, Complex-compound). They are based on the pattern of combination of
independent and dependent finite clauses.

Simple Sentence: It contains a single clause. Remember it needs to

be an independent finite clause. - e.g. Then he came back to his
senses.

Complex Sentence: It contains a number of clauses, which depend,

directly or indirectly, upon one single independent clause. - e.g.
When he had spent all the money, that country experienced a
severe famine.

Compound Sentence: It is a mixture of sentences. Each sentence

that is part of a Compound Sentence is called a Coordinate Clause.

A coordinate clause may be a simple sentence or a complex sentence. This means...

A Compound Sentence may have any of the following mixing patterns:

1. Simple + Simple + ....

e.g. I will leave this place and (I will) go back to my father.

When the Coordinate Clauses are all Simple Sentences, then the combined sentence
is called simply a Compound Sentence. (In my opinion, it should be called
a Simple Compound Sentence.)

2. Complex + Simple + ....

For example: While the young man was still a long way off, his father saw him and
(he) was moved with pity.

Some people call this type of sentence (as well as the one following) a Complex-
compound Sentencebecause at least one of the constituents is a Complex
Sentence.
3. Complex + Complex + ....

e.g. Now the elder son, who was out in the fields, was coming back and as he drew
near the house, he heard music and dancing.
Types of Finite Clauses
A finite clause may be independent or dependent.

Here are some famous examples of independent clauses:

"The light has gone out of our lives." (Jawaharlal Nehru)

"I have a dream." (Martin Luther King Jr.)
"The weak can never forgive." (Mahatma Gandhi)

These clauses are said to be independent because they are sufficient the way they
are. They don't need any other group of words to depend upon. They can stand on
their own.

Here are some examples of dependent clauses:

1. The light that shone in this country was no ordinary light.

2. You can learn grammar freely here, if you read these pages.
3. We are declaring to you what we have seen.

In the last three sentences above, the dependent clauses are highlighted,
and we shall now see on what they depend.

The dependent clause...

'that shone in this country' depends on the independent clause 'the light was
no ordinary light'.

'if you read these pages' depends on 'you can learn grammar freely here'.

'what we have seen' depends on 'we are declaring to you'.

 Types of Dependent Clauses
They are of three types, depending upon the work they do.

See the three numbered sentences above.

(Here they are once again for your convenience.)

1. The light that shone in this country was no ordinary light.

2. You can learn grammar freely here, if you read these pages.

3. We are declaring to you what we have seen.

1. Adjective (Relative) Clauses

In sentence 1the clause 'that shone in this country' describes the noun light.

Words that describe a noun are called adjectives. Therefore, clauses that describe
a noun are called adjective clauses.

They are also known by the name relative clauses, because they always begin
with a relative pronoun or relative adverb.

Light
Adverb
Articles
Blogs
College student jobs
Finite

2. Adverb Clauses

In sentence 2the clause 'if you read these pages' tells us something more about
verb 'can learn'.

Words that tell us something more about verbs are called adverbs. Therefore,
clauses which do the same job are called adverb clauses.

3. Noun Clauses

In sentence 3We are declaring to you 'what we have seen'if we ask the
question, "are declaring what?", we get the answer 'what we have seen'.
A word which has this kind of relationship to a verb is called an object. To be an
object is the privilege of nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, and noun clauses.
So, 'what we have seen' is a noun clause.

We are now ready to move on from the Clause to the Sentence.