4 Types of Sentences and Their Punctuation

4 Types of Sentences and Their Punctuation A sentence is a combination of words, which according to the grammatical norms of the language, has meaning. A sentence is a unit of speech. Each language has its own rules for constructing these speech units. In English, in the order of words in the sentence, fixedness is observed. In principle, therefore, it is important to study the materials of this article. Members of a sentence are its components that perform certain syntactic functions. There are two kinds of sentence members: Main Secondary In English, the sentence is impossible without the main members, that is, without the subject and the predicate. All sentences are classified according to two basic principles: The structure The purpose As for the structure, sentences can be divided into simple, compound, and complex. Depending on the purpose of the utterance, sentences are divided into four communicative types: Declarative Interrogative Imperative Exclamatory Different communicative types reflect different goals of communication and transmit, respectively, statements, questions, orders or exclamations. Intro on sentences by structure By structure, sentences can be simple and complex. Simple sentences. In a simple sentence, there is usually one subject and one predicate. There may be two or three but, in this case, all subject and predicate must be homogeneous. Complex sentences. Such sentences consist of two parts, which are called clauses (parts of a complex sentence). Clauses are of two types: main clause and subordinate clause. Compound sentences are complex sentences that consist of two or more parts. Both parts are independent of each other, that is, you can break a complex sentence into two simple ones and the meaning will not be lost. Parts of the compound sentence are joined together by and, or, but or by comma, in which case the connecting word is not needed. Note that in English, a comma before connecting words is optional, that is, at the request of the author of the words. Complex sentences can consist of two or more parts. In such sentences, the subordinate subordinates clause (main clause + subordinate clause), that is, without the main sentence the subordinate loses its meaning. You connect parts of such a sentence by subordinating unions: when, if, what, why, because, before, after, while, and many others. Sentences are divided into many subspecies. Complex-compound sentence is a mixed type of a complex sentence. In the realities of the English language, you can also find a mixed type: a sentence consisting of several independent and several subordinate parts. Sentence function of nouns The noun in English can play the part of almost any member of the sentence, but it is usually used as a subject or supplement. 4 sentence types in English Phrases of various types can be combined, forming in the English language 4 types of sentences. Skillful writers use many types of sentences, varying their length, so that the writing is more interesting and dynamic. Do not forget about the proper use of punctuation marks and the variety of connecting words whose purpose is the logical connection between sentences and within them. Declarative sentences in English Declarative, which means a story or a narrative about something. Declarative sentences can be of two kinds: Positive Negative Examples: I visit my aunt Mary every weekend. (Positive narrative). I do not visit her every weekend. (Negative narrative). Imperative sentences in English Imperative sentences call for something, encourage. The imperative sentence usually calls for something, this motivation may sound in different forms, like advice, request, order, prohibition, etc. Do not be stupid. (Prohibition). Read this interesting story. (Advice). Learn a poem by heart. (Order). Interrogative sentences in English Interrogative sentences are a sentence-question. Questions in English are also of several types: Question to the subject (Who? What?) â€" Who likes mashed potatoes? What happened to them? A general question, the answer to which requires yes or no answer â€" Does she like such movies? A special question. It uses the following auxiliary words to obtain specific information: what? when? where? why? which? etc. â€" Where did you work? An alternative question. Such a question can be asked for any of the members of the sentence, the question itself presupposes an alternative, that is, the choice of the answer, the answer is in the question itself â€" are these books interesting or boring? A disjunctive question. This type of question, consists of two parts. In one part is the statement, with the usual order of words, in the other is a brief general question â€" You have this book, have not you? They do not like the play, do they? Exclamatory sentences in English Exclamatory sentences are spoken at the moment of surprise, admiration, shock, etc. These are sentences expressing strong feelings, emotions. An exclamatory sentence begins with what (a pronoun which, which one) or with how (an adverb). What a beautiful moment it is! How well he dances! Punctuation rules for 4 types of sentences A comma in English is mandatory only if the sentence can be misunderstood without it â€" this is where the English punctuation manuals are unanimous. In other cases, this is your personal choice. Here is an example when a comma in an English sentence is necessary for understanding the meaning: My uncle will have me all of his property, houses, and warehouses. If you mean that you inherited the property and (in addition to it) houses and warehouses, then a comma is required. And if it is not there, then the meaning is: My uncle left me his estate as a legacy, and it consists of houses and warehouses. Similarly, you can find a comma in English before and in homogeneous subordinate clauses. Using the sentence types worksheets Using the worksheet on four types of sentences can help students learn punctuation and write better sentences with more confidence. There is a variety of worksheets on predicates, subjects, and objects and mastering them is very important. Tips on how to build sentences in English In order to create even the simplest sentence in English, you need to know the order of words in the language. Subject + predicate + direct complement â€" In the usual affirmative sentence, the subject is placed immediately before the predicate (verb). A direct supplement, when it exists, goes right after the verb. For example, they bought a car, we cannot do that, and the girl in a blue dress was playing the piano. Predicate â€" Note that the subject is not only the main pronoun or noun or but also the descriptive phrases that refer to it or adjectives. The rest of the proposal, which does not belong to the subject, is a predicate. For example, the girl in a blue dress was playing the piano. Indirect additions and circumstances. If there are any other members in the sentence â€" indirect supplements or adverbial modifiers â€" they usually occupy a strictly defined place. An indirect supplement is placed after a direct supplement if it contains a preposition to. An indirect supplement is placed before a direct supplement, when to is absent. For example, the teacher gave dictionaries to the pupils and the teacher gave them dictionaries. Position of adverbial modifiers Adverbial modifiers can be placed in three places: In front of the subject (usually the adverbial modifier of the time) â€" in the morning he was reading a book. After the supplement (you can put here almost any adverb or circumstantial turnover) â€" he was reading a book at the library. Between the auxiliary and the main verb (as a rule, these are short adverbs) â€" he has already read this book. Non-standard word order in English Usually in English, there are no other words between the predicate and the subject and or between the predicate and the supplement. But there are several exclusions. Here are the most significant of them: Adverbs of action frequency and indirect supplements without a pretext to â€" I sometimes drink coffee in the morning or he showed the driver his bus pass. If you follow these basic rules, you’ll be able to avoid mistakes in the arrangement of words in the English sentence. The above examples are intentionally basic â€" but the same rules can also be applied to more complex proposals with subordinate constructs. Conclusion about the 4 types of sentences As a result of studying this topic, you will learn how to correctly build various types of sentences and use the practice worksheet on the four types of sentences. It must be remembered that in English there is a strictly established and observed order of words in the sentence. Each member of the sentences occupies a certain place. All possible formations of interrogative forms are indicated by schemes that should be remembered and used depending on the situation.