This lesson details each of the four types of sentences. There are four types of sentences in the English language: declarative, exclamatory, imperative, and interrogatory. Each sentence type serves a different purpose. Understanding the different sentence types and how to use them will help improve your writing skills.
1. There are four types of sentences: Declarative Imperative Exclamatory Interrogative
2. • A declarative sentence makes a statement. • It is punctuated by a period. • Example: The dog in the neighbor’s yard is barking.
3. • An imperative sentence is a command or polite request. • It ends in a period or exclamation mark. • Examples: Close the door. (command) Please be quiet. (polite request)
4. • An exclamatory sentence expresses great emotion or excitement. • It ends in an exclamation mark. • Example: The house is on fire!
5. An interrogative sentence asks a It ends in a ? mark. Is it raining?
6. Now let’s take a pop quiz. You have an answer sheet on which to record your answers. You may use these abbreviations: dec.(declarative), imp.(imper- ative),ex. (exclamatory), int. (interrogative). 1. Have you made a decision yet? 2. The girl in the white jacket is lost. 3. The Bulldogs won the game in the last three minutes! 4. Give me a piece of pizza. 5. I did not finish my homework. 6. Where is my science book? 7. Please come with me to the movies. 8. I made a perfect score on this test! 9. Why is John late for our date? 10. Open your locker immediately.
7. Check your answers… 1. Int 2. Dec 0-1 mistakes EXCELLENT 3. Ex 2-3 mistakes GOOD 4. Imp 5. Dec 4-5 mistakes FAIR 6. Int More than 5 mistakes… 7. Imp view slide show again 8. Ex 9. In 10. Imp
8. By using the four types of sentences in your writing, you can make your paragraphs more interesting. Read the sample paragraph below. My favorite type of fast food is pizza. I could eat pizza morning, noon, or night. Pepperoni is my number one choice. I also like double cheese on top. I wish I could order a pizza right now. Boring, right? Let’s see how we can use the four types of sentences and make it more interesting to the reader.
9. What is your favorite type of fast food? My favorite is pizza. I just love pepperoni and double cheese. Sometimes I think I could eat pizza morning, noon and night! All of this talk about pizza is making me hungry. Let’s order a pizza now. This is more interesting, right? In this sample we used the four different types of sentences. They provided emotion, excitement, pizzazz to our paragraph. Now you try. On your worksheet you will find a paragraph consisting of nothing but declarative sentences. Rewrite your paragraph so that you utilize the four types of sentences.
10. This summer I visited Six Flags Over Texas. Several of my friends went with me. We had lots of fun. There were lots of exciting rides. My favorite was the Titan rollercoaster. It had lots of twists and turns at 90 miles per hour. We rode it at least three times. I would like to visit Six Flags again.