Kinds of Sentences

Sentences have three purposes: to state, to ask, and to command.

A. Sentence that state - a sentence that makes a statement (or denies it) is called a declarative sentence.

    Ex. The boy stood on the burning deck.

B. Sentence that ask - a sentence that asks a question is called an interrogative sentence.

    Ex. Did the boy stood on the burning deck?

C. Sentence that command - a sentence that expresses a command is called an imparrative sentences.

    Ex. Boy, stood on the burning deck!

- In structure, a sentence may be simple, complex, compound, or compound-complex.

The Simple Sentence - has only one subject and predicate, either or both of which may be compound. Here are some examples:

    1. Come.
    2. From the cloudless sky, an expected shower came.
    3. Tom and Gerry are working in the shop.
    4. By the river a tall narra tree grew.
    5. Minutes are the gold dust of time.

All of the sentences given above are simple. Each of them contains only one subject and only one predicate, either or both of which may be compound.

The Compound sentence - a compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses. Here are some examples:

1. Food is the essential to life, but it should be the end of existence.
2. We knew the password, but we were too tongue-tied to speak.

The Complex Sentence - a sentence is complex if it contains a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. A main clause is meant a word or a group of words which can stand alone because it expresses a complete thought. A subordinate clause , is a word group that contains a subject and a predicate , but the thought which it expresses is incomplete, it cannot stand alone, it is used only as apart of the sentence. Here are some examples:

I who am your friend will help you.
("I will help you" is the main clause | "Who am your friend" is the subordinate clause)