You may have learnt about the eight parts of speech which are vital to understanding English. These comprise thousands of words that are used by those who understand the language. These words are used in sentences which form units of communication. A group of sentences constitute a paragraph and a group of paragraphs form a passage. Words are used in a variety of combinations in sentences structured in a manner that helps to communicate something meaningful which can be understood by people who can read, speak and write English.
Sentences are broadly divided into four kinds – Assertive, Interrogative, Exclamatory and Imperative. Here are the differences between them:
An assertive sentence, also called a declarative sentence, makes a statement. An example of an assertive sentence is ‘Anamika visits her grandmother during the holidays.’ As you can see the sentence simply makes a statement.
An interrogative sentence asks a question. An example of an interrogative sentence is ‘Will you come to the movie with me?’ As you can see a question is being asked.
An exclamatory sentence expresses strong feeling. An example of an exclamatory sentence is ‘Did you see ‘Titanic,’ what a great movie it is!’ Here, an exclamation is made about a movie.
An Imperative sentence makes a request or gives a command. An example of an imperative sentence that makes a request is ‘Please help me with my Science homework.’ In this sentence a request is being made. An example of an imperative sentence that is a command is ‘Go stand in the corner, you are being punished.’ In this sentence a command is being given.
Depending on what you want to communicate sentences can be among the four types discussed. Also, punctuation is important and a sentence is correct only if the first word starts with a capital letter and that a sentence is ended with an appropriate punctuation mark - full stop, question mark, quotation marks or exclamation mark and if the proper noun uses a capital for its first letter irrespective of its position in a sentence. Take this quiz to understand the nuances of sentences.