Turn off the electricity at the consumer unit before you do any electrical repairs.

Statement, Question or Command?

Statement, question or command are types of sentences. Sentences can be used to express statements (affirmative and negative expressions), commands and questions. For example:

'It's hot' (affirmative statement)
'It's not hot' (negative statement)
'Sit down, please' (command)
Don't talk back! (command)
'Do you like English?' (question)

You should recognise a question if it's written as it will have a question mark at the end. Can you recognise a spoken question? Written commands sometimes have an exclamation mark at the end - but not always as in our examples above.

Test your skills in this 11-plus quiz and see if you can beat your classmates!

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Don't run across the road.

This is a question

This is a command

This is a negative statement

This is an affirmative statement

'Don't' is often used in negative commands

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Turn off the electricity at the consumer unit before you do any electrical repairs.

This is a question

This is an affirmative statement

This is a negative statement

This is a command

You are told to do something: this is a command. Note, commands can be made polite by the use of 'please'. Never work live - always turn the electricity off first

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Does magnesium burn in air?

This is a question

This is a command

This is a negative statement

This is an affirmative statement

The '?' shows that it's a question. I hope you got this one right! Magnesium (Mg) tarnishes in air, but finely divided magnesium readily burns in air when heated

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Gold doesn't react with many chemicals.

This is a question

This is a command

This is a negative statement

This is an affirmative statement

This sentence states gold (Au) doesn't do something. Gold dissolves in mercury (Hg)

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Don't do it, Mike.

This is a command

This is a question

This is a negative statement

This is an affirmative statement

Mike is told not to do something. 'Don't' is often used in negative commands

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
The Hundred Years' War was waged from 1337 to 1453.

This is a question

This is a command

This is a negative statement

This is an affirmative statement

It tells you how long the war was waged for. It went on for more than one hundred years, but it was not a continuous war

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
The Missouri is the longest river in the USA.

This is a question

This is a command

This is an affirmative statement

This is a negative statement

It states which is the longest river in the USA

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Who wrote 'The Wind in the Willows'?

This is an affirmative statement

This is a command

This is a negative statement

This is a question

The '?' shows that it's a question. I hope you got this one right! ANS: Kenneth Grahame - it's an excellent book. Read it!

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
Tell me, now!

This is a question

This is a command

This is a negative statement

This is an affirmative statement

You are commanded to tell someone something

10.

Select the choice that best describes the sentence.
The Empire State Building is not the tallest building in the USA.

This is a question

This is a negative statement

This is a command

This is an affirmative statement

It tells you that this building is not the tallest building in the USA. The tallest building is the Willis Tower (also known as the Sears Tower): 1,451 metres high

Author: Frank Evans