THE FUNCTIONS OF SENTENCES

Identifying sentences by function

One way that a sentence can be described is according to the job that it’s doing in a conversation. Compare these sentences:

1.Thatclownwasfunny.

2. Is she a physician?

3. Please wash the dishes.

4.What an exciting movie!

You know that sentence 1 is making a statement, sentence 2 is asking a question, sentence 3 is giving a command, and sentence 4 is expressing a strong emotion.

Quick tip

Sentences that make a statement are called declaratives; sentences that ask a question are called interrogatives; sentences that give a command are called imperatives; sentences that express strong emotion are called exclamations.

Here are a few more examples:

5. Edward’s parents live on a farm.                                            (declarative)

6.Have you accepted the fact that she’ll never move?          (interrogative)

7. Don’t believe a word she says!                                              (imperative)

8.That’s silly!                                                                                  (exclamation)

Answers

Let’s take a closer look at questions:

9. Do you like learning about sentences?

10. What do you like best?

11. You would rather be listening to music, wouldn’t you?

These sentences demonstrate three different kinds of questions. Sentence 9 is an example of a yes/no question, because it can be answered with just a ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no.’’ Here are some more yes/no questions:

12. Did you enjoy the music?

13. Is the television working?

14. Are you interested in applying for that job?

Quick tip

A yes/no question is one that can be answered by ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no.’’

Sentence 10 is called a wh- question because it begins with a wh- word, or question word.

Quick tip

A wh- question begins with one of the following wh- words (question words): when, where, what, why, which, who, whom, how. Example: Where is the meeting?

Notice that how is a wh- word, even though it doesn’t begin with wh-.

Wh- questions cannot be answered with a ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no.’’ Imagine the following bizarre dialogues:

15a. What time is it?

15b. Yes.

16a. Where are you going?

16b. No.

17a. Which dress should I wear?

17b. Yes.

You get the point.

Here are some more examples of wh-questions:

18. Why did they buy that house?

19. When should we meet?

20. How does that work?

The third kind of question, called a tag question, is demonstrated by sentence 11 above.

Here are some more tag questions:

21. He’s having a great time, isn’t he?

22. It rained last night, didn’t it?

23. Mrs. Williams was working hard, wasn’t she?

In tag questions, there’s a regular statement followed by a tag; the tag is underlined in these examples.

Quick tip

A tag question contains a statement followed by a tag, such as, could you? aren’t they? hasn’t he? Example: She is leaving soon, isn’t she?

Answers

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

سماحة السيد الصافي يكرم عددًا من عوائل الشهداء ضمن فعاليات مهرجان روح النبوة النسوي العالمي الثامن

إحدى أمهات الشهداء: نعتز بتضحيات أبنائنا ونفتخر بشهادتهم دفاعًا عن الدين والمقدسات

ضمن فعاليات مهرجان روح النبوة… عرض فيلم يوثق نشاطات الشعب النسوية في العتبة العباسية المقدسة

فعاليات مهرجان روح النبوة الثقافي تشهد تقديم أوبريت الثقلين القرآني

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

ماذا يحدث لجسمك عند تناول الوجبات السريعة يوميا؟

لصحة عظام المرأة.. الشاي أفضل أم القهوة؟

لبناء العضلات وإنقاص الوزن.. ما أفضل توقيت لتناول البيض؟

أطعمة صحية تساعد على التعافي من "الإنفلونزا الخارقة"

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

دراسة تكشف قدرة الحيتان على سماع الأصوات منخفضة وعالية التردد من مسافة بعيدة

تجربة جديدة: الأسفلت المدعوم بالطحالب يقاوم الحفر ويقلل الانبعاثات الكربونية

تسريبات تكشف ملامح أول هاتف قابل للطي من "أبل"

رصد نوع نادر من القطط في تايلاند للمرة الأولى منذ عقود

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Case and agreement Conclusion

Case

English NP structure (continued)

Recursive rules

Adjectives and Adjective Phrases (AP)

Complements and adjuncts of N

Lexical entries and well-formed clauses Conclusion

Further notes on English Phrase Structure

Uniqueness of oblique arguments

Well-formedness conditions

Subcategorization

Selectional restrictions