This lesson is also provided by Think Out Here’s Darren Chow of Prince of Whales Secondary School in Vancouver. He previously wrote “English 101: Sentence Types Part“, teaching us about simple, compound, complex, and compount-complex sentences. Think Out Here loves giving its students the opportunity to show off their skills. Often, the best way to learn is to teach. Darren is proving to be an excellent teacher! Maybe, he’ll but a future Think Out Here tutor ;).
Below is Darren’s lesson on other ways to classify sentences. The importance of knowing the different types of sentence is partially to use the proper punctuation and to create sentence variation in your writing. Creating sentence variation keeps writing interesting. For example, if we had to eat the same food every day, we’d get bored. The same goes for writing. If we have to read the same sentence formula over and over again, we get bored. Mixing the sentence structure up keeps the writing engaging.
Sentence Types Part 2
There is another way to identify sentences other than simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. Sentences can also be identified as declarative, imperative, interrogative and exclamatory.
Declarative Sentence: A declarative sentence makes a statement. This type of sentence usually ends with a period.
Example:
a) I like pickles.
b) Cheddar is my favorite cheese.
Interrogative Sentence: An interrogative sentence asks a question. This type of sentence ends with a question mark, and usually starts with: who, what, when, where, and why OR do, does, is, or are.
Example:
a) What is your favorite food?
b) How was your day?
Imperative Sentence: An imperative sentence gives a command. This type of sentence could end with both a period or an exclamation mark.
Example:
a) Give me that wrench.
b) Give him your toy.
Exclamatory Sentence: An exclamatory sentence expresses emotion. This type of sentence usually ends with and exclamation mark.
Example:
a) I hate my job!
b) I love this movie!
Quiz:
Determine the type of each sentence. Post your answers in the comment section, and a Think Out Here tutor will give you the answers 
.
1. I think someone is breaking into our house.
2. How do you think we will escape?
3. Get me that pencil!
4. Do you like to go to the movies?
5. I would like to go on a vacation.
6. Have you ever been to Florida?
7. Give me your candy.
8. Tell me the truth!
9. Do you think aliens exist?
10. I love my pet dog.
Contact a Think Out Here tutor to get tutoring in English/ESL. Improving grammar and punctuation is a step toward becoming a better communicator. If you can write, you can do anything!
