TYPES OF
SENTENCES
SENTENCE PATTERNS #1-12
FOUR BASIC TYPES OF SENTENCES:
Declarative: expresses a fact, wish, intent or feeling.
It ends with a period.
“We’ve never swum out this far before.”
 Interrogative: asks a question and ends with a
question mark.
“Is that a shark following us?”
 Imperative: expresses a command, request, or
direction. It ends with a period or exclamation point.
“Hide until it leaves. Now swim for shore!”
 Exclamatory: expresses strong feeling. It ends with
an exclamation point.
“We almost didn’t make it!”

PATTERN #1: USE STRONG, ACTIVE
VERBS:
In Declarative or Imperative sentences, strong,
active verbs can bring your writing to life.

Fire belched from the dragon’s mouth.

The problem perplexed the student.
PATTERN #2: ASK A QUESTION:
Interrogative sentences ask a question. In writing,
a question often expresses the main idea, and the
rest of the writing then develops the answer to the
question. Interrogative sentences frequently begin
with one of these words: who, what, where, when,
why, or how.

Why does Melville portray
Ahab as a monomaniacal
man obsessed with
vengeance?
PATTERN #3: USE AN EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE:
An Exclamatory sentence expresses a strong,
genuine feeling or surprise. Using double or
triple exclamation marks does NOT add to the
feeling.

I had the best day ever!
INVERTED SENTENCES:
Sentences can vary from the normal subject/verb order.
In fact, using inverted order throughout your writing
can more readily keep the reader’s attention and will
add sophistication to your style.
 Usual order: The savage storm came down on the ship.
 Inverted order: Down came the savage storm on the
ship.
 In this next example, the writer is able to set the scene
before presenting a character:
 In front of the house in a squeaky rocking chair sat
Miss Lottie’s son, John Burke.
TAYLOR MALI’S TAKE ON GRAMMAR
IN TODAY’S SPEECH
MORE INVERTED SENTENCES:
PATTERN #4: OPEN WITH AN ADVERB
Adverbs modify verbs, adjective, or other adverbs.
They answer: How? When? Where? Why? How
much? How many times?
 Remember, many but not all adverbs end in “ly.”
 Use a comma after the opening adverb only if it
needs special stress:
Examples:
 Honestly, the roller coaster took my breath away.
 Brilliantly the star shines.
PATTERN #5: OPEN WITH A
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE:
Prepositions describe:

Direction (from the hill, to the store, along the shore).
Position (at the fair, on the table, within the house).
Time (by nightfall, in ten minutes, until later).
Means (by hard work, with no help, without help).
Abstract (against all odds, of the war, except the toys).
o
With a smile on her face, she danced happily.
o
During the day he read.




PATTERN #6: WRITE A SENTENCE IN WHICH
A VERB PRECEDES THE SUBJECT:
In the following sentences, the subject is red,
and the verb is blue. Notice how the verb
comes before the subject, despite any adverbial
or prepositional phrases:
•
•
•
Along the avenue sped a new corvette.
Across the page seared the frightening image.
Behind the door crouched Mr. Hyde.
PATTERN #7: USE CONVERSATION
OR A QUOTATION:
Customarily, a writer begins a new paragraph for each
new speaker. Here are a few rules to follow:
Always place commas and periods inside the closing
quotation marks.
 Place semicolons and colons outside the closing quotation
marks.
 Place quotation marks, exclamation points, and dashes
inside the final quotation mark when they apply to the
quotation only, and outside when they apply to the entire
statement.
 Never double end-punctuation marks ( .”. ). If a quotation
ends a sentence, the end punctuation within the quotation
marks also indicates the end of the sentence.

EXAMPLES OF PUNCTUATION WITH
QUOTATIONS:

Period or Comma: Inside
He told us, “The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first
professional baseball team.”
o Question mark or exclamation point: Depends
--If the quotation itself is a question or exclamation:
“You know that baseball is considered the national pastime,
don’t you?” he asked. (Inside)
--If the sentence containing the quoted material is a
question or explanation:
Do you think anyone here knows the song “Take Me out to
the Ball Game”? (Outside)
o Colon or Semicolon: Outside
Baseballs used from the mid-1800s until about 1920 were “dead”;
when hit, they didn’t’ travel as far as those used today.
PATTERN #8: USE APPOSITION
APPOSITIVES ARE NOUNS OR PRONOUNS THAT CONCISELY
EXTEND THE MEANING OF THE PRECEDING NOUNS OR
PRONOUNS.
Non-Restrictive
(Non-essential)
Commas are required:
Restrictive
(Essential)
 No commas required:
“Penicillin, a powerful
drug, has won medical
acceptance.”
“William the Conquerer
invaded England from
Normandy.”
“Ender, a young but
intelligent boy, is sent
off to Battle School.”
“Wilma Rudolph was
born with the disease
polio.”
SENTENCE PATTERN #9: OPEN
WITH AN ADVERBIAL CLAUSE
Has a subject &
predicate, but cannot
stand alone.
 Is part of the sentence
by modifying verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, or
main clauses.
 If it opens the
sentence, follow it
with a comma.

Common adverbs used
for adverbial clauses:
 After, although, as, as
if, as long as, before,
if, in order that,
provided that, since,
so that, though, till,
unless, until,
whenever, where,
wherever, while,
because, so, when

EXAMPLES OF ADVERBIAL
CLAUSES:



Although he appeared
happy, I knew he felt
sorrow.
If the barometer drops
sharply, a change in
temperature will
occur.
While we walked, he
told me his life story.
PATTERN #10: USE PARALLEL STRUCTURE IN
WORDS, PHRASES, CLAUSES AND
SENTENCES

Parallel structure
places all of the above
in a series of the same
grammatical
elements.



The professor told us to
write in ink, to use lined
paper, and to leave
margins.
He walked to the
platform, stood still a
moment, and hesitantly
began to speak.
Atticus drew her to him,
pulled her up on his lap,
and read to her.
QUICK PRACTICE …


The three reasons are the
children want to play,
there is no adult
supervision, and the
quick, irrational thinking
of the children.
The main reasons for the
breakdown is that many
of the kids don’t think
they will be rescued, a
lack of true leadership,
and mostly just wanting
to have fun.


Lena Younger tries to
help her son in many
ways, including helping
him keep faith, giving
him a chance to achieve
his goals, and she helps
her son by teaching him
the true meaning of
being the head of the
house.
The protagonist discovers
what it means to be self
reliant, empathetic, and
to resist negative
influences.
PATTERN # 11: OPEN WITH AN
ADJECTIVE

By putting an adjective
as the opening word of
a sentence, it adds
emphasis to the noun
or pronoun it describes.



Fearful, the hunter fled
through the jungle.
Breathless and weary, he
trudged down the road.
Furious, Peter felt
helpless and frustrated.
OPEN WITH AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE:
Adjective phrases
consist of adjectives
plus a group of words,
often a prepositional
phrase, without a
subject and verb.
 Use a comma when
opening a sentence
with an adjective
phrase.




Passionate about the
subject, he spoke for
an hour.
Shrewd in her practice
of law, Sarah rose
quickly to the top of
the firm.
Confident with a pen
and paper, she wrote
four full pages.