Sentence Type

Brief Study On Type Of SentencesI. AbstractThere are four major types of sentences in English: declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives.The four sentence types are associated with four discourse functions:It is the noum that the syntactic class matches the semantic class. However, ours is a very complex society, where the social functions performed by language are very much diversified. We often have questions that do not really ask, statements that do not really assert, imperatives that do not really command.Key words: declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamativesII. StatementsStatements in the form of simple sentences are the foundation stone of all the English sentences. Their primary function is to convey information, in a positive way or in a negative way. Therefore, we have two major types of statements on a polarity - positive statements and negative statements.Classification can also be done in a similar yet less extreme dimension: assertion vs. non - assertion. Sentences are seen as either assertive or non - assertive in view of their form and meaning.1 Assertion vs. non – assertionAn assertive sentence is a positive statement and that a sentence can be non –assertive either by being negative or by being interrogative.Whether or not a sentence makes an assertion is associated to a substantial extent with words of aparticular kind involved in the sentence. These words break into three classes on the semantic basis: assertive words, non – assertive words and negative words, as is shown in follows:(1) Assertive words: some, someone, somebody, something, somewhere, sometime (s), one or the other, still, already, as well, too.(2) Non-assertive Words: any, anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere, ever, either, any more, any longer, yet, either.(3) Negative Words: no / none, no one, nobody, nothing, nowhere, never, no more / no longer.Old course books often teach us that the some series of words are to be used in positive statements and the any series of words in negative statements or in questions and that the use of some in questions and other some / any usages are exceptions. Now we can explain the some / any distinction in a better way-interms of assertions and therefore use the some series:(1) I have some (any) news for you.(2) Somebody (Anybody) is waiting for you.Questions are usually non - assertive, but they can be assertive when a positive answer is expected. Therefore, both any and some are common:(1) Did anybody \ somebody see you?(2) How about buying something \anything to eat?It is important to distinguish between non-assertive and negative words. Negative statements often use either not plus a non-assertive word or a negative word, as in:(1) There was nobody there.(2) I know nothing about it.There are a number of other non-assertive contexts where non-assertive words can be used, such as: (1) After words that have negative import:It’s very difficult to find a job anywhere aroundhere.I’d rather do it without anyone’s help.(1) If clauses:If anybody comes, tell him to wait.She’d love you only if you had any patience.(2) Putative should-clauses:It’s strange that she should ever repeat the mistake.It’s odd that he should say anything like that.(3) Comparative clauses:He’s better than anyone else in this class.This material is harder than anything else you can find.2 NegationA negative statement basically expresses the speaker’s negative attitude toward his proposition. The negation of a statement can be accomplished by inserting a variety of negative words, among which notis by far the most commonly used either in writing or in speaking. When negation is applied to a statement, its coverage varies from sentence to sentence; it may extend from the negative word to the end of the sentence or it may stop somewhere leaving a number of elements outside its scope. Also negation may be transferred from one syntactic level to another.a.Choice of negative wordsThe negation of a statement is commonly fulfilled by inserting not(n’t) between the operator and the predication:(1) They are working hard.They are not working hard.They aren’t working hard.They’re not working hard.(2) They have worked.They have not worked hard.They haven’t worked hard.They’ve not worked hard.(3) They will work hard.They will not work hard.They won’t work hard.They’ll not work hard.In each of the above positive statements, there is an item that can serve as operator. If not, we would have to introduce the auxiliary do:(1) They work hard.They do not work hard.They don’t work hard.(2) They worked hard.They did not work hard.They didn’t work hard.Apart from not, its only strong competitor as expression of negation its no (which includes no - word series such as nothing, nobody and nowhere). No can often be converted into not…any; the same is true ofno-words:(1) He has no friends.He does not have any friends.(2) I know nothing about it.I don’t know anything about it.(3) There is nobody in the house.There isn’t anybody in the house.(4) She would go nowhere except to stay in her ownroom.She wouldn’t go anywhere except to stay in herown room.Negation may be intensified in various ways. A common negative intensifier is never, as in I’ve never been there before, which is stronger than I haven’t been there before. Besides, there are other ways of giving emotive intensification to a negative statement:(1)I shall never stay at that hotel again.(2)I’ve never in all my life seen such a swarm ofants.(3)N ot a single candidate managed to pass the test.None and neither are two related negative words. None corresponds to not any (of the three or more) and neither to not one nor the other (of the two). For example:(1)T hey have tested several samples but none isof the quality required.(2)T hey proposed two solutions, but neitherseemed available to us.Negation is also realized by semi-negatives, words which are negative in meaning but not in appearance. They include seldom, rarely, scarcely, hardly, little, few, etc. Their similarities to the ordinary negative items are such that they are followed by non-assertive rather than assertive words and that are followed by positive rather than negativetag questions:(1)W e had hardly begun, when it began to rain.(2)Y ou can hardly expect me to lend you money again.(3)I scarcely know him. Scarcely had she enteredthe room when the phone rang.(4)T here’s little point in telling her now.(5)F ew people live to be 100.(6)I’ve hardly ever spoken to him.(7)J ohn found a job in a park because he had littleinterest in office work.(8)T here are fewer cars parked outside thanyesterday.(9)T he police found very few clues to themurderer’s identity.(10)That few days were indeed the most memorable.b.Scope of negationThe scope that a negative word governs varies from sentence to sentence. It may cover a whole sentenceor part of a sentence. One of the most helpful clues for determining the scope of negation is found in intonation, which is a special feature of spoken English. Written English, however, suffers from more indeterminate cases and so we often have to refer to context for interpretation. The following are some typical circumstances where the scope of negation varies:(1) The scope of negation normally extends from the negative word to the end of the sentence:I don’t know him at all.None of his friends came to help him.I have little doubt that he will win the game.(2) An end-placed adverbial may or may not lie within the scope of negation depending on intonation. Therefore, ambiguity will arise with the sentence he didn’t work all week in writing, but not if it is read differently:He didn’t work all the week.(=It’s not true that he worked all the week.)He didn’t work all the \ week.(=For a whole week, he didn’t work.)She didn’t tell me the truth because of you.(=She told me the truth, but not because of you.) She didn’t tell me the truth because of you.(=She refused to tell me the truth on your account.)(3) The scope of negation normally does not include disjuncts or conjuncts, even when they are placed at the final position:Sure enough, nobody is going to help him.I don’t like him at all, to tell you the truth. However, she doesn’t want to leave her husband. He never tried to pull himself together, nevertheless.(4) Sometimes a special nuclear stress (usually a fall-rise) falls on a certain element of the sentence for the sake of contrast, in which case the scope ofnegation (or the focus of negation) varies with the location of this particular stress. Consider the following examples:I don’t like to go shopping with Mary on \weekends. (=I don’t like it.)I don’t like to go shopping with Mary on weekends. (=It is on weekends that I don’t like to do it.)I don’t like to go shopping with Mary on weekends. (=I resent shopping with Mary on weekends but I don’t mind doing other things.)I don’t like to go shopping with Mary on weekends. (=John may like to do it, not me.)(5) All and every, universal items as they are called, often cause ambiguity in negative sentences. Again, intonation plays a crucial role in the distinction of interpretations. It helps to tell whether or not the universal item is the focus of negation; if not, it is complete negation. Compare the following:All his books did not sell well.(=None of his books sold well.)All his books did not sell well.(=Not all his books sold well.)I don’t like everything he \ does.(=No matter what he does, I don’t like it.)I don’t like everything he does.(I like some of the things but everything he does.)c. Transferred negationTransferred negation refers to the shift of negation from the subordinate clause (usually a that-clause), where it semantically belongs, to the main clause. It normally occurs with such verbs as think, believe, suppose, imagine and expect, that is, verbs that express “opinion”. For example:I think (that) he won’t come tomorrow.=I don’t think (that) he‘ll come tomorrow.Though the negative force in the subordinateclause is felt to be stronger than in the main clause, the transferred negation is far more common both in writing and in speaking. That the negation is transferred can be justified by the use of non-assertive words or by the form of tag question:(1)I don’t believe Mary has finished her work yet.(2)I don’t imagine Tony will learn from thislesson, will he?Yet not all verbs in the semantic field of “opinion” take transferred negation. Consider the following pair of sentences:(1)I don’t assume that they’ve already won thegame.(2)I assume that they haven’t won the game yet.Other verbs that fall into this group include presume, surmise, etc.3 Other functions of statementsApart from their primary function to conveyinformation, statements are potentially versatile in performing several other functions.(1) To ask questions (= questions)A: why don’t you talk to your mother?B: You’re sure she’ll agree?(2) To get things done (=commands)Your fly is open. ( to remind sb. To zip up)I wouldn’t quit if I were you. (to advise sb. Notto quit)(3) To express the extent of the speaker’s impression (=exclamations)That was a wonderful film! (=What a wonderful film it was!)I wish I were at home! (=How I wish I were at home!) III QuestionsQuestions can be divided into four major classes: YES - NO questions, WH - questions, alternative questions and tag questions, each of whichdemonstrates different grammatical features, performs different functions and conveys different meaning from another.1. YES – NO questionsYES –NO questions are so called because they can be answered by a simple “Yes”or “No”. They challenge the validity of the proposition by way of asking for confirmation or denial of the statement they contain. Is John listening? Is roughly equivalent to John is listening. True or false? They are normally spoken with a final rising tone.An important characteristic of YES –NO questions is the use of the non-assertive words, which is especially the case when the speaker or writer has an open mind about the answer, as in:(1) Do you have any questions?(2) Is there anything interesting in today’s paper?(3) Whether to confirm or to deny the query in eachof these questions is totally the job of the listener.However, the speaker or writer may sometimes be positively or negatively oriented in his expectation of the answer, in which case a YES-NO question is presented in a form that is biased towards a positive or negative answer. A YES-NO question with positive orientation often uses assertive words in place of the usual non-assertive words:(1) Do you have some questions?(1) Is there something interesting in today’s paper?When asking these questions, the speaker assumes with a reasonable amount of confidence that what he asks is true. And what he expects is the confirmation of his assumption. This is especially common when the speaker is making an offer which he expects to be accepted: when the speaker is making an offer which he expects to be accepted:(1)W ould you like some coffee?(2)D o you want some money for the phone call?YES-NO questions that have negative orientation are rather complicated. They normally contain negative words and express the speaker’s negative attitude towards his own assumption. Consider the following sentences:(1)D on’t you have any sense of humor? (I thoughtyou had, but apparently you don’t.)(2)A ren’t you ashamed of your uncivilizedbehavior? (you ought to be, but it appearsyou’re not.)Questions with negative words do not, however, necessarily entail negative answers, as when we hear(1)W on’t you come for a walk with me?(2)W on’t you have a cup of coffee?We are supposed to regard them as the speaker’s invitations or suggestions, made in a tentative way as they often are, rather than negative assumptions.Pragmatically, they are more like directives that are normally performed by imperatives. Also, such questions as:(1)I sn’t it lovely?(2)A ren’t you silly?Are more of exclamations than of questions in the true sense and, therefore, are usually spoken with a final falling tone.2 WH-questionsThe term “WH-questions” covers all questions that normally begin with WH-series of words, i. e. what, when, where, why, who, whom, whose, which and how. Spoken with a final falling tone, they are sometimes called “information questions”because they require some specific information in the reply. They do not query the truth of the statement, which is typically performed by YES-NO questions; rather, they ask for details about a part of it. Take for example thestatement Peter drove to the station with his wife to meet his sister last night. We can ask a variety of WH-questions on the basis of our interest in the information about different parts of the statement:(1) What did he do last night?(2) Who(m) did he drive to the station with last night?(3) How did he go to the station last night?(4) Where did you go during the night?In connected speech, WH-questions often take a variety of elliptical forms so as to leave out the information that is already contextually given. (1) WH-word onlyA: A man tried to gatecrash last night.B; Who?(2) WH-word + operatorA: she won’t tell you the truth, I’m afraid.B; Sure she won’t. In fact who will?(3) WH-word + preposition or preposition + WH-wordA: There’ll be a lecture this afternoon, don’t you know?B: NO. By whom and about what?(4) WH-word + infinitiveA: You’ve done a nice job.B: Thanks. What to do next?Other elliptical WH-questions, less regular though, include:A: What you’ve done is far from enough?B: I’m offering a really competitive price.A: This is the third time you’ve failed to finish your work in time.B: So what?3 Alternative questionsAlternative questions suggest two (or more) alternatives and usually imply that one of them could be true. They expect one of the suggested answers. They are normally spoken in such a way that the lastalternative receives a fall while the preceding alternative (s) a rise, which helps to mark off an important distinction between an alternative question and a YES-NO question.Alternative questions fall into two subclasses: one is formed on the basis of YES-NO questions; the other on the basis of WH-questions:(1)A: Would you like tea or coffee?B: Tea, please.(2)A: What would you like, tea or coffee?B: Tea, please.Spoken with a final rising tone, the question in (1) could be an open question, to which “Yes” or “No” could be a possible answer:Would you like tea or coffee? No, thanks.4 Tag questionsThe fourth major type of questions is termed “tag questions”or “disjunctive questions”asthey used to be called. Apart from their unique syntactic features, they are rather complicated in the semantic aspect.a.Forms and meaningsA tag question normally consists of a statement and a question tag. The tag is a YES-NO question cut short into an operator and a subject that mirror the subject and auxiliary of the statement. Contraction is the norm in a negative tag, e.g., isn’t he?Generally, the statement expresses the speaker’s assumption, either positive or negative depending on the form of the statement, and the tag invites the hearer’s response. In form, tag questions fall into four types:(1) You’re listening, aren’t you? (positive statement + negative tag)(2) You’re not listening, are you? (negative statement + positive tag)(3) You’re listening, are you? (positive statement + positive tag)(4) You’re no listening, aren’t you? (negative statement + negative tag)Questions (3) and (4) are far less common than (1) and (2). They often express disbelief, sarcasm, surprise, etc.Each of the questions can be spoken in two different ways; that is, the tag can be spoken with a rising tone or a falling tone. With a rising tone, the question expresses the speaker’s neutral expectation of the hearer’s response and invites the hearer to verify the truth of the proposition in the statement. Therefore, it is very much like a YES –NO question in function and is actually classified as such by some grammarians. Yet things are different with a tag spoken with a falling tone, in which case the speaker asks for the hearer’s confirmation of thestatement rather than his verification of the truth. Functionally, it can be regarded as similar to an exclamation.b.Irregular question tagsProblems often arise for English learners due to the circumstances where, idiomatically, the statement and the tag in a tag question do not correspond to. The following includes some common irregular cases that deserve learners’ attention.(1) A question tag can be appended to an imperative, which commonly expresses the speaker’s expectation of or his insistence on the hearer’s consent. For example:won’t you?Turn down the radio,will you?Negative imperatives normally take will you? But not won’t you? As a tag:Don’t turn down the radio, will you?There are other alternative tags, less common though, which include:won’t somebody?Turn down the radio,can one of you?Imperatives introduce by let’s, whether positive or negative, normally take shall we? As a tag: Let’s talk to the director, shall we? Let’s not talk to the director,(2)The pronoun in the tag normally mirrors the subject of the statement. There are exceptions, however, with subjects like everybody, everyone, anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, nobody, no one, in which case either he or they is acceptable in the tag:（1）Everyone is here, isn’t he?aren’t they(3)The tag following a statement with have poses a problem because whether to use don’t or haven’t depends on the contextualised meaning of have, a word that is notoriously polysemous. As a rule, the auxiliary have (expect have to) matches haven’t in the tag:(1) You have already heard the news, haven’t you?(2) She had done her work by the time you arrived, hadn’t she?The full verb have takes don’t expect when it is used in the sense of “possess”, “own”, etc.:(1) We all had a wonderful time at the party, didn’t we?(2) You have a lot of friends, don’t you?haven’t you?(4) Modal auxiliaries are no less problematic, especially when they are used in the predictive sense. In the following cases both forms work in the tag:She must be over twenty, mustn’t she?isn’t she?May is a black sheep among the modal auxiliaries because the abbreviated form mayn’t is rare or unacceptable, especially in American English. The suggested solution is to make do with the unabbreviated form when used in the nonpredictive sense, which is unfortunately limited to formal usage, or use can’t in the predictive use:? They may launch an attack in the afternoon,may they not?That may be your lost car, can’t it?Shouldn’t is often used as a substitute for oughtn’t in the tag, especially in spoken English: We ought to leave now, oughtn’t we?shouldn’t we?(5) Statements that contain negative words or words which are negative in meaning are usuallyfollowed by positive tags:He hardly ever shows up these days, does he? IV CommandsCommands (also called directives) are issued when the speaker or writer intends to gat things done. They typically take the from of an imperative sentence, which is different from a declarative or an interrogative sentence in that the main verb in an imperative sentence takes the base form and the sentence generally goes without a subject.(1)C ome over here.(2)B e patient.It is understood that the omitted subject is you, which may be justified by the reflexive pronouns yourself or yourselves in the following sentences: The subject you is retained for emphatic effect. It may suggest the speaker’s impatience, insistence, or irritation when he wishes to get things done. Orit may bring to light a contrast. The explicit you always carries stress to that effect:(1) I’ll go there; you stay here.An alternative way of reinforcing a command with the second person subject is to add initial do:(1) Do behave yourself.The abruptness of a command is often smoothed away by markers of politeness such as please, but it does not work with the explicit you:(1)You behave yourself, please.Imperatives can also take a third person subject, as in:(1) Parents with two or more children come here to register.Another important type of imperatives are introduced by let. There are first person and third person LET-imperatives, but second person LET-imperatives are not acceptable:(1)L et’s have a drink and get cooled off.(2)L et everybody have a copy of the book.Negative imperatives are generally formed by adding don’t (or do not) in the initial position and substituting non - assertives for assertives where applicable:(1) Come over here.Don’t come over here.(2) Eat something.Don’t eat anything.Negative LET – imperatives are formed either by inserting not after the pronoun or by using don’t, the latter being considered as less formal:(1)L et’s not go out until after the rain.(2)D on’t let’s go out until after the rain. V ExclamationsExclamations are very emotional; they express the extent of our impression of something, typicallyour surprise, excitement, amazement, disappointment, hatred, etc. There are two major types of exclamations: WHAT- exclamations and HOW- exclamations. Introduced by WHAT - words, exclamations, however, do not take subject - verb inversion, which is its essential structural difference from WH- questions. Exclamations are followed by an exclamation mark.1 WHAT-exclamationsWhat, a determiner in a WHAT-exclamation, helps to intensify the idea expressed by the noun phrase where it belongs. The WHAT-noun phrase can be object, complement, adverbial or even subject:(1) What a strange friend you have! (object)(2) What a good idea it is! (complement)(3) What a long time he’s been working! (adverbial)(4) What a large swarm of ants is approaching! (subject, rare)Besides a singular countable noun as shown inthe above cases, the head of the WHAT-noun phrase can also be a plural or an uncountable noun:(1) What strange people you’re working with!Prepositions do not usually precede what expect in very formal context:(1) In what a dangerous situation these refugees are!A WHAT-noun phrase without an adjective is sometimes ambiguous in its own right, in which case we need to have recourse to the context for interpretation:(1) What a day! I enjoyed every minute of it. (= whata wonderful day!)2 HOW-exclamationsHow is an adverb. It highlights the adjective, adverb, or verb in exclamations:(1) How foolish you are!Note that the adjective goes before the determiner when it is highlighted by how and modifies a singularcountable noun:(1) How efficient a machine the computer is!How + adjective does not modify plural countable nouns or uncountable nouns:(1) How strange people you’re working with!Ellipsis is also very common with HOW-exclamations:(1) How foolish (you are)!VI ConclusionSentences can be divided into four major classes: declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives.Generally speaking, declarative usually can be divided into two types: assertion and non-assertion. These two kinds can be broken into three classes on the semantic basis: assertive words, non –assertive words and negative words.Questions can be divided into four major classes:YES - NO questions, WH - questions, alternative questions and tag question, each of which demonstrates different grammatical features, performs different functions and convey different meaning from another: Commands which are also called directives are issued when the speaker or writer intends to gat things done. They typically take the from of an imperative sentence, which is different from a declarative or an interrogative sentence in that the main verb in an imperative sentence takes the base form and the sentence generally goes without a subject.Exclamations are very emotional; they express the extent of our impression of something, typically our surprise, excitement, amazement, disappointment, hatred, etc. There are two major types of exclamations: WHAT- exclamations and HOW- exclamations. Introduced by WHAT - words, exclamations, however, do not take subject - verb inversion, which is its essentialstructural difference from WH- questions. Exclamations are followed by an exclamation mark.Bibliography:1.《英语时态应用指导》，奚宝芬，外语教学与研究出版社，1998.2，第一版，2.《新效率语法》，肖军，外语教学与研究出版社，2004.11，第一版，3.《励志英语语法》，胡敏，郝福合，中国广播电视出版社，2006.3，第一版，4.《现代英语语法》，李基安，外语教学与研究出版社，2000.，4，第一版，5.《基础语法365》，陈璞，外文出版社，2003.8，第一版，6.《朗文英语语法》，L.G.亚历山大，外语教学与研究出版社，1991.1，第一版，。