CBSE Class 7 English Kinds of Sentences Notes Set 01

What Is a Sentence?

A sentence is a group of words arranged in a proper order that gives complete sense. It says something about a person, place or thing and contains at least one finite verb. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark.

Compare two word groups. 'Greatly admire countries are music architecture Western and' is not a sentence because the words are jumbled. 'Western countries greatly admire our architecture and music.' is a sentence because the words are in order and the sense is complete.

Four Kinds of Sentences

1. Declarative (assertive) sentence. It makes a statement and ends with a full stop. Example: Self-confidence is the key to success. A declarative sentence can be affirmative or negative.

Affirmative pattern: subject + verb + object. Example: She goes to school. Negative pattern: subject + do/does/did + not + verb + object, or subject + has/have + no/not. Examples: He does not know English. I have no book. Ankur was never interested in dance.

2. Interrogative sentence. It asks a question and ends with a question mark. There are two types. A yes/no question begins with an auxiliary verb such as is, are, was, do, did, will or can, and can be answered by yes or no. Example: Do you play tennis? A WH-question begins with a word such as who, what, which, where, when, why or how. Example: When did you buy this car?

3. Imperative sentence. It expresses a command, request, advice or instruction and ends with a full stop. Examples: Stop making false promises. Please pass the notice to all the members. The subject 'you' is understood and is usually not written.

4. Exclamatory sentence. It expresses a sudden strong feeling such as surprise, joy, pain, anger or sorrow and ends with an exclamation mark. Examples: Hurrah! We won the match. How handsome he is! Alas! I lost my wallet.

Subject and Predicate

Every sentence can be split into two parts. The subject is the word or group of words about which something is said. The predicate is everything that is said about the subject.

Example: All the students assembled in their classrooms. Here 'All the students' is the subject and 'assembled in their classrooms' is the predicate.

Points to remember:

1. The subject usually comes first, but it can come after the verb. In 'There, under a big banyan tree, stood a small boy', the subject is 'a small boy'.

2. In an imperative sentence the subject is 'you', which is not expressed. In 'Use the zebra crossing', the subject is the understood 'you'.

3. In an exclamatory sentence the subject may follow the predicate. In 'What a nice person you are!', the subject is 'you' and the predicate is 'are a nice person'.

Worked Examples

Example 1. Identify the kind of sentence: 'Why has modern man become so impatient?' It asks a question, begins with the WH-word 'why' and ends with a question mark, so it is interrogative.

Example 2. Rearrange: 'was a / delight / childhood / about twenty / years ago'. Arranging the parts in order gives: 'Childhood was a delight about twenty years ago.'

Example 3. Divide into subject and predicate: 'The boy standing at the gate is my cousin.' Subject: The boy standing at the gate. Predicate: is my cousin.

Quick Check Questions