Four and a half types of sentence

Types of sentence

Commands

Another type of sentence is the command.

PAY ATTENTION!

How to Train Your DragonCressida CowellSource

Statements and questions are about giving and receiving information. Commands are about action. Commands tell someone to do something.

Commands always have an action, but they don't necessarily need anything else ("Stop!" is a one-word command).

Your turn
Where's the 'subject'?

Looking at the verb group itself, commands also don't have modal verbs or tense helpers:

Give me your headdress.

Children of Blood and BoneTomi AdeyemiSource

Keep indoors, men.

Treasure IslandRobert Louis StevensonSource
Your turn

But they can have the negative, 'do not':

Don't fight these men.

The Golden CompassPhillip PullmanSource

Don't fight these men.

The Golden CompassPhillip PullmanSource

Don't fight these men.

The Golden CompassPhillip PullmanSource
Your turn

When a command is negative, it can also have embedded adverbs:

Just come down to the harbor with me and don't even look back.

The Golden CompassPhillip PullmanSource

Just come down to the harbor with me and don't even look back.

The Golden CompassPhillip PullmanSource

Just come down to the harbor with me and don't even look back.

The Golden CompassPhillip PullmanSource

Don’t always pick the same boardgame.

Don’t suddenly run off with the circus.

Your turn

So the verb groups in commands are usually pretty simple, but there's still some room to play around and get different shades of meaning.

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