What if we were to tell you that, in this entire series of lessons about sentence construction, we've only looked at 1 type of sentence?
Crazy! I mean, look at all this stuff we've covered!
What if we were to tell you that, in this entire series of lessons about sentence construction, we've only looked at 1 type of sentence?
Crazy! I mean, look at all this stuff we've covered!
We've seen how you can combine different real-world elements together in different ways:
Griphook jumped down from his shoulders.
In cold winters the Queen does revert to knitted woollen hose for warmth.
We've seen how you can combine multiple sentences together with connectors to create different relationships:
He tapped his own life force because he wanted me dead.
I could see he was alive even though he made no sign or movement.
We've seen how sentences are made up of clauses, and how clauses can be layered up inside one another to make more complex meaning:
Bod heard Scarlett choking back a scream.
The sounds of night aren't really what's keeping me from Burke and Wills, though.
The sounds of night aren't really what's keeping me from Burke and Wills, though.
The sounds of night aren't really what's keeping me from Burke and Wills, though.
And yet here we are saying we've only shown you 1 type of sentence!
But don't panic. Those solid foundations we've built looking at 1 type of sentence apply just the same to the 3 (and a half) other types, with only a couple of tweaks.
We'll touch on a bit of that grammar stuff (just to show where it's different from what we've covered in other lessons), but the main focus of this lesson is the function of different sentence types. In other words, what is the writer—or character—trying to achieve by using sentences like:
It was a long drive home.
'What's wrong?'
Don't fight these men.
Oh, Auntie Sponge!
Then complete silence.
We'll start the lesson by looking at each type individually. Then we'll take a look at how different sentence types can work together for even more effects!
First, we'll look at the most common type of sentence we see in writing: the statement. Like this next snippet.
Next week I start fifth grade.
Next week I start fifth grade.
Next week I start fifth grade.
Statements are the building blocks of writing. A statement gives information. It could be a fact, an opinion, or even an outright lie; it doesn’t matter.
Here are some more examples of statements.
The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully out of the way of a treacherous shot, should any be intended.
Maybe I'm making too big a deal about birthday parties.
Simon Martin sprawled over the three chairs outside the staffroom door.
Let's move onto the other sentence types.
Questions are the opposite of a statement. They ask for information.
What's your name?
One of the most obvious features of a question is that it ends in a question mark, but there are other signs.
Many questions have a question word (who, what, when, where, why, how, which).
Where, in this wilderness, could they bolt to?
Question words are great when the answer is a person, thing, time, place, or reason, but not for a simple yes or no question.
In that situation, we need to do something else, like this:
"Did he do it?"
Notice that with these questions, we can get a statement by just reversing the verb helper and the subject of the clause. So:
"Did he do it?"
Becomes:
"He did do it."
Here are a couple more examples of this kind of question.
Mayn't I go and play now, aunt?
"Are you familiar with the Latin term 'in loco parentis'?"
There's one more common type of question. How would you answer a question like this?
"Then we're okay for now, right?"
Just like the last 3 snippets, you can answer this question with a yes or no. Instead of swapping the subject and tense helper, the question is added at the end like a tag. Removing the 'tag' creates a statement.
"Then we're okay for now, right?"
Tag questions are one way you can create what's known as a leading question. Leading questions are ones where people are more likely to answer in a particular way. Compare these two questions:
Leading question: Then we're okay for now, right?
Neutral question: Are we okay for now?
The leading question is seeking affirmation. The asker wants the answer to be "Yes, we're okay for now."
The neutral question doesn't suggest a specific answer.
What answers are these tag questions leading to?
We weren't going to live here forever, were we?
"We are blocked up, then?"
Oh, you think you're mighty smart, don't you?
Another type of sentence is the command.
PAY ATTENTION!
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).
Looking at the verb group itself, commands also don't have modal verbs or tense helpers:
Give me your headdress.
Keep indoors, men.
But they can have the negative, 'do not':
Don't fight these men.
Don't fight these men.
Don't fight these men.
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.
Just come down to the harbor with me and don't even look back.
Just come down to the harbor with me and don't even look back.
Don’t always pick the same boardgame.
Don’t suddenly run off with the circus.
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.
So far we’ve seen:
Questions that ask for information.
So what’s an exclamation?
Mmm . . . lovely!
Exclamations are literally things people cry out, often in surprise.
They're driven by a character's reflexes and emotions rather than their thoughts and intelligence, so they're usually very short. No more than a couple of words—often only a thing, quality, or words like hello, ah, or oh that don't really fit into a category.
A mystery!
There!
Oh, Auntie Sponge!
The last sentence type we are going to talk about isn’t really a type at all, it’s a fragment. Fragments feel like they are just pieces of sentences. Here’s an example.
Then complete silence.
The thing you notice about fragments is they don’t make sense by themselves, usually because they’re missing a verb group or a subject.
Here are three more fragments. Do they make sense on their own?
Gray, west.
And all night.
"And bring Pathfinder and Sojourner rover back with him."
Now here are the same snippets with some more context. Do the fragments make more sense with the added context?
He turned and spoke to us, "Doctor's watch on the lookout. Dr. Livesey take the north side, if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west."
Once they locked me up all day long. And all night.
"He can get there and back with supplies on hand."
"And bring Pathfinder and Sojourner rover back with him," Mindy added.
Fragments are often used to continue a pattern (like the sea captain's list of locations: the north, the east, the west) or for emphasis (because they often sound punchy).
Here’s a snippet with an exclamation and a punchy fragment. Let's try writing our own variations.
"Tom !"
No answer.
“Walter!”
Silence.
"Hello?"
Just a groan.
"No!"
Too late.
On the next couple of pages, we're going to look at a few different snippets where the writers have put different sentence types together to create particular effects.
On the last page, we saw an example of a punchy fragment being used after an exclamation. Here's another example of fragments being used for emotional impact.
I was still burning about Colonel Finley. The helicopter he was meant to send. The helicopter he'd promised us. The way he more or less abandoned us after his Kiwi troops went missing.
I was still nervous about summer camp. The freaky wooden pier. The icy cold lake. Getting pushed off the freaky wooden pier into the icy cold lake by Jason and his tribe.
It was the best day of my life. Fireworks in the sky. Icecream in our mouths. Everyone in celebration mode.
This snippet is tricky because it has dialogue and action combined.
"So sending him off to middle school like a lamb to the slaughter ..." Dad answered angrily, but he didn't even finish his sentence because he saw me in the mirror looking up.
"What's a lamb to the slaughter?" I asked sleepily.
"Go back to sleep, Auggie," Dad said softly.
"Everyone will stare at me at school," I said, suddenly crying.
“The door at the end of the corridor...” I whispered urgently, but I trailed off when I saw a shadow flicker on the wall.
“What’s wrong?” asked Cali, her voice barely audible.
“Back away, slowly.” I hissed back.
“There was another door leading out of the ballroom,” Cali said, grabbing my hand.
“Eternal life, or a lifetime’s supply of maltesers...” I mused.
“How much longer is this going to take?” the genie asked, despondently.
“Be patient!” This was my last wish and I didn’t want to waste it.
“I’m going to wait in my lamp,” it said, vanishing in a puff of smoke.
What do you think the effect of answering a question with a command is in these examples?
The next snippet shows the inner thought process of a girl trying to overcome a monstrous spirit. What effect do the questions in this snippet have?
How could a girl like her defeat a creature as powerful as this? She didn't dare touch it. Perhaps she could lead it into a trap or push it off a cliff—except she had set no traps and there were no cliffs here.
Was the stream the answer? Lead it to the water's edge and shove it in? That might work, but she had no idea how to find her way back to the stream.
The questions in this snippet achieve a few different things:
Let's try writing our own versions.
Why wasn’t I getting in trouble? Mum had caught me red handed. The jam jar was open and my hand was covered in bright, raspberry red goo—but she was just standing there.
Was she waiting for me to say something? To explain myself? I looked from my hand to my motionless mother. There was no way I could explain to her what had actually happened.
Where would Fernando have hidden the locket? He knew I needed it to save my brother. But he also knew how dangerous it was.
He wouldn’t have destroyed it, would he? Just set wire cutters to it until every chain link was severed? I had to believe that wasn’t the case.
We can layer supporting clauses into questions, commands, and even fragments to make complex meaning, just like we would for statements. How many clauses can you find in the snippets below? (Look for verb groups!)
"Tell me what you know."
"Tell me what you know."
"Tell me what you know."
"Tell me what you know."
"Tell me what you know."
"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that it may regain its equilibrium?"
"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that it may regain its equilibrium?"
"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that it may regain its equilibrium?"
"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that it may regain its equilibrium?"
"But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that it may regain its equilibrium?"
Dark red like the new gum leaf tips he'd seen on his first journey down to Ted's.
Dark red like the new gum leaf tips he'd seen on his first journey down to Ted's.
Dark red like the new gum leaf tips he'd seen on his first journey down to Ted's.
Dark red like the new gum leaf tips he'd seen on his first journey down to Ted's.
Supporting clauses don't change the nature of the sentence as a whole. A statement with a supporting clause is still a statement, a question is still a question, a command is still a command, a fragment a fragment.
We're going to write our own complex statements, questions, commands, and fragments. To show how supporting clauses fit without changing the nature of the sentence, we're going to use the same supporting clause in each sentence.
If you haven't done the lesson on Complex Sentences, this exercise might be challenging. Just try your best to follow along.
I am sorry for eating all of the cookies.
Are you sorry for eating all of the cookies?
Apologise for eating all of the cookies!
They all looked so smug. Those kids just eating all of the cookies.
I am sorry for eating all of the cookies.
Are you sorry for eating all of the cookies?
Apologise for eating all of the cookies!
They all looked so smug. Those kids just eating all of the cookies.
I am sorry for eating all of the cookies.
Are you sorry for eating all of the cookies?
Apologise for eating all of the cookies!
They all looked so smug. Those kids just eating all of the cookies.
The Alpha Centaurians didn’t realise how long it would take to fly to earth.
Do you have any idea how long it would take to fly to earth?
Find a way to reduce how long it would take to fly to earth.
They had to do it. Reduce how long it would take to fly to earth.
The Alpha Centaurians didn’t realise how long it would take to fly to earth.
Do you have any idea how long it would take to fly to earth?
Find a way to reduce how long it would take to fly to earth.
They had to do it. Reduce how long it would take to fly to earth.
The Alpha Centaurians didn’t realise how long it would take to fly to earth.
Do you have any idea how long it would take to fly to earth?
Find a way to reduce how long it would take to fly to earth.
They had to do it. Reduce how long it would take to fly to earth.
To make it clear that the fragment is a fragment, we've added an extra sentence to the front of it to provide context in both of the examples.
What if we want to combine the different sentence types? Provide information and ask a question? Exclaim in surprise, and give a command?
Good news! We can create relationships between different sentence types using connectors, just like the ones we used in Connectors and an Introduction to Complex Meaning.
Here are some examples:
She had certainly made him open the gate for her, but did he think of the house and gardens inside as his own?
"Please step into your new home, and wipe your feet outside so no mud gets indoors."
Uh-oh, they'd looked inside.
For this checkpoint piece, simply write your own snippet using at least one of each sentence type:
You can write anything you like, but here's a snippet from Treasure Island that is rich with different sentence types which you may use as a guide if you want to.
"Keep indoors, men," said the captain. "Ten to one this is a trick." Then he hailed the buccaneer. "Who goes? Stand, or we fire."
"Flag of truce," cried Silver.
The captain was in the porch, keeping himself carefully out of the way of a treacherous shot, should any be intended. He turned and spoke to us, "Doctor's watch on the lookout. Dr. Livesey take the north side, if you please; Jim, the east; Gray, west. The watch below, all hands to load muskets. Lively, men, and careful."
And here is an inspiration image that you can use if you would like.
"Rebel T3i - soccer action" by digital4047 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Consider trying one or more of the techniques we looked at on the last few pages:
Or find your own interesting combinations!
That’s the end of this lesson. Let's do a recap.
We've seen that there are 4 basic types of sentence:
We've seen that we can combine sentence types in different ways to create interesting effects in our writing. For example:
Finally, we saw that we can create complex meaning (by using supporting clauses or connectors) with different sentence types in the same way as we have learnt in the previous sentence construction lessons.
Congrats!