Declarative, Exclamatory, Interrogative and Imperative Sentences

Abstract

According to the purpose or mood of expression, sentences can be divided into four types: declarative (or statement), exclamatory, interrogative and imperative. A declarative sentence makes a statement, describes a feature or property, and narrates an action or a change, without significant emotional expressions. An exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotions, and is mostly used to describe characteristics and actions. An interrogative sentence asks a question. An imperative sentence usually gives a request, command, persuasion or prohibition, which is always related to actions and behaviors. Generally speaking, the realization of the four moods requires, first of all, specific modal particles. Secondly, it may also require modal adverbs. The third alternative is syntactic variation, or the use of interrogative pronouns and causative verbs.