About this video
David and Paige explain three types of sentences: declarative sentences make a statement, interrogative sentences ask a question, and imperative sentences give a command. Imperative sentences have an implied subject, you. They finish by turning the slogan "You can learn anything" into all three types.
You'll be able to
- identify declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences.
- explain that imperative sentences have an implied subject, you.
- rewrite one idea as a statement, a question and a command.
Key words
- declarative sentence
- A sentence that makes a statement of fact or opinion.
- interrogative sentence
- A sentence that asks a question.
- imperative sentence
- A sentence that gives a command.
- exposition
- Writing that gets information across, often using declarative sentences.
Transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello Grammarians. Hello Paige.
- [Paige] Hi, David. - [Dave] So we have three different sentence varieties that we're going to talk about today.
- [Paige] Okay. - [Dave] Here are their three flavors. Flavor number one, declarative sentences. Flavor number two, interrogative sentences. And flavor number three, imperative sentences. Those are all pretty long and wibbly words.
- [Paige] Seriously. - [Dave] But we will address each one of them in turn. Paige, if you please, what is a declarative sentence?
- [Paige] A declarative sentence is a type of sentence that just states a fact or an opinion, I suppose, but it just makes a statement. So that would be something like it is a beautiful day.
- [Dave] It is a beautiful day, Paige. We can also use declarative sentences to get across any kind of information. This is what we call exposition in writing.
- [Paige] Righ. Yeah. - [Dave] So we can say Lavender hated baseball. You know, you could start a short story with that.
- [Paige] Right, that's- - [Dave] I challenge you to.
- [Paige] Just a fact about Lavender. - [Dave] That's a fact about Lavender. So a declarative sentence is a statement. Just straight up.
- [Paige] Yep. - [Dave] An interrogative sentence is a question. So it asks a question.
- [Paige] It's just a fancy word for a question.
- [Dave] Right. - [Paige] Okay. - [Dave] So an example of an interrogative sentence would be where did you go last night?
- [Paige] Right. - [Dave] Or how is he still singing that note?
- [Paige] I have no idea. - [Dave] Incredible breath control So that's what an interrogative question is.
- [Paige] Right. It's like being interrogated. That's, like, a similar word to interrogative, is just having a lot of questions asked.
- [Dave] Like really aggressively. - [Paige] Yeah, it's not a very positive thing.
- [Dave] Paige, what did you do with the cheese?
- [Paige] I don't know. (laughs) - [Dave] Paige, why are you still eating the cheese?
- [Paige] I'm not. - [Dave] Paige, I know you stole the cheese. Finally, the third kind of sentence we want to talk about today is the imperative. An imperative is a command.
- [Paige] Right, so when you tell someone to do something.
- [Dave] So a command like, Paige, follow that bunny! (laughs)
- [Paige] And the bunny stole the cheese.
- [Dave] Yeah. So this is one of those sentences that doesn't have a subject that is literally spoken out loud.
- [Paige] Right, it's just implied. You know, if you're saying that to me, I know that I am the subject.
- [Dave] Right. So it's you follow that bunny.
- [Paige] Right. - [Dave] But the you is just not spoken. Or, if you're not into bunny following, you know, something like remember to wash the dishes, you're still being commanded to remember.
- [Paige] Yeah, yeah. - [Dave] So, yeah, that's our, those are our three sentence types.
- [Paige] Yeah. Declarative is a statement. Interrogative is a question, and imperative is a command.
- [Dave] So, Paige, I think we can recast our slogan in each of these three types of sentence.
- [Paige] Okay. - [Dave] So, okay, so declarative, right? That's what it usually is, declarative form is you can learn anything.
- [Paige] Okay. - [Dave] We can make it a question, so interrogative's can you learn anything?
- [Paige] Right. - [Dave] The answer is yes. - [Paige] Yes.
- [Dave] And the imperative, we wanna make it a command, would be what, Paige?
- [Paige] Learn anything! - [Dave] Yeah! So you can do any of those three.
- [Paige] Sure. - [Dave] David out. - [Paige] Paige out.
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