Topic 23: Sentence Structure in English: declaratives, interrogatives

and exclamatives

1. Introduction

Sentences in English are divided into four main syntactic types: declaratives,
interrogatives, exclamatives and directives. Associated with these syntactic
categories are four major classes of discourse functions: statements, questions,
exclamations and directives. However, it should be borne in mind that syntactic
type and discourse or semantic class do not always match due to the difference
between locutionary act and illocutionary force, as we shall see in the following
pages. For the purpose of this topic, we will just concentrate on the first three
categories.

2. The English sentence

Sentences can be:

Simple (single independent sentence).

Compound (two independent sentences linked by a coordinator).
Complex (a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses).

Irrespective of the type of sentence all of them may have the following elements:

a. Subject (S)
b. Verb (V)
c. Direct Object (Od) and Indirect Object (Oi)
d. Subject Complement (CS) and Object Complement (CO)
e. Adverbials (A)

Subject and Verb are normally obligatory elements. The rest of elements
listed above can be either optional or obligatory, depending on the type of
verb and the complementation it requires. Let us examine two examples:

Obligatory: if we omit the Cs the sentence is incomplete.

o Robert is becoming quite immature (SVC)
Optional: if we omit the O, OO and OOA the sentence is complete.
o He is teaching (SV)
 o He is teaching Linguistics (SVO)
o He is teaching them Linguistics (SVOO)
o He is teaching them Linguistics at Harvard (SVOOA)

In light of the above, the basic sentence patterns in English are as follows:

Intransitive (SV): Tom disappeared

Monotransitive (SVOd): Tom hired a car
Ditransitive (SVOiOd): Peter gave Mary a ring
SVA: Peter lives in London.
Intensive (with linking verbs), an can be of two types:
o SVCs: My brother has become a ski instructor
o SVAs: My brother is in Australia
Complex transitive I (SVOdCo): They though the whole idea a success
Complex transitive II (SVOdAo): He kicked the ball across the field.

Syntactically, the clause types that we are going to study below are distinguished
by the ordering of what is called the mood of the sentence: Subject and finite
verb. The rest of the elements in the predicate (the residue) remain
unchanged.

3. Declaratives

Declaratives sentences are normally used to make statements, whether

affirmative or negative. However, they can also be used to apologise, to make
predictions, to ask questions, to give advice or to issue commands. They are
normally uttered in a falling tone and end with a period.

3.1. Affirmative declarative sentences

Affirmative sentences have a subject- finite verb ordering. The Finite is realised
by a verbal operator (primary verbs BE and HAVE and modal verbs) or a
tensed form of the lexical verb, and is the first or only element of a verbal
group.

Jane is meeting Mr Rochester at 10 (Jane= S/ is= F/ meeting Mr Rochester at

10= predicator)
Mr Thornton loves Margaret

These primary verbs can also function as main verbs in declarative

sentences:

Jane is an intelligent woman

As we can see in the examples, Predicator and Finite fuse in present and past
forms of lexical verbs and when BE and HAVE are used as main verbs
(examples above).

The finite can as well be realised by operator DO for emphatic purposes:

I do like cookies

The order of adverbials is always first adverbs of place and then of time:

I will tell you the story at school tomorrow (SVOiOdAA)

In affirmative declarative sentences the order of elements may change in the

following instances:

Subject can be omitted in set phrases: Told you so/ Serves him right.
Subject- verb inversion to achieve end- focus on the subject: Out
rushed the thief or Here comes the bride.

A further fact that must be borne in mind is subject- verb concord. The most
important type of concord in English is 3rd person, especially in present tenses:

My daughter writes novels, but my daughters write novels.

Collective nouns normally take a plural verb in British English and so do

coordinated noun phrases acting as subjects. Clauses as subjects, on the other
hand, take a singular verb (Smoking is dangerous).

3.2. Negative declarative sentences

In negative declarative sentences complementation, subject- verb concord and

order is exactly the same as in affirmative sentences, but negation has its
particularities which we proceed to explain below.

Negation of statements can be accomplished in different ways:

 1) Negation of verb

Negative sentences have a subject- finite verb ordering. The Finite is realised by
a verbal operator (HAVE/ BE/ modals) followed by the negative particle NOT
before the predication:

I have eaten/ I have not eaten

She is happy/ She is not happy

If no operator is present in the affirmative clause, the dummy operator DO is

introduced:

She plays the guitar/ She does not play the guitar

In colloquial English the negative particle is joint to the operator as nt.

She doesnt play the guitar.

I havent eaten

Other possibility of contraction in informal contexts is auxiliary contraction:

Shes not ready.

Full form is preferred in formal written contexts and for emphatic purposes.

Clause negation can be followed by one or more non-assertive items. They

can be determiners and pronouns (any, neither), pronouns (anything, anybody,
anyone) or adverbs (anywhere, ever, any more, any longer, much). Thus,

I havent bought anything for you

I havent seen him anywhere

2) Negation of other elements

Here we may distinguish two different types of elements:

a) Words negative in form and meaning

We sometimes have a choice between verb negation and negation of some other
element. We can negate a clause element with NO or NOT, or by using a word
such as NONE or NEVER:

He is not a friend of yours He is no friend of yours

I wont lie ever again I will never lie again.

He wouldnt say a word He would say not a word

I havent got any of your books I have got none of your books.

In formal English, the negative element may be moved to initial position, in

which case there is inversion of subject and operator:

Never will I lie again.

Under no circumstances should he come again.

Other instances of negative words that make a clause negative are the
corresponding negative items to non- assertive forms: nobody, no one,
nothing, nowhere, neither, no, none... Consequently, there are two possible
negative equivalents for a positive sentence:

Pete was speaking to somebody

Pete was not speaking to anybody

Pete was speaking to nobody.

It must be noted that double negation (e.g. Dont go nowhere!) is not possible
in formal English, though they are used in some informal styles.

b) Words negative in meaning but not in form

Elements like seldom, rarely, scarcely, hardly, barely, little and few can effect
clause negation:

I seldom get any sleep

When positioned initially they cause subject/operator inversion:

Scarcely ever has a British Prime Minister suffered so much criticism.

 4. Interrogatives

Interrogative sentences are normally used to make questions, but there are also
instances in which they can be used to make a request, an offer or to give advice.
They end with a question mark.

4.1. Yes- no questions

Yes- no questions are those which expect an affirmative or negative reply. They
normally have rising intonation.

The ordering is Finite/ Subject, because they are formed by placing the
operator before the subject:

Tony is married Is Tony married?

As with negation, if there is no item in the verb phrase that can function as
operator, DO is introduced:

They live in the Highlands Do they live in the Highlands?

In British English, unlike American English, main verb HAVE does not need the
auxiliary DO:

Have you got a cold?

Furthermore, we should mention the ellipted responses to yes- no questions

(No, I dont/ Yes, I will), which show more interest and involvement than a
mere Yes/ No. The choice of subject and operator depends on the subject and
operator in the question.

4.1.1. Positive yes-no questions

Yes- no questions may contain non- assertive items (any, ever...). The question
containing such forms is generally neutral, with no bias in expectation towards
a positive or negative response:

Did anyone call last night?

Nonetheless, these questions may be conducive, that is, they may indicate that
the speaker is predisposed to the kind of answer he has expected.
 A positive question may have positive orientation by using assertive
forms:

Did someone call last night? = [is it true that someone called last night?].

A positive question may also have negative orientation by inserting

really:

Do you really want that?

4.1.2. Negative yes- no questions

Negative questions are always conducive.

Negative orientation is found in questions which contain a negative form

of any kind. They imply that what the speaker originally expected (old
expectation) was a positive response, but that new evidence (new
expectation) suggests that the response will be negative:
Dont you trust me?
Has he never married?
Positive orientation is achieved with assertive items:
Didnt someone call last night? = [I expect that someone did].

In formal styles the negative particle NOT follows the subject:

Did they not warn you?

4.1.3. Tag questions

Tag questions are always conducive and they have the following
characteristics:

1) They are appended to a statement in the form of a declarative.

2) The tag question has the form of a yes-no question consisting of
merely an operator and a subject pronoun the choice of which
depends upon the statement.
3) If the statement does not have an operator, dummy auxiliary DO is used
instead.
 4) The pronoun in the tag question must be in co- reference with the
subject of the statement and the verb must be in the same tense.

There are four main types of tag questions:

With rising tone:

o Positive statement (positive assumption) + negative tag
(neutral expectation):
Jane loves Edward, doesnt she?
o Negative statement (negative assumption) + positive tag
(neutral expectation):
Jane doesnt love Edward, does she?

In both cases, the tag with a rising tone implies doubt and invites
verification, expecting the hearer to decide the truth of the proposition in the
statement.

With falling tone:

o Positive statement (positive assumption) + negative tag
(positive expectation):
Jane loves Edward, doesnt she?
o Negative statement (negative assumption) + positive tag
(negative expectation):
Jane doesnt love Edward, does she?

In both cases, the tag with the falling tone expresses certainty and invites
confirmation of the statement.

There is a further, less common, type of tag question in which both statement
and question are positive. They are accompanied by discourse markers Oh,
So or Well now, and indicate that the speaker is expressing a conclusion. The
effect is often emotive:

So, you can run faster than me, can you? Lets have a race then! (disbelief)

Tag questions can also be appended to imperatives and exclamatives:

Dont make a noise, will you?

Lets go to the park, shall we?

4.1.4. Declarative questions

Declarative questions have the form of a declarative, but with a rising

intonation. They are conducive and invite the hearers verification.

Positive questions have positive orientation and can therefore accept only
assertive items:
o He wants something to eat?
Negative questions have negative orientation and can therefore accept
non- assertive forms:
o You didnt anything to eat?

4.2. Wh- questions

Wh- questions have falling intonation and are formed with the following
interrogative words:

Who/whom/whose
What/ which
When
Where
How
Why

The ordering is Wh- item/ Finite/ Subject and DO is used when there is no
operator (BE or HAVE) in the equivalent statement.

When there is a prepositional complement the preposition comes first in formal

English, but it is deferred to the end of the sentence in non- formal style:

On what do you base your prediction?

What do you base your prediction on?

The wh- element can have many different clause functions (S/ Od/ Cs/ Co/ A).
There is subject/ operator inversion in all cases except when the wh- element is
subject:
Who wrote Hamlet? [who = S], but Who do you love? [who= Od]

Wh- elements can combine with the word ever (whoever, whatever...) which
acts as an intensifier expressing the surprise, perplexity or disbelief of the
speaker. Additionally, in colloquial contexts wh- words can be intensified by
lexical items which include on earth or the hell.

We should not fail to mention abbreviated questions, which are very common in
informal speech: what for? Why not?

4.3. Alternative questions

There are two types:

Alternative yes- no question:

o They have rising tone on the first element(s) of choice and falling
tone on the last
Would you like va nilla or chocolate ice- cream?
Alternative wh- question:
o They have falling intonation.
o They are followed by an elliptical alternative question:
Which ice-cream would you like? Chocolate, va nilla
or strawberry?
4.4. Minor types of questions

There are as well other types of questions that should be mentioned:

Exclamatory questions: they are interrogative in structure, but have

the force of an exclamatory assertion. Typically they are negative yes- no
questions with a final falling tone. They invite the hearers agreement to
something the speaker has strong feelings:
o Hasnt she grown!
Rhetorical questions: they are interrogative in structure, but have the
force of a strong assertion. The speaker does not expect an answer. They
can be positive or negative yes- no questions with a normal rising tone or
positive or negative (less common) wh- questions with a rise-fall tone:
o Isnt it obvious?
 o Who ^cares?
Echo- questions: they repeat part or all what has been said. They can
be of two types:
o Replicatory when the intention is to have their content
confirmed:
Tom is emigrating
Emigrating?
o Explicatory (always wh- questions) when the intention is to ask
for clarification:
Hes missed the bus again
Whos missed the bus?
5. Exclamatives

Exclamatives are used for expressing the extent to which the speaker is
impressed by something. As a formal category of sentence they are restricted to
the type of exclamatory utterance introduced by WHAT or HOW. The ordering
is thus Wh- word/ subject/ finite.

Exclamatives resemble wh- questions in requiring the initial placement of an

exclamatory wh-element. There is no subject- operator inversion (except for
formal and literary English) and the syntactic order depends upon the function
that the wh- element plays in the sentence (O, S, C, A):

How quickly you eat! [Wh= A/ ASV]

What a time we had today! [Wh= Od/ OSVA]

In addition, the wh- element can act as a prepositional complement, and the
preposition is usually at the end:

What a mess were in!

It is, nonetheless, possible (though rare) for the preposition to occur in initial
position:

In what poverty these people live!

As we have already pointed out only two wh- words can be used in exclamatory
sentences. The wh- word indicates an extreme position on some scale of value,
and therefore can only appear at points where an expression of degree is
possible:

WHAT as predeterminer in a noun phrase

HOW as intensifier of an adjective or adverb or as a degree adverbial.

5.1. Echo exclamations

The echo exclamation, like the echo question, repeats part or all the preceding
utterance, but unlike echo questions, they are characterised by a rise fall tone.
The form of the utterance to be repeated may be declarative, interrogative,
imperative, or even exclamative:

A: Im going to Milton for work

B: To ^Milton! Thats not my idea of progress

The earlier utterance can be repeated with various degrees of completeness.

Thus, in the example above we can say Youre going to Milton! Going to Milton!
or simply Milton!

Some irregular subject- predicate constructions in which the finite verb is

omitted are produced in these exchanges:

A: I heard you are a linguist

B: I a linguist! Me a linguist!

6. Conclusion

So far, in this unit we have attempted to give a broad view of English sentence
structures since we assume that there is an intrinsic connection between its
learning and effective communication. Sentence structure is a top requirement
for our students both in CSE, in which easy cases are dealt with, and NCSE, in
which more complex cases, including subordination, are studied.

Bibliography

Downing, A. & Locke, P. (2006). English Grammar: a University Course.

London: Routledge.
Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language. Cambridge: CUP.

Quirk et al (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.

London: Longman.