Shelley has taught at the middle school level for 10 years and has a master's degree in teaching English.
Before we talk about declarative sentences, let's refresh our memories on what a sentence is. Every complete sentence must have a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a predicate (the verb of the sentence--what the subject is or does). Missing either one of those will create an incomplete sentence, or a fragment, which can be very confusing for readers.
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There are different types of sentences, each with different purposes. For instance, interrogative sentences ask questions and end in question marks, while exclamatory sentences communicate emotions and end in exclamation points! You may also heard of imperative sentences, which are used to give a command (like 'Walk the dog.' or 'Don't forget the leash.').
In this lesson, we're going to focus on the most common type of sentences: declarative sentences.
Most of the sentences you say or write are probably declarative, as these types of sentences make up a huge bulk of our everyday speech and writing. When you declare something, you make a statement. And a declarative sentence is simply that--it declares something. It's pretty easy to tell a declarative statement from other types: It states a fact and ends in a period. The sentence you're reading right now is a declarative sentence.
Think about the last words you said out loud. They may have been something like, 'My favorite color is red.' Or maybe you said, 'I brought orange slices for lunch.' These are both declarative sentences. Let's look at a few more examples:
As you can see, all of these sentences make a statement (a declaration) and end in a period. No questions were asked, no commands were given, and nothing exciting was exclaimed.
All complete sentences need to have a subject and predicate. Incomplete sentences, which are missing either the subject or predicate, are known as fragments. A declarative sentence is a specific type of sentence that makes a statement, or 'declares' something, and it ends in a period.
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English Language Arts for Kids9 chapters | 243 lessons
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