What Is a Declarative Sentence?
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.
Declarative Sentence Examples
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:
- My grandmother makes delicious peanut butter cookies.
- Basketball is an exciting game to watch.
- Sharks sleep with their eyes open.
- The human heart beats about 35 million times every year.
- The blue whale is the largest animal in the world.
- The eye of an ostrich is bigger than its brain.
- More dogs live in the United States than any other country.
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.
Lesson Summary
Okay, let's review. 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. Keep these things in mind and you should have no problem creating complete sentences.
