2. 2
WHAT IS A SENTENCE?
Def: A sentence is a group of
words arranged to express a
complete sense. Example:
- The girl is dancing in the room
- Do you want to read this book?
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1. KINDS OF SENTENCES
-There are five KINDS of sentences:
i. Assertive sentences
ii. Interrogative sentences
iii. Imperative sentences
iv. Exclamatory sentences
v. Optative sentences
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Assertive sentence
i. Is a sentence that makes a
statement or assertion. Example:
- I am learning grammar.
- Students are always busy.
- They are not doing well
- If you are angry, then I am sorry.
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Interrogative sentence
Is a sentence that asks a question.
Examples:
- Who teaches you maths?
- Are you coming from home?
- Was he listening to the preacher
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Imperative sentence
Is a sentence which contains some
commands or request. Eg.
- Get out (order)
- Open the door (order)
- Please come here (order).
- Can you listen to me please?
( request)
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Exclamatory sentence
Is a sentence which expresses
some sudden feeling such as
surprise, anger, joy, etc. EG.
- Oh! We have lost the match.
- How intelligent the boy is!
- Bravo! Keep it up.
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Optative sentence
Is a sentence which expresses a
wish or a prayer. EG,
- May you live long!
- May God bless you!
- I wish you luck in your exams.
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2. STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION
OF SENTENCES
Sentences can be grouped into
four main types:
a) Simple sentence
b) Compound sentence
c) Complex sentence
d) Compound-complex
10. Note: Sentence Structure
• The subject is the part of a sentence that commonly
indicates
– (a) what it is about, or
– (b) who or what performs the action
• A complete predicate consists of the verb and all
accompanying modifiers
• Clause is a passage or sentence
• Dependent clause
• Independent clause
10
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a) Simple sentence
A simple sentence is the one which has
only one independent clause with a
subject and predicate. Eg,
i. I read a book
ii. Anne is a good girl
iii. That dog is sick
iv. Man is a social animal
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b) Compound sentence
Is a sentence which is made up of two or more
independent clauses joined by coordinating
conjunction.
Note: Words like and, or, but, either … or, not only …
but also indicates independent clause. Eg,
i. I tried to speak Kiswahili [i] and my friend tried to
speak English [i]
ii. Mgosi played football, [i] so Mohamed went
shopping [i]
iii. Tanzania is a rich country [i] but still it has many
poor people[i]
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b) Compound sentence
v. Mr. Musa brought in his pet rabbit, [i]
and he showed it to the class [i]
vi. You can put wings on a cow, [i] but
you don't make it an eagle [i].
vi. Always go to other people's funerals;
[i] otherwise, they won't go to yours
[i]
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c) Complex sentence
Is a sentence which contains one
independent clause and one or
more dependent clause. Eg.
i. When I went there [d], I found
that [d] Jane was cooking [i].
ii. She got job [i] after completing
her studies [d].
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Complex sentence
iii. Marwa told me [d] that he would marry
me [i].
iv. When I received my salary [d], I went to
Arusha [i] where my lover was situated [d]
v. I had stayed in Tanga for six months [i]
when I received the news [d] that Juma
had desired to see me [d]
vi. I believe [i] that she had married the
person [d] whom she had loved [d]
17. d) Compound-Complex sentence
• Is a sentence which contains one
dependent clause and one or more
independent clauses. Eg.
• I admire him but he doesn’t admire me,
although I try hard to improve
• If you come late, you will miss the exams
and the teacher will punish you
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18. 18
Complex sentence
NOTE that a section of a sentence
containing words like when, that,
who, whoever, whenever, which,
etc is a dependent clause, and the
sentence is a complex sentence
