Learn how to create different types of sentences, from statements and commands to questions and instructions.

1. Which type of
sentence do I
use and when?

2. What are the
different types
of sentences?
Different types of sentence
• Some sentences are statements, some are
questions and some are instructions or
commands. By changing the order of words
you can easily change the type of sentence that
you are writing.
For example:
• You are going to school. (a statement)
• Are you going to school? (a question)
• Go to school. (a command or an instruction)

3. What is the
difference
between
direct and
reported
speech?
There are two ways of writing down what someone says. You can
write down exactly what someone has said, using speech marks at the
beginning and end of the spoken words: this is direct speech.
For example:
• “I witnessed the crime,” said Fred.
The other way you can write down what people say is by using
reported speech.
• Reported speech is when you write what has been said but you
don’t use the exact words; you report it in your own speech.
For example:
• Fred said that he had witnessed the crime.
• You will often use speech in stories and newspaper articles.

4. What is a
conditional
sentence?
A Conditional sentence is used to express that
the action in the main clause (without if) can only
take place if a certain condition (in
the clause with if) is fulfilled.
A conditional sentence has two clauses. One part
of the sentence depends on the events or
situation described in the other part of the
sentence.
For example:
• If it is sunny on Saturday, then we will go to the
beach.

5. How to use
the active and
the passive
voice
Active and passive versions of a sentence say the same thing in
different ways.
For example:
• The pirates hid the treasure (active).
• The treasure was hidden by the pirates (passive).
• In the passive sentence the words have been moved around. This
sentence is about what happens to the treasure, rather than being
about the actions of the pirates. The verb changes from the active
form (hid) to the passive form (was hidden).
• Using the passive form hides the ‘speaker’ or ‘doer’. This is useful
when you are writing essays, instructions or articles.

6. To recap
You should now have a better understanding of the following different
types of sentences and how they can be used to make your writing more
accurate and sophisticated.
You have learned about:
The different types of sentences you could use
The difference between direct or reported speech
What a conditional sentence looks like
How to use the active or passive voice in your sentence

7. Now, complete the quiz at the
end of this lesson to test your
knowledge!