One-member sentences

A one- member sentence is a sentence having only one member which is neither the subject nor the predicate. One-member sentences in English are of two types:nominal sentences andverbal sentences.

Nominal sentences are those in which the principal part is expressed by a noun. They state the existence of the things expressed by them. They are typical of descriptions. Nominal sentences may be:

- unextended.

Silence. Summer. Midnight.

- e x t e n d e d.

Dusk - of a summer night.

The grass, this good, soft, lush grass.

Verbal sentences are those in which the principal part is expressed by a non-finite form of the verb, either an infinitive or a gerund. Infinitive and gerundial one-member sentences are mostly used to describe different emotional perceptions of reality.

To think that he should have met her again in this way!

Living at the mercy of a woman!

COMMUNICATIVE TYPES OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

According to the purpose of the utterance sentences are divided into four types:declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory sentences. These types differ in the aim of communication and expressstatements, questions, commands andexclamations respectively.

Declarative sentences

A declarative sentence contains a statement which gives the reader or the listener some information about various events, activities or attitudes, thoughts and feelings. A statement may bepositive (affirmative) ornegative, as in:

I have just come back from a business trip. I don’t like milk chocolate.

Grammatically, statements are characterized by the subject-predicate structure with the direct order of words. They are mostly two-member sentences, although they may be one-member sentences, as in:

Very early morning. No curtain. No painting.

Statements usually have a falling tone; they are marked by a pause in speaking and by a full stop in writing.

In conversation, statements are often structurally incomplete, especially when they serve as a response to a question asking for some information. For example:

Where are you going? - To the library.

Interrogative sentences

Interrogative sentences contain questions. Their communicative function consists in asking for information. They distinguish the following types of questions: general (“Yes-no”), tag (disjunctive), alternative, suggestive (declarative) and special (pronominal) questions.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Two-member sentences	\|	General questions

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