1. Types of Sentences
Classifying Sentences by Purpose

2. Sentences can be classified depending
on their purpose
• Declarative: makes a statement and ends with
a period
• Imperative: gives a command or makes a
request. Most end with a period.
• Interrogative: asks a question and ends with a
question mark
• Exclamatory: shows excitement or expresses
strong feeling and ends with an exclamation
point.

3. Examples of declarative sentences
• I saw a hot-air balloon today. [statement]
• The poet John Keats lived only twenty-five
years. [statement]

4. Examples of imperative sentences
• Look at those hot-air balloons. [command]
• Please read one of Keats’s poems aloud.
[request]
• Help me! [strong command]

5. Examples of an interrogative sentence
• Do you know Spanish? [asks a question]
• How did you learn a foreign language?
[question]

6. Examples of an exclamatory sentence
• I won the contest! [shows excitement]
• What a lovely dress that is! [expresses strong
feeling]