We all use sentences while writing or talking. Just like you are asking for food “Mom, give me food. I’m hungry.” Here, you are hungry and asking your mother for food. This is a sentence and you are expressing your emotion to your mother through it. A sentence is a linguistic expression through which we can express our feelings to others. A complete sentence is important to understand others’ emotions.

What is the importance of the sentence?

If you walk up to someone and say “I want”. So what would that person understand from this? You must complete it. Unless a sentence is complete, it is difficult for the other person to understand what you are trying to say.

If you need something, you need to say “I need some money” or “I need some help from you.” Only then will he be able to understand your feeling and be able to help you.

Importance of sentence: It expresses a complete thought. As a result, we are able to know the thoughts of others, and others also come to know about our thoughts. This establishes strong communication.

What is a sentence?

A sentence is a linguistic expression with the help of which we express our thoughts.

What is the linguistic expression?

A linguistic expression is a word or group of words or phrases or clauses that have some meaning and express some emotions or thoughts.

For example, ‘Use mobile properly.’

So here ‘use’ is a word, ‘mobile’ is a word, and ‘properly’ is also a word. Combining all three words makes a sentence and its meaning shows that you are giving advice to someone.

Meaning and definition of a sentence:

A sentence is a word or group of multiple words, phrases, or clauses, that express a complete and meaningful thought. It can also be a statement, question, exclamation, request, command, or suggestion.

Some important points to remember.

The first letter of every sentence should be in capital form.
It ends with a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark.

For example:

He is playing football.

The sentence starts with “He” and the first letter H is in capital form. It ends with “football” with a full stop”.

What is your name? It is a sentence that raises a question. It starts with the Capital letter “W” and ends with the question mark “?”.

See some examples here. This will make it easier for you to understand the sentence.

A sentence as a statement:

The sky is blue.

Ram is playing.

His name is Shyam.

Virat Kohli is the best cricketer.

You are my friend.

I have a red car.

A sentence as a question:

What is your name?

Where is your red bike?

Have you done your homework?

Which place do you like most?

Did you eat?

What are the names of your children?

A sentence as request:

Please give me some money.

Can you come to my house tomorrow?

Please explain this story properly.

Sentence as exclamation:

Very nice!

This is so beautiful!

The curry was delicious!

We won the match!

I got the solution!

A sentence as command or order:

Don’t shoot!

Now go to sleep.

Wash your hands.

Clean your room.

A sentence as suggestion or advice:

You need to sleep 8 hours.

Work hard to get success.

You shouldn’t have gone there.

What are the parts of a sentence?

Generally, a sentence contains 2 main parts.

Subject: Who or what the sentence is about
Predicate: The rest of the sentence tells us about the subject. It consists of at least one verb. Sometimes (but not always) verb is followed by an object. An object is something for whom the action is performed.

The subject tells “Who” or “What” the sentence is about. The predicate tells about “what the subject is” or “what does the subject do”.

For example, Rahul is playing football.

Here, ‘Rahul’ is the subject, and ‘is playing football’ is the predicate. If you ask, who is playing football? The answer is Rahul. So here ‘Rahul’ is the subject. What is Rahul doing? The answer is playing football. So ‘is playing football’ is the Predicate. In this sentence, ‘playing’ is the verb and ‘football’ is the object.

Some more examples of subject and predicate:

Sentence	Subject	Predicate
Dogs are barking.	Dogs	are barking
The baby is crying.	The baby	is crying
My sister is going shopping.	My sister	is going shopping
Sachin Tendulkar is the God of cricket.	Sachin Tendulkar	is the God of cricket
The laptop is in my bag.	The laptop	is in my bag

Types of sentences

A Sentence can be classified in 2 ways.

As per clause structure or sentence composition.

Based on composition, the sentence is divided into 4 types. These are simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

1. Simple sentence:

A sentence that has only one independent clause is called a simple sentence. It has a subject and a verb that express a complete thought. For example:

I am a teacher.

Here, I = subject, am = verb. and it expresses a complete thought.

2. Compound sentence:

A compound sentence has two (or more) independent clauses. These clauses are combined with coordinating conjunctions like for, but, and, nor, or, yet. For example:

I have a bicycle. My brother has a bike.

I have a bicycle, and my brother has a bike.

I asked him for help. He didn’t help me.

I asked him for help, but he didn’t help me.

The independent claused can also be connected by a semicolon to form a compound sentence.

For example:

I have a dog; his name is Tummy.

3. Complex sentence:

A sentence containing at least one independent clause and one (or more) dependent clause is called a complex sentence.

In a complex sentence, a dependent clause cannot convey a complete thought without an independent clause. Therefore, in a complex sentence, there is an independent clause with a dependent clause.

When I was going home, I saw a snake.

If you just say “when I was going home” then it doesn’t make full sense. If you add “I saw a snake” it has a complete meaning.

4. Compound-Complex sentence:

A compound-complex sentence has more than one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

For example:

My pen ran out of ink when I was writing yesterday, but I had a new pen.

Here, the first clause “My pen ran out of ink” is an independent clause, and “when I was writing yesterday” is a dependent clause, then there is coordinating conjunction “but”, and the independent clause “I had a new pen.

As per the speech act:

On the basis of the speech act, the sentence is also divided into 4 types. These are declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.

1. Declarative sentence:

A declarative sentence that expresses an opinion or simply makes a statement. In other words, it is a declaration sentence.

For example:

I am a student.

I am asking for help.

You are my son.

I am your brother.

2. Interrogative sentence:

An interrogative sentence is one of the types of sentences that shows asking a question. It usually refers to who, why, how, what, when, where, and what does and ends with a question mark.

For Example:

What is your name?

What are you doing?

Do you need any help?

Did you have your food?

What is happening over there?

3. Imperative sentence:

An imperative sentence is one of the types of sentences that are used to issue orders, instructions, requests, or advice. These sentences are sometimes referred to as directions because they provide direction to whoever is being addressed. An imperative sentence usually ends with a period but can sometimes end with an exclamation point.

For Example:

You should try to practice English.

Now go to sleep.

Give me your pain, please.

Get out of here!

4. Exclamatory sentence:

Exclamatory sentences express a strong emotion that takes you by surprise. And the sentence always ends with the exclamation mark (!).