2. Classification according to the purpose of utterance

1. Declarative Sentence (It gives the listener some information. I speak Dutch. Cats eat fish.)

2. Interrogative Sentence (It asks for information. Do you speak Dutch? Do cats eat fish?)

3. Imperative Sentence ( It expresses commands and requests. Speak Dutch please. Eat fish immediately!)

Each of the above-mentioned communicative sentence types can be affirmative or negative.

Besides, all types of sentences may serve as exclamations, in which case they are called exclamatory sentences.

NOTE 1: The word long as an adverb of time is mainly confined to interrogative and negative sentences; in affirmative sentences (for) long time is the norm:

Have you been waiting long?

I haven’t been waiting long.

BUT: I’ve been waiting (for) a long time.

With the words “too, so, as … as, enough” long is used in all types of sentence:

I’ve been waiting too long.

They stayed too long.

In negative sentences different meanings sometimes are possible with long and a long time.

He didn’t speak for long. (=He only spoke for a short time.)

He didn’t speak for a long time.(=It was a long time before he spoke.)

A long time can refer to the negative idea expressed by the whole verb (didn’t speak); long only refers to the idea expressed by the infinitive (speak).

NOTE 2: The word far is mainly confined to interrogative and negative sentences; in affirmative sentences a long way is the norm, especially in an informal style.

Is it far to the station?

It’s not far to the station.

BUT: It’s a long way to the station.

I live a long way from the university. (far could not be used here except in very formal or literary writing.)

This also applies when far is followed by the words away, off, out, back, etc.

Summer seemed a long way away.

Far is, however, normal in affirmative sentences after too and so, and in the structure as far as, it is also common in the expression far from:

You’ve gone too far.

I haven’t had any problems so far.

It’s OK as far as I know.

Word order

WORD ORDER is the order of words. The words in an English sentence are arranged in a certain order, which is fixed for every type of the sentence, and is therefore meaningful. Word order fulfils several functions – grammatical, emphatic and linking. The main function of word order in English is to express grammatical relations and determine the grammatical status of a word by fixing its position. Thus, word order in English is comparatively fixed, unlike in some other languages.

1. The position of objects

Objects normally follow the verbs, adjectives or nouns they are objects to. If a verb is followed by two objects (indirect and direct) the following patterns are possible:

Send the book to John. – Send John the book.

Send the book to him. – Send him he book.

Send it to him. – (only in BrE) Send him it.

Send it him.

Putting an indirect object before a direct object and deletion of the preposition to is called Dative Movement Transformation. No deletion of the preposition to is possible after a number of verbs: to add, to announce, to ascribe, to attribute, to communicate, to contribute, to declare, to dedicate, to deliver, to describe, to devote, to dictate, to disclose, to explain, to interpret, to introduce, to mention, to open, to point out, to repeat, to reply, to say, to submit, to suggest, to trust, to entrust, etc.

The President has communicated to the Prime Minister what he wanted to communicate to him.

Can you explain to me what all this means?

In a few cases AmE usage is different from BrE usage: e.g. to recommend.

BrE: I recommended him the book.

AmE: I recommended to him the book.

A direct object can acquire some prominence when it is separated from the predicate by some secondary part of the sentence – generally an adverbial modifier or a prepositional indirect object. It is called the back position of the object (postponement):

I had at heart a strange and anxious thought. (Ch.Brontë)

She produced from her pocket a most housewifely bunch of keys. (Ch.Brontë)

He made clear his strong opposition to changing the voting system.

The front position of the object (object fronting) (at the beginning of the sentence) serves the purpose of emphasis:

A fearful voyage I had with such a monster in the vessel. (Ch.Brontë)

Talent Mr Micawber has, capital Mr Micawber has not. (Ch.Dickens)

Great party that was!

Oh, what a memory I have!