Kinds of Sentences According to Use

Hi there everybody especially to the moderators,

I am Artem from Manila Philippines. I am an elementary teacher of the English language. Just like to ask your opinion on how are we suppose to classify sentences like Stop! Is it imperative or exclamatory? It gives command but it ends in exclamation point. This question might sound elementary but this bothers me. Thanks and More Power!

Hi Artem

Welcome to the forum.

Here is what The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) has to say:

[i]SENTENCE TYPES

There are two main classifications of sentences, one based on grammar (i.e., on the number and kinds of clauses they contain), the other based on rhetorical purpose or meaning. The grammatical sentence types are four: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. The meaning-based types are three: statement, question, and command (also called declarative, interrogative, and imperative).[/i]

What I have to say :wink: is that imperative sentences can end with either a period OR an exclamation mark. If an imperative sentence ends with an exclamation mark, then the sentence is both imperative and exclamatory.

But the sentence type (according to my the above quote) would be only imperative.

Amy