V. TYPES OF SENTENCES

Principles of classification: there are two principles used for the classification of sentences.

1. The first principle is according to TYPES OF COMMUNICATION. Applying that principle we obtain a classification into declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences.

1.1.Declarative sentences assert or deny something, E.g.: A wind had cleared the mist, the autumn leaves were rustling and the stars were shining.

1.2. Interrogative sentences ask a question: Do you like this?

IV. ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SENTENCES

1. THE SENTENCE IS UNIQUE AMONG LINGUISTIC UNITS

The sentence is unique among other linguistic units: unlike words and phrases sentences don't exist as prefabricated units (the sentence doesn’t exist in the system of language as a ready-made unit); there is no 'vocabulary list of sentences', sentences are created every time a new in the act of communication following certain sentence patterns. Therefore the sentence, unlike the word, is not a unit of language proper; it is a chunk of text built up as a result of speech-making process, out of different units of language, first of all words, which are the immediate constituents of contextually bound sentences.

1. THE SENTENCE – DEFINITION, FEATURES AND TYPES

 I. INTRODUCTION

Syntax is a major branch of linguistics which along with morphology deals with the description of the structure / grammar / of linguistic expressions. 

Morphology / from Old Greek – “the study of form”/ deals with the paradigms of forms of linguistic units, e.g. the forms that tell aspect, mood etc. of a verbal lexeme. Syntax / from Old Greek – “putting together”/ deals with the combinations of linguistic units /syntagmatic relations/ into larger structures – phrases and sentences. The main unit of study in syntax, however, is the sentence, while phrases are on the borderline between morphology and syntax.

Because the sentence is essential for syntactic analysis, it is very important to give a definition of this linguistic unit.