Eng Mal
Eng Mal
Eng Mal
What Is a Sentence?
Read the groups of words in the table below and compare those in column A with the
ones in column B.
A B
1. Rachna school 1. Sri Lanka is an island.
2. when the grasshopper 2. Meenu has three T-shirts.
3. Sri Lanka island an is 3. My brother likes cold coffee.
4. likes brother cold coffee my 4. Where is Nagaland?
All four groups of words in column A are meaningless. But all the groups of words in
column B make sense. They are sentences.
A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense. It has a unity, stands
independently and expresses a clear meaning.
A sentence must contain an action word, or verb. Sentences also contain a subject, or
the doer of the action. Some sentences include an object, that is, the person or thing
that undergoes the action.
Cheetahs [subject: doer of the action] run [verb: action] fast.
Cheetahs [subject: doer of the action] chase [verb: action] deer [object: thing
that undergoes the action].
Sentences begin with a capital letter. They end with a full stop (.), a question mark (?)
or an exclamation mark (!).
EXERCISE 1 Tick the groups of words that are sentences and cross out the ones
which are not.
1. Swimming is a good exercise.
2. Mylapore Chennai is in.
3. Plastic cups.
4. Grace is seventeen years old.
1
?:
:
! ; ? ! ! ! ? ! :;
? :
Types of Sentences
There are four major types of sentences.
1. Declarative sentences tell something and end with a full stop.
Amazon is a river.
Nikita ate three bananas in the morning.
Our grandfather lives in Madurai.
Charles Dickens was a famous British novelist.
2
?:
:
! ; ? ! ! ! ? ! :;
? :
EXERCISE 3 Indicate with tick marks in the table below what type each of the
following sentences is. Then add correct end punctuation mark to
the sentences. One is done for you. Some could have more than one
answer.
3
?:
:
! ; ? ! ! ! ? ! :;
? :
4
?:
:
! ; ? ! ! ! ? ! :;
? :
EXERCISE 5 Write imperative sentences that can be used in each of the following
situations.
1. Request Shoaib to turn off the lights in the bedroom.
2. A warning on an electric iron that one should not touch it with wet hands.
3. A website asking you to enter a password to log in.
4. A coach shouting to his student during a running competition.
5. Instruction to stick a photograph on an application form.
6. Sign at a public place asking people to throw litter in the dustbin.
7. An emergency helpline number and the accompanying message.
8. A line from a recipe note on adding ginger.