money provided hundreds of families with excellent houses.
Most of us, seeing this pair of sentences, would find it difficult to resist the urge to combine them:
The money was spent on urban regeneration and it provided hundreds of families with excellent houses.
Compound and complex sentences link connected thoughts in an economical way. Indeed, a third thought could safely be added:
The money was spent on urban regeneration and provided hundreds of families with excellent houses, but it did not take funds away from existing public housing schemes.
Beyond this you have to be careful, or risk confusing or overloading the reader. By the way, did you notice the two words used to link the three thoughts or sentences into one? They are and and but, conjunctions that are commonly used to build compound and complex sentences. (See discussion under Grammatical Glue, page 138.)
Types of Regular Sentences
Earlier, we defined four uses for sentences. Each of these calls for a different type of sentence, and it’s worth knowing what they are:
A DECLARATIVE SENTENCE makes a statement:
A rose bush grew in the garden.
Ben has just thrown a ball through the window.
An INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE asks a question:
Is that a rose bush in the garden?
Did Ben just throw a ball through the window?
An IMPERATIVE SENTENCE directs or commands:
Look at that rose bush in the garden.
See if Ben’s thrown a ball through the window.
An EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE expresses emotion:
I wouldn’t dream of touching that rose bush!
I’ll scream if Ben’s thrown a ball through the window!
Another aspect of a sentence is that it can express thoughts or actions positively or negatively:
I like eating in restaurants is a positive sentence.
I don’t like eating in restaurants is a negative sentence.
The difference may seem obvious in these two examples but a sentence can damage itself with the inclusion – sometimes unconsciously – of double negatives and near or quasi-negatives:
I don’t know nothing. (non-standard double negative)
It was a not unusual sight to see the heron flying away. (acceptable double negative)
I hardly saw nobody at the sale. (negative and quasi-negative)
There’s no question that Robert will pay the debt. (negative, but the no question is intended to positively express ‘no doubt whatsoever’)
I can’t help but applaud her generosity. (intended to be positive but grammatically the sentence expresses a negative sense)
The second example is an instance of what is called litotes (pron. LY-to-tees), which is an elegant form of understatement expressed by denying something negative:
She’s not a bad cook means She’s quite a good cook.
The effect is by no means negligible means The effect is quite noticeable.
The negative/positive aspect of sentences is worth noting because a diet of too much negativism in your speech and writing can have an overall negative or depressing effect, and can be confusing, too. Sometimes it is better to express negative thoughts in a positive way. She is not beautiful or She’s by no means beautiful are not only negative but vague – she could be statuesque or handsome. A more positive and precise description might be: She is rather homely.
The ‘Voice’ of a Sentence
All sentences are either active or passive, and it is up to the user to decide which ‘voice’ to use. This voice is not something you hear, by the way; it is rather a point of view. The voice of a sentence is the kind of verbal inflection used to express whether the subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice). Here are a few examples of both:
| • ACTIVE | The favourite won the 3.30 hurdle event. |
| Her boyfriend bought the ring. | |
| Very few can appreciate his paintings. | |
| • PASSIVE | The 3.30 hurdle event was won by the favourite. |
| The ring was bought by her boyfriend. | |
| His paintings can be appreciated by very few. |
Even a cursory glance at these sentences tell you that active sentences are more direct, lively and interesting than passive sentences, which tend to be detached and impersonal – ancient history, as some would have it. Generally, we use the active voice almost exclusively in our everyday speech and writing, while the passive voice is reserved mostly for technical, scientific and academic writing.
Being aware of the roles of active and passive voice in sentences helps to avoid mixing them – a topic discussed a little later (see Harmony in the Sentence, page 41).
The Mood of a Sentence
Another quality of a sentence is its ‘mood’, or more accurately the mood of its verb – another kind of verbal inflection used to express the speaker’s intention in a sentence, such as making a statement (indicative), giving a command (imperative), or posing a hypothetical situation (subjunctive). Here are some examples:
| • INDICATIVE MOOD | She’s tired and exhausted. |
| Summer is just around the corner. | |
| Is that all we’re having for dinner tonight? | |
| • IMPERATIVE MOOD | Call me tomorrow. |
| Don’t call me, I’ll call you. | |
| Tell me about it tomorrow. | |
| • SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD | If I were you, I’d tell them about it. |
| The judge ordered that he be tried for theft. | |
| The poor girl wished she were dead. |
Although we often use the subjunctive mood without being aware of it (I wish you were here; God Save the Queen; So be it; If I were you I’d . . .) perhaps because such utterances are idiomatic, it is nevertheless the mood that gives us the most trouble.
Here is a sentence from the Guardian which, if it were grammatically correct (note the subjunctive were, indicating
