📄️ Introduction
Simple (one-clause) sentences come in four main types from the point of view of structure:
📄️ Sentence structure: basic word order
Subject – verb – object/complement
📄️ Questions: basic rules
These rules apply to most ordinary spoken and written questions. For declarative questions (e.g. This is your car?), (see here). For rhetorical questions (e.g. What’s the use of asking her?), (see here). For echo questions (e.g. She’s invited how many?), (see here). For reply questions (e.g. Did you, dear?), (see here) For question tags, (see here).
📄️ Negative structures: basic rules
Negative verb forms: auxiliary + not
📄️ Negative questions
Structure: Doesn’t she understand? / Does she not understand?
📄️ Negative structures with think, hope, seem, etc
I don’t think …
📄️ Multiple negatives: I couldn’t see nobody
English and other languages
📄️ Ambiguous negatives
In a negative structure, not can refer to different parts of a sentence. Compare:
📄️ Non-affirmative words: anybody, ever, yet, etc
There are some words that are not often used in affirmative sentences – for example any, anybody, ever, yet. When we affirm or assert (that is, when we say that something is true) we normally use other words – for example some, somebody, once, sometimes, already. Compare:
📄️ Exclamations
Exclamations are often constructed with how and what or with so and such; negative question forms are also common.
📄️ Imperatives
Forms and use
📄️ *let* introducing imperatives
English verbs do not have a first-person imperative (used to suggest that I or we should do something), or a third-person imperative (for other people besides the hearer). However, let can be used to construct a type of imperative.