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15. WHAT ARE DECLARATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES?
A sentence can be classified according to its purpose, whether it makes a statement or asks a question.
A declarative sentence is a sentence tat is a statement; it declares the information. Columbus discovered America in 1492. An interrogative sentence is a sentence tat asks a question. When did Columbus discover America?
In written language, an interrogative sentence always ends with a
question mark.
IN ENGLISH A declarative sentence can be changed to an interrogative sentence in one of two ways:
1. by adding the auxiliary verb do, does, or did before the subject and changing the main verb to the dictionary form of the verb (do and does are used to introduce a question in the present tense and did to introduce a question in the past tense—see What is the Present Tense?, p. 60 and What is the Past Tense?, p. 62). Declarative Philip likes sports cars. Paul and Mary sing together. Mark went to Lima. Interrogative Does Philip like sports cars? Do Paul and Mary sing together? Did Mark go to Lima?
2. by inverting or switching the normal word order of subject + verb so the word order in the question is verb + subject Declarative Paul is home. I verb subject I am late. I verb subject She will come tomorrow. III verb subject —* InterrogatIve Is Paul home? I sutkiect verb Am I late? I subject verb
Will she come tomorrow? L subject verb
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IN SPANISH A declarative sentence is changed to an interrogative sentence by placing the subject after the verb. The word order of the question is verb + subject.
Declarative Juan estudia. John studies. —~ Interrogative tEstudia Juan? Does John study? Los niflos cantan. ~Cantan los ninos? The children sing. Do the children sing? Notice that in written Spanish the question is signalled at both the beginning and end of the sentence. The punctuation mark at the begin- ning of the sentence looks like an upside-down question mark Q); a question mark like the one in English is located at the end of the sen- tence (?).
Be sure to ignore the auxiliary verbs do, does, did when using Spanish. Spanish has no such helping verbs.
When a statement consists of a subject and verb plus one or two words, those few words are usually placed between the subject and the verb. The word order of the question is verb + remainder + subject. Declarative Juan estudia espanol. I I subject verb remainder
John studies Spanish.
La casa es grande. subject verb remainder
The house is big.
Los niños cantan bien. subject verb I remainder
The children sing well. —+ Interrogative tEstudia espanol Juan? verb I subject remainder Does John study Spanish?
~Es grande la casa? verb I subject remainder
Is the house big?
tCantan bien los niflos? verb I subject remainder
Do the children sing well? Tag Questions In both English and Spanish when you expect a yes-or-no answer to a question, you can transform a statement into a question by adding a short phrase to the end of the statement. This short phrase is often called a tag or a tag question.
IN ENGLISH The tag question repeats the idea of the statement in a negative way. John is a nice guy, isn’t he? We study a lot, don’t we?
IN SPANISH The words ~no?, ~verdad?, or jno es verdad? can be added to the end of a statement to form a tag question. Juan es un buen chico, jno? John is a nice guy, isn’t he?
Trabajas mucho, ~verdad? You work hard, don’t you?
Hoy es miércoles, Lno es verdad? Today is Wednesday, isn’t it? |
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