Bill points out rightly that the form/function distinction that we’ve discussed with respect to words and their parts of speech also applies at the level of sentence.  Linguistically, just as we define a part of speech by its morphosyntactic behavior supplemented by meaning when needed, we also define the sentence types by their structural characteristics.  Picking up on Bill’s reference to the use of interrogative structure to express requests, there is a reasonable argument that this subset of interrogatives actually do form a sentence type, one that Georgia Green, back in the 60s, aptly called “whimperative.”  What makes these distinct from yes/no questions is that they must take second person singular subjects, they begin with modals, and they can include “please” in several different syntactic positions.  And, of course, their function is to request that something be done.  Depending on the relative positions of the speaker and hearer this may or may not constitute a command. 

 

And just as we can use nouns to modify, we can use statements to query, to request, and to order.

 

Declarative as question:

 

A:  The kids are supposed to be outside playing.

B:  And it’s raining.

 

B can say this with or without rising interpretation and be understood to be asking if it’s raining, not asserting it.

 

Declarative as request:

 

A (on the phone to B):  Are you fixing pancakes for breakfast?

B:  We’re out of flour, but the grocery store’s on your way over.

 

Declarative as order:

 

Hey, you left the door open!

 

(or is that one exclamatory?)

 

Herb

 

I’ve encountered the same thing. “Exclamatory” usually means a specific construction, but texts don’t distinguish well between the construction itself and its use (and of course, modern American English-speakers don’t use the exclamatory much anyway). We’d be a lot better off, I think, if K-12 textbooks simply acknowledge that the form of a sentence and how we use it don’t always match up in the same way – we don’t need to hit students with the fancy terms from pragmatics (locutionary vs. illocutionary force), but we do need deal with the fact that the two lists below are separate:

 

                Form                     vs.          Uses

 

                Declarative                         statement

                Interrogative                     question

                Imperative                          command

                                                                Request

                Exclamatory                       express surprise

 

English-speakers usually phrase commands and requests as interrogatives (“Could you pass me the salt”) not imperatives, and quite a number of questions are expressed as declaratives (“I wonder what time it is.”). Warriner’s original grammar book can hardly be faulted for not making the distinction clear (almost no texts did at the time), but it’s a shame that the current publishers (and other textbook authors) don’t.

 

Bill Spruiell

Dept. of English

Central Michigan University.

 

 

 

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