Believe it or not, there are four types of sentences, usually in academic writing the most common form of sentence you will need to write is a statement sentence. A formal academic tone is required through the body of your statement, and it is no good to write exclamatory sentences such as – T.S Eliot was a great man! If however you wrote, T.S. Eliot was a great man because of his contribution to the twenty-century literary cannon this would work. Let’s unpack the types of sentences you can have.

Statements are the most common type of sentence. Statements impart information to the reader or listener. A statement sentence does not necessarily expect a response from its audience. I went for a walk along the riverbank is a statement.

Questioning sentences end with a question mark instead of a full stop and expect a response from someone – not necessarily the audience. A questioning sentence has a distinct word order that is a reversal of a statement. The statement he likes chicken wings becomes Does he like chicken wings? Questioning sentences are not normally used in essay writing, as your job is to answer a question, however it is acceptable to address questions you may have in your introduction, while also answering them. For example, why did T.S. Eliot write poetry about isolation and loneliness? One could ascertain that the reason for this was that he was making an attempt to understand the world around him, using poetry as a tool.

You can also use rhetorical questions, if they are carefully placed, say at the end of a section. A rhetorical question does not expect an answer; it can be used as a device to drive your argument and to make the reader think in a broader context.

Directive sentences give orders pay for essay reddit to or to not do something. They usually don’t have a subject as it is obvious who is being addressed. Directives can be abrupt: Stop! Listen! Sit down and shut up! Or they can be simple instructions or invitations: please pass the mustard; come out for a drink with us. From these examples, it is clear that you should not use directive sentences in your essay writing, but understanding what the different types of sentences there are will only make you a much stronger and competent writer.