Affirmative, Negative, and Interrogative Sentences

Understanding how to form and use different types of sentences is a basic and important part of learning English grammar. In this lesson, we will learn about Affirmative, Negative, and Interrogative sentences in detail.

1. Affirmative Sentences 

An affirmative sentence tells you that something is true or happening. It gives positive information.

 Structure:

Subject + Verb + Object

 Examples:

• She is a teacher.

• They are playing football.

• I like mangoes.

• He goes to school every day.

 Notes:

• The verb is in its normal positive form.

• No “not” or question word is used.

 Tip:

Use affirmative sentences to give information, express opinions, or describe routines.

2. Negative Sentences 

A negative sentence tells you that something is not true or not happening. It adds ‘not’ or negative helping verbs to deny the action.

 Structure:

Subject + Auxiliary Verb + NOT + Main Verb + Object

 Examples:

• She is not a doctor.

• I do not like coffee.

• They are not coming today.

• He does not speak French.

 Rules:

• Use do/does + not for present simple.

  • I/We/You/They – use do not (don’t)

  • He/She/It – use does not (doesn’t)

• Use did not (didn’t) for past simple:

  • She did not call me yesterday.

 Tip:

Don’t forget to use the base form of the verb after do/does/did.
Wrong: He doesn’t goes to school.
Correct: He doesn’t go to school.

3. Interrogative Sentences 

An interrogative sentence asks a question. It is used when we want to get information.

There are two types of interrogative sentences:

• Yes/No Questions

• WH- Questions

 A. Yes/No Questions

These questions can be answered with just “yes” or “no”.

Structure:
Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb + Object?

Examples:

• Is she coming?

• Do you like pizza?

• Does he live here?

• Did they go to school?

 B. WH-Questions

These begin with question words like:
What, Where, When, Why, Who, Whose, How

Structure:
WH-Word + Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb + Object?

Examples:

• What do you want?

• Where are they going?

• Why did she leave early?

• How does this machine work?

Rules and Tips:

• Use a question mark (?) at the end.

• Helping verbs change according to tense:

  • Do/Does – Present

  • Did – Past

  • Is/Are/Am – Present continuous

  • Has/Have/Did – Perfect tenses

• Word order is reversed compared to affirmative:

  • Affirmative: You are happy.

  • Interrogative: Are you happy?

Practice Time:

Turn the following sentence into all three types:

Base sentence: “She sings well.”

• Affirmative: She sings well.

• Negative: She does not sing well.

• Interrogative: Does she sing well?

Summary