Purpose:
A declarative sentence is a simple sentence, used in various types of writing. From news reports to short story prose, the purpose of a declarative sentence is to provide a direct link to information, consistently ending with a period. A declarative sentence often releases a key component of information, captivating the reader. Always containing a subject and a predicate, the declarative sentence is the most common sentence that one shall read. While reading, a declarative sentence may go unnoticed, and thus the author may accentuate the information, asserting the accuracy or distortion of something. This allows the author to create a sense of tension and urgency.
Steps for Analysis:
Identify the declarative sentence, through the frankness and tone. These sentences will end in a period.
Direct your primary focus to the purpose of the sentences.
What is being emphasized?
Why is it important?
Does/or does it not add value to the writing?
Contemplate the significance and the reason for its position within the sentence.
Consider why the author may have chosen such a direct tone when conveying the sentence and what does that tone do for the rest of the writing?
How would the reader interpret it?
Example From: ‘Ain’t I A Woman’(1851) By: Sojourner Truth
“I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man.”
Analysis of Passage:
In 1851, Sojourner Truth, a civil rights activist and African-American abolitionist, spoke at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention about the importance of protecting young African-Americans and women. The forthright opinion and assertive tone tells the audience that this is a declarative sentence. Her speech posed a question, which sparked the powerful sentence, “I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man.”, with that question being, “And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was your part?” Truth asserted her point, claiming that women are just as capable, if not more so, as men. Though women would not gain complete rights until 1919, officially ratified in August 1920, Truth’s words allowed for optimism.
All this was conveyed through a series of declarative sentences. The 19th amendment protects women’s unalienable rights, however, if it were not for Sojourner Truth and the work she did, along with many others, would women have the rights and freedoms that they do today? Truth’s speeches were powerful and the reason that they were so powerful was because they were frank and concise. Allowing the audience to feel the passion and the hurt behind her words and in the end hopefully convincing the nation to fight for equality amongst all. These elements form the perfect declarative sentence. This sentence should be known as the ‘mic drop’ as it jump-started the fight for women’s rights.
Lister, Kat, translator. "The 10 greatest speeches of all time, by 10 inspirational women." marieclaire.co.uk, 6 Oct. 2015, www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/people/the-10-greatest-all-time-speeches-by-10-inspirational-women-797322015. Accessed 3 Sept. 2022.