Sentence functions self-test 1
Below is a list of famous quotations from Shakespeare (which play?). Decide what function each sentence performs and write the appropriate function (statement; question; exclamation; imperative) in the box alongside.
| Sentence | Answer | Feedback | ||||
| What bloody man is that? | ||||||
| Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. | ||||||
| So foul and fair a day I have not seen. | ||||||
| Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? | ||||||
| We fail! | ||||||
| Bring forth men children only | ||||||
| I have done the deed. | ||||||
| Wherefore could I not pronounce 'Amen'? | ||||||
| Give me the daggers. | ||||||
| Be bloody, bold and resolute. | ||||||
| What's done cannot be undone. | ||||||
| Out, out, brief candle! |
Just looking at the sentence functions provides information about the characters and the relationships. Early in the play Macbeth asks many questions reflecting his uncertainty and reluctance to kill the king, whilst Lady Macbeth's speeches are full of imperatives, showing her control and dominance. Towards the end of the play, it is Macbeth who uses imperatives and exclamations and, in her tormented sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth is asking strings of questions.