Lecture 1 Fundamentals of grammar

Representatives – here the speaker asserts a proposition to be true, using
such verbs as: affirm, believe, conclude, deny, report.
Directives – here the speaker tries to make the hearer do something, with
such words as: ask, beg, challenge, command, dare, invite, insist, request.
Commissives – here the speaker commits himself (or herself) to a (future)
course of action, with verbs such as: guarantee, pledge, promise, swear, vow,undertake.
Expressives – the speaker expresses an attitude to or about a state of affairs,
using such verbs as: apologize, appreciate, congratulate, deplore, detest, regret,thank, welcome.
Declarations – the speaker alters the external status or condition of an
object or situation, solely by making the utterance: I now pronounce you man and wife, I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until you be dead, I name this ship...
Other scholars identify more pragmatic types of sentences. They include
constatives, promisives, menacives, requestives, injunctives, offertives,
permissives, prohibitives, and quesitives.
Constatives are statements about something. They are always assertions,
never questions or inducements. e.g. This is my cat.
Promisives are sentences containing a promise. Just like constatives, they
are always declarative. e.g. We’ll get you a new book.
The same is true for menacives – sentences containing a threat. e.g. You’ll
be sorry.
Directives induce the addressee to some action. e.g. Open the door. Come
here.
Two types of directives are usually differentiated: requestives – sentences
containing a request, and injunctives – sentences containing an order.
Cf. Please help me with this suitcase. Get out of here!
Offertives are sentences containing an offer. e.g. Have a cigarette.