4GL statements are based on Ingres SQL, industry standard SQL, and the Ingres proprietary QUEL. The statements available to you in a 4GL program include most SQL statements as well as Ingres SQL extensions. In most cases, the query statements in 4GL correspond very closely to standard SQL releases.

One of the strengths of 4GL lies in incorporating the power of ANSI standard SQL and embedded SQL, reducing the need to call separate embedded language procedures from your application. Using only 4GL, you can specify queries with exactly the same syntax as with SQL.

4GL does not include embedded language FORMS features that are infrequently used, such as bare table fields. To use them, call an embedded SQL (ESQL) procedure.

In addition to embedded language procedures, 4GL statements can also activate 4GL procedures and SQL or database procedures. See Procedures for more information.