Imperative

Using the Imperative in English is actually not very difficult. You could even say that it is possibly one of the easiest things amongst all of the grammatical hazards you might cross when learning English.

What is the Imperative?
The Imperative is a use of a verb which commands somebody to do something. It can be used in an affirmative – that means positive – way, or a negative way, ordering somebody to refrain from doing something. Depending on the situation in which the Imperative is used, it can be understood to be a demand or an order, the intensity is created by the situation in which the Imperative is used.

How to use the Imperative?
Using the Imperative is fairly simple as you only have to use the Infinite form of the verb which you learn right from the beginning when learning a new word. This form is also always given when you look up a new word in a dictionary – to learn, to speak, to sleep, to eat – all these Infinitives are the exact words you would use when using the Imperative: Eat! Speak! Sleep!

Forms of affirmative Imperatives
The exclamation marks clarify the command, but you don’t necessarily have to use them. In an affirmative command, you want somebody to do something. You can phrase this very nicely by adding please or other kind phrases making it sound like a request rather than an order.

Peter, please go and bring me the coffee.
Susan, take this newspaper and put it away, please.

By leaving please or thank you, you make the Imperative sound less like a nice request and more like an order. Here it becomes clear that the person you speak to has no choice to decide whether he or she wants to comply or not.

Tobias, turn off that light.
Maggie, do your homework.

If you add an exclamation mark, your order becomes very straightforward and there can be no misunderstanding that you are very serious about this business:

Come here!
Leave that alone!
Bring me the newspaper!

Use of the negative Imperative
You can also use the Imperative in a negative way. By doing that, you order somebody to refrain from doing something.

Don’t eat that!
Don’t go outside, it is raining.
Peter, please don’t play with that toy, it is not yours.

To use the negative Imperative, you only have to add Don’t and put it right before the Imperative verb form. The rest of the structure depends on the sentence you want to use. If the sentence has an object it will follow the verb:

Don’t play the piano.
If you mean to be polite, you can add please or thanks after the object.
Don’t go outside, please.

Exceptions
One exception is the use of the word stop. When you order someone to stop doing something – you have to use a gerund form of the verb following it. The reason for this is simple. The person you are ordering to stop doing something is already in the process of doing it and this is always described with a gerund (the –ing form of a verb).

Stop playing the piano!
Stop eating that!

You see that using the Imperative of a verb is very simple and straightforward. It is just advisable to use it carefully as it expresses the relation between you and the person you are ordering to do something. Making it sound like a nice request is not only polite but avoids tensions between you and the other person. Imperatives are usually used when the power balance is off, for example when a parent orders a child to do something, a teacher wants a student to do something or – the most obvious case – the soldier has to follow a command his superior gives to him. Unless you are in one of those positions, it is always advisable to be polite.

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