12 And, conversely, the following list illustrates some of the function
in addition to commands that imperatives can be used for, depending on the situational context:
Other uses of imperatives in addition to commands are:
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a. Offers, example : Have another biscuit. b. Suggestion, let’s always in this contracted form, and let is also used
in the imperative with an adverbial adjunct. Example
: Let’s start early. Let the window down
Don’t let the dog out. To make informal suggestions, we can use of supposesupposing,
howwhat about.
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Example : Suppose you let me have a try
Howwhat about trying to do it my way? Had better
combines suggestion, and it conveys the idea ‘it would be advisable or right to’
Example : We’d better start early.
c. Request forms
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1. Could you is a very useful request form, and used to make informal request.
Example : could you please show me the way to….?
2. Will youwould you please Example
: willwould you please count your charge? Would is more polite than will and students are advised to use it.
3. Perhaps you would……...implies confidence that the other person will perform this service.
22
Marianne Celce-Murcia, and Diane Larsen Freeman, The Grammar Book: An ESLEFL Teacher’s Course: second edition, New York: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, inc. 1999, pp.233-
234.
23
A S Hornby, Guide To Patterns and Usage in English :second edition, New York : Oxford University Press, 1975, p.197.
24
A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, A Practical English Grammar: third edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981, p.248.
13 Example
: perhaps you would let me know when your new stock arrives = please let me know
4. If you would……is an extremely useful request form. It is used in spoken English for routine-type request which the speaker is quite
sure will be obeyed. Example
: if you’d just put your address….. 5. I shouldwould be very grateful if you would………is a formal
request form found chiefly in letters but possible in speech: Example
: I should be very grateful if you would let me know if you have any vacancies…..
6. Would you be goodkind enough to keep me informed….? Example
: would you be so kind as to keep me informed…..? 7. Would you mind + gerund
Example : would you mind signing this form?
8. You might can express a very casual request. Example
: you might post these letters for me. The difference between command and a request lies in the speaker’s
tone of voice and the use of please. Please can come at the beginning or end of a request
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: Open the door please, Please open the door.
The word please may be omitted. However, including please make the request sentence more polite please may also inserted at the end,
instead of the beginning, of the sentence. the negative word not is used in request sentences when let’s or would or another auxiliary
appears in addition to the main verb. Don’t is used in the first pattern. Example: please don’t open the door.
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25
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Fundamentals of English Grammar, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice hall, 1985, p.70.
26
Robert Krohn, English Sentence Structure, USA: The University of Michigan, 1971, p.66.
14 If the request is short, the noun may also follow the request –open the
door, Robert.
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d. Advice forms
