The Imperative Mood in English
The definition of imperative mood in English. Examples of the imperative sentences.
Imperative sentences express an order or a request towards either your direct interlocutor or any third party person.
Imperative sentences could be either in the affirmative or in negative form.
A direct request or an order to your interlocutor is expressed by the sentence with the verb in the imperative mood.
Affirmative form of the verb in the imperative mood for both singular and plural is the same as the base form of the verb (infinitive form):
Meet!
Tell!
Usually the imperative sentence begins with a verb, as the subject is not mentioned:
Meet Ben!
Tell Peter!
The negative form of the imperative mood is formed by putting the auxiliary verb do and the not negative particle in front of the main verb.
Do not write.
The imperative sentences in English are divided into the following types:
1. Sentences expressing an order: Read louder.
2. Sentences expressing a ban: Don’t open the window.
3. Sentences with the verb let expressing the wish that an action be carried out by the speaker together with another person (let us) or that an action be carried out by a third person (or persons) (let him, let them): Let’s read the letter! Let him do it himself! Let them go there.
You have to use the word please in a sentence if the verb in the imperative mood expresses a request, not an order:
Open the window, please.
Read louder, please.
Give me your book, please.
In conversation, a modal verb will is used for expressing a polite request in interrogative sentences.
Will you do it for me?
Will you help me?
Will you reserve me a place on the plane to Prague?
To better remember the use of imperative mood in English, you can use the following situations to explain, for example:
- How to get to a certain location (e.g.: go straight, don’t turn to the left, take bus #5)
- How to conduct a certain experiment (e.g.: take some water, warm it up, add some salt)
- How to send a telegram, parcel (e.g.: go to the Post Office, take a form, fill it up…)
Video with examples of English sentences in the imperative mood. The teacher says the sentence, and the student does what has been requested or ordered:
The students of an English class were asked to write a sentence in the imperative mood on their hands with a marker in order to firmly memorize the material:
What does the word “imperative” mean? Upon teacher’s assignment a student has made a cartoon that explains the meaning of this word: