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Imperative verbs are used for giving orders, but they can sound rude and offend others if you are not careful. This lesson is designed to teach you how to get what you want using imperative verbs while being polite. After watching this video, please practice by doing our quiz. Expect great results with little effort in this essential English lesson. Take the quiz here: http://www.engvid.com/how-to-give-com...

TRANSCRIPT

Straighten that spine! Stand up straight! Imperatives. Welcome. James, from EngVid. If I seem crazy, I was giving orders, sir! Okay? An "imperative" is a command. I mean, we have statements in English. We have questions. You know, we've done lessons on those. An imperative is usually a command. I'm going to give you a quick primer, or quick lesson, on imperatives. Nothing special. And then, I want to do something a little different. I want to show you how to modify it. So let's look at imperatives.

What is an imperative? As I said, it's a command. You tell somebody to do something. You do not ask. You just tell them and expect it to be done. "Shut up. Sit down. Get out." That's it.

Next, how do we make an imperative? Well, when I said, "Shut up. Sit down. Get out", you notice the verb is in the infinitive form minus "to". There is no "to". "I have to", "got to" -- nothing. Just the verb -- or you could say "base form". Right? No particle "to".

Next, an imperative, when given, it's in the second person. I know not everybody understands the second and third person, so I'll be quick, but hopefully easy. I'll make it easy for you. First person is "I". I am the first person. You speak about yourself. The third person is when you talk about groups and others. Right? "They" or "them" or "we". The second person is a strange one. It's "you". Well, sometimes, you want to say to someone, like, "You can do this. You can do that." That's the second person because I'm speaking to someone directly, and that's you, you the audience. "You" can be either singular or plural. When we talk about imperatives, we're talking about "you". "Sit down. You sit down." We just don't say it. Right? So when somebody tells you to sit down, really, they're saying, "You sit down." They just don't say it. It's understood. And a command is direct. You cannot interpret -- which means trying to translate or figure it out -- you're just supposed to do it. Right? "Drive slower." Don't try to translate. Just do it. Right?

Now, also, one other small thing. Usually, imperatives are not given with modals. There's a small exception. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes, we use "be able to". But when we use "be able to", it's very specific. Here we go. Okay? Your instructor or coach at the gym might say to you, right, "You need to be able to do 100 pushups tomorrow." "Be able to". It's an order. It's not asking you. It's not "can you do them?" It's, "Be able to read this or recite this tomorrow." You must do it. It's an order. It's the only exception, really, with modals. Otherwise, we don't. And this is rarely used. But I know there are some of you out there who will go, "I heard" -- and I'm telling you. So got you. All right? This is the rare exception. Otherwise, modals aren't used with imperatives.

That's a quick imperative lesson. So we use imperatives all the time. But if you use them -- and I see students doing it regularly -- you offend people because they are strong. They can be rude. I know in many of your cultures, you have a language for politeness. In English, we don't necessarily, but we can modify the imperative to make it more polite. I'm going to show you today a few ways to do that. All right? So let's go to the board.

Private E, stand down. All right? Let's start off with "please", "please and thank you". You hear this all the time. "Please, please, please, thank you, thank you." You know this is polite. Well, how do we use "please" with an imperative, right, to make it soft? Well, one of the first things I want to tell you is when we use the imperative like "sit down", "sit down" is an order. It's not nice. "Sit down!" Right? "Behave!" But if I say, "Please sit down", I'm offering it to you. I'm still telling you what to do, but I'm being polite. So when we really want to be polite but still followed -- right? You still want to do it -- you put "please" at the beginning of the sentence. "Please sit down. Please introduce yourself." If you drop the "please", listen to what I'm saying. "Please sit down." "Sit down." "Please introduce yourself." "Introduce yourself." I'm still saying you must do this, but what I'm actually doing is being polite by saying "please" first.

http://www.engvid.com/ In this lesson, you'll learn eight fun English expressions that will make your speech more interesting. First and foremost, I'll teach you what binomials are. Next, you'll learn two different types of binomials. These will help you to speak and understand English. Learning expressions is part and parcel of learning a language. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you can keep learning. Your English will improve by leaps and bounds!
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TRANSCRIPT

[Sings] By no means, binomial -- hi. James, from EngVid. Today's lesson is going to be on expressions. Well, I want to do something on expressions. And it's rather interesting that these expressions are different. You'll notice number one, all the expressions I have here are joined by a conjunction. A conjunction is usually "and", "but", or "or". And a conjunction puts two things together. You'll also notice that there are two different types of them. There are sound patterns, and synonyms. And the third thing that we have to do, too -- it's a lesson on "two" it seems, right? These patterns are sometimes called "binomials". And you're probably going "bi what?" I don't blame you. But to make it easy, remember I've been speaking about two? "Bi" means "two" in English. "Bicycle", right? "Bifocals". "Nomial" just means "name". "Name", right? So "name" or -- I should say, "word". So basically, a binomial is two words. And what we're going to work on today is, well, expressions with two words.

Now, in English, there are a couple of them. There are actually four, but I'm only going to do two today. We have -- the first one I'm going to work on is sound patterns. "Sound patterns" means when you say it, they kind of sound similar. "Odds and ends", "prim and proper", "wine and dine", "part and parcel". They kind of rhyme a little bit, or they have, you know, a similar type of sound. So a lot of our sound patterns and binomials, they do have a meaning, and I'm going to explain four for you today so you can make your vocabulary or your expression vocabulary larger. All right? So let's do the first one.

"Odds and ends". What are "odds and ends"? "Odd" means "strange". "End" means "finish". Not in this case. "Odds and ends" means small, unimportant things. So if I ask Mr. E, "Mr. E, can you move the big boxes, and I'll move the odds and ends later?" It means -- I mean, what is this stuff? Just stuff. Just move this stuff later. It's odds and ends. It's odd stuff. It doesn't have a pattern it fits into. Not important. Odds and ends, right?

Now, I like this one. You have to be -- I've got it here again. I'm going to do it if I can. In England, "prim and proper". "Prim and proper". It means "fancy and fussy". Fancy and fussy. Fancy as in, you know, the British like to speak like this. And "fussy" means being very particular about something. So when you say someone is "prim and proper", their shirts will be just -- their shirts will be proper; they will stand with a certain posture like they've got a stick up their bum bum; and they will walk like this and talk like this. "Prim and proper." They will not use contractions like "don't" and "can't". That's not proper. Okay? So if someone says you need to be "prim and proper", they mean you need to be somewhat serious, and you know, do not use those contractions, and act properly. All right? "Prim and proper". A little bit fussy, a little particular, a little snooty, snobby. All right? Yeah.

Okay, what about "wine and dine"? Well, you can wine and dine E and I anytime you wish. Just come to my house -- no. Take me to a fancy restaurant. "Wine and dine." Just think of it this way: "Wine" -- you know you go to a nice restaurant, and "dine" means to eat. When you "wine and dine" someone, it means to entertain. "Come to my place, I'll wine and dine you. I'll entertain you." Simple, right? But it's got that rhyming thing, and it's a little nicer. It rolls off the tongue. All right?

And how about this: "part and parcel". It means "belong to". What? Well, the word "parcel" means a "package". A "part" means -- well, you know what "part" means. There are four pieces; each is a "part". So it's part of a package. Let's do this, okay? So part of a package. So here's a parcel. I'm not exactly the best drawer, right? It's a box. You get a parcel in the mail, yeah? Well, this is a part of that. So when you say "part and parcel", it means it belongs to that. Cool enough, yeah?