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Imperative Sentences

Imperative Sentences. Ed McCorduck English 402--Grammar SUNY Cortland http://mccorduck.cortland.edu. slide 2: characteristics of imperative sentences. Imperative sentences give commands or orders usually have no overt subject (if there is one, it’s normally you )

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Imperative Sentences

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  1. Imperative Sentences Ed McCorduck English 402--Grammar SUNY Cortland http://mccorduck.cortland.edu

  2. slide 2: characteristics of imperative sentences Imperative sentences give commands or orders usually have no overt subject (if there is one, it’s normally you) always have the base form of the verb English 402: Grammar

  3. slide 3: examples of imperative sentences exx Bring me a beer. Be here by midnight. Shut your mouth. English 402: Grammar

  4. slide 4: examples of imperatives and imperatives with an overt subject exx Shut your mouth. / You shut your mouth. Get the hell out of here. / You get the hell out of here. English 402: Grammar

  5. As thus demonstrated, since most imperatives can have an overt subject with you, in Reed-Kellogg diagrams of imperative sentences without an overt subject an x is put in the subject slot on the main horizontal line before the vertical subject/predicate dividing line and the first letter of the first word in the imperative sentence is capitalized. slide 5: Reed-Kellogg diagrams of imperative sentences English 402: Grammar

  6. ex Reed-Kellogg diagram of Bring me a beer: slide 6: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of an imperative sentence English 402: Grammar

  7. ex Reed-Kellogg diagram of Be here by midnight: slide 7: another example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of an imperative sentence English 402: Grammar

  8. ex Reed-Kellogg diagram of You shut your mouth (both imperative and declarative): slide 8: Reed-Kellogg diagram of an imperative sentence with an overt you subject English 402: Grammar

  9. slide 9: negative imperative sentences Negative imperative sentences result from the application of the do support transformation and the negative transformation such that do not (usually contracted to don’t in both the spoken and written language) occurs before the base form of the verb: Don’t bring me a warm beer. Don’t becruel. English 402: Grammar

  10. slide 10: negative imperatives with an overt subject Like other imperative sentences, negative imperative sentences can have an overt subject you, but in negative imperatives this subject occurs after the initial don’t (i.e., the inversion transformation applies): Don’t touch that. / Don’t you touch that. Don’t screw around. / Don’t you screw around. English 402: Grammar

  11. Negative imperative sentences are diagrammed like regular imperative sentences with an x for the unexpressed subject except that don’t is placed along with the main verb after the vertical subject/predicate dividing line (similar to negative declarative sentences with do-support; cf. slide 10 of the “Negative Sentences” lecture). slide 11: Reed-Kellogg diagrams of negative imperative sentences English 402: Grammar

  12. ex Reed-Kellogg diagram of Don’t touch that: slide 12: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of a negative imperative sentence English 402: Grammar

  13. ex Reed-Kellogg diagram of Don’t you touch that: slide 13: Reed-Kellogg diagram of a negative imperative sentence with an overt you English 402: Grammar

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