The word "imperative" is derived from the term "emperor". Emperors gave commands, and imperative sentences are commands. Imperative sentences consist of predicates that only contain verbs in infinitive form; verb phrases are not allowed. Imperative sentences are generally terminated with an exclamation mark instead of a period.
Examples: Spend the money! Go to your room! Look in the drawer of the dresser.
An imperative sentence gives a command. It usually end with a period, but it may also end with an exclamation point (!).
Commands ask or tell people to do something.
"Please pass the salt." is a command, that does not sound as commanding as, "Get out of my way!" But, both of these sentences are imperatives because they are both asking or telling someone to do something.
Finding the Subject
This may sound strange, but every single command has the same subject! Yikes! How is that even possible?
Well, since commands are always speaking to someone or something (you've got to address them if you're going to ask them to do something), the subject is always the word you.
You may have noticed, the word "you" is not even in a command. Because of this, the subject is actually called you understood, and it is written like this: (you)
This means that the subject is the word you, but since it is not written or spoken in the sentence, it is understood and is therefore in parentheses.
Imperative
Subject
Please find my yellow leotard.
(you)
Shut the door!
(you)
Be there at 5:00.
(you)
Wash the car.
Clean up your room.
Martin, report to the counselor.
Please donate to the community charity fund.
We say that sentences must have a subject and a verb. Note that some of the above sentences do not seem to have a subject. The subject is implied, and the implied subject is you. You wash the car. You clean up your room. You is a second person pronoun. It isn't possible to make a command statement in first person or third person.
imperative sentence examples
It must have seemed imperative that the co-operation and goodwill of the profession be regained, as without it the Scheme must founder.
It emphasizes the military imperative of stabilizing Baghdad and lower expectations about a democratic polity along Western lines.
Nothing has any point - except of course the categorical imperative.
This is a compound sentence consisting of three independent clauses, all with imperative verbs.
Securing a place to work, however small or improvised, seemed imperative to me during my final year at college.
This spiritual dimension addresses the gospel imperative for equity and compassion among all peoples.
The very nature of the relations makes it absolutely imperative that every victim of unlawful appetite, in whatever direction, shall totally abstain.
Leaders have a moral imperative to develop the next generation of school leaders.
A further, far more detailed and specified development of these principles is an imperative necessity.
Thus it became imperative to relate the seaman's guess logged in Beaufort numbers to the wind speed in knots.
It is therefore imperative to include all names of jointly liable people from the start.
Reasons for action which are contingent in this way on desires and inclinations are furnished by what Kant called hypothetical imperatives.
The Organizational function often belongs grammatically to the imperative mood.
Moreover, there is an ethical imperative not to destroy the wonderful diversity of life on Earth.
The module will include an in-depth study of a declarative language through a significant programming application, contrasting it with the imperative paradigm.
The " pedagogical imperative " includes the obligation to inquire into the consequences of one's work with students.
In the context of imperative programming, the emphasis shifts from describing control flow to describing interacting objects.
Examples of the management of change under the technological imperatives we were subjected to were few, apart maybe from the Carnegie Mellon initiatives.
An abstract machine for the execution of the imperative language.
An imperative sentence gives a direct command to someone -- this type of sentence can end either with a period or with an exclamation mark, depending on how forceful the command is:
Sit!
Read this book for tomorrow.
You should not usually use an exclamation mark with the word "please":
Wash the dishes!
Please wash the dishes.
Normally, you should not use imperative sentences in academic writing. When you do use an imperative sentence, it should usually contain only a mild command, and thus, end with a period:
English Exercises > imperative exercises > Love me by Justin Bieber - Imperative
Complete with the correct verb in the imperative form.
Love me
by Justin Bieber
My friends say I'm a fool to think that you're the one for me I guess I'm just a sucker for love 'Cause honestly the truth is that you know I'm never leavin' 'Cause you're my angel sent from above Baby, you can do no wrong My money is yours, give you a little more because I love ya, love ya With me, girl, is where you belong Just right here, I promise my dear I'll put nothin' above ya, above ya me, me, that you love me me, me, oh how you do me me, me, that you miss me me what I wanna hear, me you love me X2 People try to tell me, but I still refuse to listen 'Cause they don't get to spend time with you A minute with you is worth more than a thousand days without your love Oh your love, oh Baby, you can do no wrong My money is yours, give you a little more because I love ya, love ya With me, girl, is where you belong Just stay right here, I promise my dear I'll put nothin' above ya, above ya me, me, that you love me me, me, oh how you do me me, me, that you miss me me what I wanna hear, me you love me X2 My heart is blind, but I don't care 'Cause when I'm with you, everything has disappeared And every time I hold you near I never wanna let you go, oh me, me, that you love me me, me, oh how you do me me, me, that you miss me me what I wanna hear, me you love me X2
For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.
For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or es to the auxiliary.
For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.
Look at these examples with the main verb like:
subject
auxiliary verb
main verb
+
I, you, we, they
like
coffee.
He, she, it
likes
coffee.
-
I, you, we, they
do
not
like
coffee.
He, she, it
does
not
like
coffee.
?
Do
I, you, we, they
like
coffee?
Does
he, she, it
like
coffee?
Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:
subject
main verb
+
I
am
French.
You, we, they
are
French.
He, she, it
is
French.
-
I
am
not
old.
You, we, they
are
not
old.
He, she, it
is
not
old.
?
Am
I
late?
Are
you, we, they
late?
Is
he, she, it
late?
How do we use the Simple Present Tense?
We use the simple present tense when:
the action is general
the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future
the action is not only happening now
the statement is always true
John drives a taxi.
past
present
future
It is John's job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future.
Look at these examples:
I live in New York.
The Moon goes round the Earth.
John drives a taxi.
He does not drive a bus.
We meet every Thursday.
We do not work at night.
Do you play football?
Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the simple present tense for situations that are not general. We can use the simple present tense to talk about now. Look at these examples of the verb "to be" in the simple present tense - some of them are general, some of them are now:
Am I right?
Tara is not at home.
You are happy.
past
present
future
The situation is now.
I am not fat.
Why are you so beautiful?
Ram is tall.
past
present
future
The situation is general. Past, present and future.
