Imperative clauses

In a prototypical imperative clause in English:

(a) The subject is 2nd person and is generally omitted. Other languages distinguish 2sg and 2pl with the convention that a 2sg imperative subject may be omitted but a 2pl subject should be retained. English makes no distinction between 2sg and 2pl (save in reflexives).

(b) The verb is in base form. Since imperative is incompatible with irrealis, an imperative VP will not normally include a modal. It is generally actual perfective, but imperfective (e.g. Be working when the boss comes in!) and previous (Have the work finished by the time the boss arrives!) are possible. An imperative can involve a copula verb with limited possibilities for the CC argument; it may be a VALUE, HUMAN PROPENSITY or SPEED adjective (Be good!, Don’t be jealous!, Be quick!) but scarcely a PHYSICAL PROPERTY term (not *Be thin!).

(c) In the negative, do must be included with not, giving clause-initial Don’t; e.g. Don’t (you) do that!

An imperative can have different degrees of intensity, shown by varying loudness and abruptness of voice quality. A mild imperative will often be preceded or followed by please. Often, the person being ordered is identified by name, in apposition to the main clause and either preceding or following it; for example John, come here! or Come here John! The pronoun you can be included, either in apposition to the imperative clause, like a personal name (You, come here! or Come here, you!) or in subject slot (You come here!). These are distinguished by intonation, shown by a comma in writing.

There are also particular construction types which can be identified as imperative with 3rd person subject. Imperatives with indefinite subject include Someone find that file for me! and Everybody shut their eyes! (the command is here directed at an addressee, but without using a second person pronoun). One can employ a command to entreat a deity, as in God bless our house! And there may be an unstated subject which could not be 2nd person, as in Damn these mosquitoes! There are also idiomatic expressions including Long may she live! (a rearrangement of May she live long!, with the modal may), Far be it from me to complain! and Heaven help you if you are late!

A variety of imperative is introduced by let; for example, Let John do it! This could be regarded as a prototypical imperative with understood 2nd person subject, (You) let John do it! However, subject reference is often more general, so that let is best regarded as an imperative with 3rd person subject (here, John). Let imperatives are also encountered with 1st person subject, either 1sg, as in Let me do it! or 1pl, as in Let’s go home! (this could hardly be regarded as having underlying structure (You) let us go home!). Note that the us in Let’s go home must be inclusive, referring to ‘you and me’ (rather than exclusive, referring to ‘you and someone else’).