Grammar · Lesson 8

Instructions with the imperative

Give directions, instructions, warnings, and friendly suggestions: Turn left at the bank, Please take a seat, and Let’s start.

45–55 min coreinstructions and directionsdon’t and let’s15–20 min optional listening and retrieval

NoticeFollow fictional arrival directions.

DiscoverFind the missing subject.

BuildMake negatives, polite requests, and suggestions.

UseGuide a fictional visitor step by step.

Imperatives are everyday grammar for directions, instructions, recipes, warnings, and plans. They are the fastest way to help another person do something.

Two-minute retrieval

Three quick checks from earlier lessons

Answer from memory, then check. Say each complete sentence aloud.

1The profile introduces Ana with she: Ana sent the report early, so I called to say thanks. (object pronouns)

2Marco’s fictional profile reports no driving ability: Marco drive, so he takes the bus to work. (can)

3The map places the pharmacy in the middle, with the bank on one side and the cafe on the other: It is the bank and the cafe. (prepositions of place)

Notice before the rule

Fictional arrival directions

"Turn left on Main Street. Don’t park in front of the building. Call me when you arrive."

Where is the subject in these sentences?
What form does each verb have? Look for endings.
How do we make an instruction negative?

Discovery check: choose the pattern

Every instruction starts with the verb. Read the reason after the gap, then choose the positive or negative chunk.

1The route requires a right at the supermarket: right at the supermarket, and the office is on your left.

2Oak Street is closed for repairs: left on Oak Street.

3The fictional host must open a locked gate after the visitor arrives: me when you arrive.

4The fictional host’s quiet hours begin at ten: me after ten tonight.

5The group needs a reservation by the window: the restaurant and ask for a table by the window.

6The garage sign says residents only: into the parking garage.

The system: the base verb does everything

An ordinary imperative starts with the base verb and usually has no written subject. Don’t makes it negative, please can soften it, and let’s turns it into a shared plan.

purpose	pattern	example
positive instruction	base verb, no subject	Turn left at the light.
negative	don’t + base verb	Don’t park here.
softened	please at the start or the end	Please wait here. Wait here, please.
suggestion with us	let’s + base verb	Let’s take a break.

The verb never changes. No -s, no -ing, and no to: say Don’t worry, not Don’t to worry.

Get to the root: an ordinary imperative addresses you

An ordinary imperative begins with the base verb because you, the listener or listeners, is understood from the situation: (You) open the file. English normally leaves you unspoken because the addressee is already obvious. This is why there is no third-person -s: she opens is a statement about her, but Open the file directly addresses the listener.

Why context is essential

Turn left. can be helpful directions. Take one tablet with food. can be medical instructions. Don’t move. can be a warning. The grammar is the same; purpose, relationship, and tone determine how the listener understands it.

The base verb makes imperatives direct and efficient

There is no tense ending, third-person -s, or auxiliary in a positive imperative: Wait. Be careful. Have a seat. For the negative, don’t carries the negative grammar, even with be: Don’t be late.

meaning	form	example
do the action	base verb	Save the document.
do not do the action	don’t + base verb	Don’t delete the original.
emphasize	do + base verb	Do come in. Do be careful.

Don’t is the normal conversational negative. Signs, formal rules, and especially firm warnings may use full Do not: Do not enter. Positive do adds warmth or insistence rather than ordinary form: Do come in can sound warmly encouraging; Do be careful strongly emphasizes the warning.

When you is spoken

An explicit you is possible when the speaker contrasts listeners or adds emphasis: You wait here; Marco, come with me. It can sound strong, so it is not the neutral default. Words that name the addressee sit outside the core instruction: Maya, open the file and Everyone, take a seat.

Drill 1: choose the natural chunk

Read the whole line first. Then choose the chunk that fits the situation.

1The building guide says the office is on the fifth floor: the elevator to the fifth floor.

2The fictional learner is prepared but anxious: about the test; you’re ready.

3The visitor needs a badge from the receptionist: the receptionist for a visitor badge.

4The password is required every morning: your password.

5The clinic receptionist directs a waiting patient to a chair: a seat; the doctor will call you soon.

6The trainer invites clarification questions: me if anything is unclear.

7Closing the file without saving would lose the work: to save the file before you close it.

8The trainer normalizes first attempts: if you make a mistake.

A bare imperative can sound neutral, friendly, urgent, or rude. The relationship and situation decide. Instructions on a screen (Enter your password) are neutral. The same direct form spoken to a coworker may need softening.

form	typical effect	example
bare imperative	clear, direct	Send me the address.
please + imperative	polite but still direct	Please send me the address.
Can you…?	frames it as a request	Can you send me the address?
Let’s + base verb	includes speaker and listener	Let’s check the address.

When imperatives are friendly

Imperatives are normal and can sound warm for directions, instructions, offers, and encouragement: Take a seat. Have some coffee. Don’t worry. A clear helpful context and a warm voice make these social actions different from an order.

For a request to a stranger or manager, soften it: add please, or turn it into a question with Can you…? from the can lesson. Can you send me the file, please?

Please can go at the beginning or end, but it does not automatically make every command appropriate. Relationship, choice, urgency, voice, and facial expression still matter. When the listener can reasonably refuse, Can you…? often gives a request more room than an imperative.

Sound natural: intonation tells the listener how to receive the imperative

The grammar may stay identical while the voice changes the social message. Keep the action and the key information clear; use a calm, warm voice for help and a stronger fall for an urgent warning.

purpose	spoken model	voice
helpful direction	TURN left at the BANK.	clear and calm
polite request	Please send the FILE.	warm, not clipped
urgent warning	DON’T TOUCH that!	strong stress and a firm fall
shared suggestion	Let’s START.	inclusive and encouraging

A bare imperative with a flat, hard voice can sound like an order. A calm rhythm, useful context, and an appropriate please or Can you…? often matter more than adding extra words.

In neutral U.S. speech, don’t is one compact beat /doʊnt/. Before a consonant, its final t may be light or unreleased, as in Don’t move, but the negative meaning must remain clear. Let’s sounds /lets/; keep the final s audible so the complete chunk remains clear. In writing, the apostrophe and sentence structure distinguish let’s from the ordinary verb lets.

Your teacher reads each fictional line once with natural U.S. rhythm and once more slowly. Use the situation, form, and voice to identify the social action. Check your answer before discussing the line with your tutor.

Tutor-read listening check

1Clip 1 gives a screen user a .

2Clip 2 gives a guest a .

3Clip 3 makes a .

4Clip 4 delivers an .

5Clip 5 makes a .

6Clip 6 makes a .

Let’s: the imperative for shared plans

Let’s + base verb suggests a plan that includes the speaker and the listener together: Let’s take a break. Let’s meet at the cafe at noon. The listener can agree or suggest something else, so it feels like an invitation, not a command.

The apostrophe matters: let’s means let us in a suggestion, while lets is an ordinary present-simple verb meaning “allows”: The app lets us change the language.

Useful special forms

Let me… often offers or announces the speaker’s action: Let me help you and Let me check. In some situations it asks permission: Let me try. Let’s not… makes a negative shared suggestion: Let’s not be late. Adding you is unusual and often emphatic or contrastive: You wait here; Marco, come with me.

Build clear procedures

Good instructions divide a process into manageable actions and show the order. Use sequencing words such as first, next, then, after that, finally: First, open the app. Then select “Settings.” Finally, save your changes. Keep one main action in each step when clarity matters.

Drill 2: type the first word of the instruction

Type the base verb with no ending and no to, or type Don’t for a negative. Use the cue in parentheses.

1The practice form needs the sample code at the top: the sample code at the top of the form. (to write)

2The visitor must bring the badge tomorrow: forget your badge tomorrow. (make it negative)

3The route card identifies the first exit after the bridge: the first exit after the bridge. (to take)

4The fictional meeting starts exactly at nine: be late; the meeting starts at nine. (negative with be)

5The fictional customer is ready to pay: the server for the check. (to ask)

6The posted safety sign keeps the entrance clear: park in front of the entrance. (make it negative)

Read and choose

Fictional conference arrival instructions

"Welcome! Take the elevator to the third floor. Don’t use the stairwell door; it locks behind you. Leave the visitor coat in the closet on the right. Text the host when you’re here, and they’ll come out to meet you."

Drill 3: read, then choose

1. How does the guest go up to the third floor?

2. Why shouldn’t the guest use the stairwell door?

3. What should the guest do after arriving?

Drill 4: build the friendly reminder

Build the reminder. Don’t carries the negative; the verb stays bare.

Drill 5: build the suggestion

Build the plan. Let’s includes both of you.

Notice and repair errors

Drill 6: drop the extra subject

Rewrite “You turn left at the bank” as the neutral, unmarked direction with no contrast between listeners. Tap the one extra word.

Drill 7: keep the verb bare after don’t

The supportive message should say “Don’t worry about the report.” Tap the extra word in “Don’t to worry about the report.”

Drill 8: say it, then reveal

Read the cue, say the full sentence aloud, then reveal only after you answer.

1 Park here. Make it negative.

Don’t park here.

2 A fictional coworker is worried about tomorrow’s interview. Tell them not to be nervous.

Don’t be nervous.

3 Help me. Soften it for a fictional manager.

Can you help me, please?

4 We take a break. Make it a suggestion with let’s.

Let’s take a break.

5 Don’t close the window. Make it positive.

Close the window.

6 Wait here. Add please at the beginning.

Please wait here.

Play and practice

Games and a short reading that recycle this lesson. Use them as a warm-up, a fast finisher, or homework. Each one checks itself.

Read

Notes for your first day

Read once for meaning. Then read again and do the tasks below.

Message from a manager89 wordsAbout 1 min

Hi Marta, here are some notes for your first day at Green Street Clinic on Monday. The team is small and very friendly.

Come to the side door at 8:15. Ring the bell, and Paul from reception opens the door. Don’t park in the clinic lot; it is for patients. Use the city lot on Elm Street.

Please bring your ID card. On your first day, watch the team and ask a lot of questions. Don’t worry about mistakes. At noon, let’s have lunch together! Best wishes, Dr. Kim

Find it

Tap the 6 base verbs in positive instructions. Skip sentences with don’t or let’s.

Check your understanding

1. Which door does Marta use on Monday?

2. Where can Marta park?

3. What does Dr. Kim suggest for noon?

Unscramble

Build clear instructions

Tap the words in order to build the sentence. Tap a placed word to send it back.

1. Give a direction at the bank.
2. A negative rule for drivers.
3. A polite instruction for a visitor.
4. A shared plan for you and a coworker.
5. A negative with be.

Sort it

Correct or needs repair?

Read each instruction. Is the form correct, or does it need a repair? Tap it, then tap its box.

Memory

Situation and instruction

Flip two cards. Find a situation and the instruction that fits it. A pair stays face up.

Use it in real life

You never need to disclose your real home, route, cooking, devices, contacts, schedule, workplace, health, or travel plans. Use the fictional map, interface card, community center, or conference scenario below whenever you prefer.

Map route: Guide a fictional visitor from the station to a public venue. Use three ordered positive steps and one route to avoid.

Interface card: Explain how to change one setting on an invented app. Keep one main action in each step and finish with a saving instruction.

Safety station: Give one calm rule and one urgent warning. Deliver the grammar accurately while changing the strength of your voice.

Request choice: Turn Send me the file into an appropriate request to a fictional coworker who can reasonably refuse.

Shared plan: Make two fictional event suggestions with let’s and one shared action to avoid with let’s not.

Final production: orient a fictional conference visitor

Give a 45–60 second arrival and welcome message. Include all six pieces of evidence:

three ordered positive instructions with first, next, and finally;
one negative safety instruction with don’t or formal do not;
one warm offer or encouragement;
one request with Can you…? because the listener has a real choice;
one shared suggestion with let’s and one with let’s not;
three distinct deliveries: calm instruction, warm welcome, and firm urgent warning.

The listener follows the route on a fictional map and labels each social action. Revise any step whose form, order, or voice creates a different action from the one you intended.

Reflect

Say the system back

Complete this aloud: “An ordinary instruction starts with the ______ verb and normally leaves the listener ______ unspoken. For the negative, I start with ______. I can soften an instruction with ______, but a request question may give more choice. For a shared plan, I start with ______.”

Then use a fictional map to give one calm direction, one urgent warning with don’t, and one inclusive suggestion with let’s.

Final quiz: imperative form and tone

1. The fictional host makes a softened positive request because the room is cold: ___ the window, please.

2. The fictional client arrives exactly at nine: ___ late tomorrow.

3. Two coworkers are choosing a plan together. Which line is a shared suggestion?

4. A fictional employee asks a manager who can reasonably accept or refuse. Which line is the appropriate request?

5. In the ordinary direction “Turn left at the light,” who is the understood addressee?

6. A fictional arrival card gives a positive contact step: ___ the host when the plane lands.

7. A fictional host speaks warmly to a guest. Which line functions as a friendly offer?

8. Complete the supportive negative instruction: Don’t ___ about small mistakes.

Return tomorrow before rereading the lesson. Complete the five-minute next-day retrieval, then revisit only the form, social action, sequence, or spoken delivery that still feels slow.

Next-day retrieval

Choose the opening that performs the intended action

1The interface gives one neutral positive step: the Settings menu.

2An exposed wire creates immediate danger: touch the wire.

3The speaker proposes one group plan: meet in the lobby.

4A fictional coworker can reasonably refuse the request: send me the link, please?

Repair the shared-suggestion spelling

The team message intends let us: “Lets take a break.” Tap the one word that needs an apostrophe.

Thirty-second retrieval

Without looking back, give a fictional visitor one positive direction, one negative safety instruction, one warm offer, one request question, and one shared suggestion.

Take the elevator to the second floor. Don’t use the stairwell door. Have some coffee. Can you sign this sample form, please? Let’s meet in the lobby at ten.