English grammar is the foundation of the English language. Enjoy as you learn English, perfect your grammar to master the English language, and be able to speak in it flawlessly.
Imperative Sentences give direction. For example, someone may say, “Marry me, you dashing (stylish and energetic) and debonair (kind and well mannered) gentleman (a polite form of man).”
Speaking of politeness, these word groupings aren’t necessarily so. In fact, they can be curt (rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner).
To clarify, Imperative Sentences are sometimes called directives because they provide direction to the listener. They are used to give commands, instructions, advice, and issue warnings. And you may have read ‘Don’t touch’ on instructions for electronics.
The Phrasal Verb “look for” is one of those idiomatic sayings, the meaning is hard to get upon hearing. But, it simply means to search for something. And so for this blog, we’ll focus on the phrase “Help me look for my marbles!” It’s funny because lost marbles have a double meaning, it could refer to a lost set of small glass spheres used to play a game or losing one’s mind.
As for using “look for” in a sentence, often “look” becomes the Verb. And, the phrase follows normal verb conjugation. To make it past tense, add “ed” to the end of “look,” in the case that “look” follows a pronoun like “we.”
For example, you might say: “We looked for my marbles.”
Phrasal Verbs are much like idioms; their meaning isn’t clear at first. However, it’s easier to get their meaning through context.
The Phrasal Verb “look after” according to the Oxford dictionary means to care for something or someone. For example, you may hear a native English speaker say:
“Look after yourself.”
By saying this, the speaker is telling the listener to take care of him or herself.
The Imperative is used to command, request, or forbid (tell others not to do things that may harm them). But, Imperative Sentences don’t come across all that polite. In fact, Imperative Sentences can sometimes be seen as rude by the listener.
Meaning of Polite Imperative:
However, the speaker can use “please” to form a Polite Imperative.
To form a Polite Imperative, place the word “please” at the beginning or end of a sentence. For example, a speaker may say:
Please turn down the radio
The above sentence is a polite way to request the listener to lower the radio’s volume. The speaker may also say:
“Please turn down the radio.”
Both Polite Imperative Sentences are correct. And, both mean the same thing.
Past Simple Tense is used to describe an event that began and ended in the past, like winking, the act of blinking your eyelids to convey an emotion. To put “wink” in Past Simple Tense, we simply change it to “winked.”
This is true for all Regular Verbs. Regular Verbs in the past tense get d/ed at the end. For example, “hug” turns to “hugged.” But, Nouns don’t change with tense.
In fact, to detect a Past Simple Tense sentence, merely look for the Main Verb. Most often, for those sentences that Regular Verbs are used, d/ed is found hidden among other grammatical features.
Many languages have idioms. Chinese and English are well known for these colorful phrases. Today, our idiom is “life of the party.”
“Life of the party” describes an animated, amusing person who is the center of attention at a social gathering.
This idiom dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century. It began as “the life and soul of the party”, but in time the second half was dropped. Today, English speakers just say “the life of the party” and most aren’t even aware that the word “soul” was dropped from the expression.
As for the noteworthy usage of the saying, the author Joshua Ferris used it in his short story, “The Pilot.” In this comedy, the main character was a recovering alcoholic. He was said to be the “life of the party.”
Typically, the word “throw” means to propel (something) with force through the air by a movement of the arm and hand, according to the Oxford Dictionary. However, throwing a party has nothing to do with tossing objects (unless you attend a Greek wedding where dishes are thrown, but this is a story for another time). Throwing a party means hosting an event.
All in all, the idiom “throw a party” is easy to use, you may simply say:
“Let’s throw a party.”
By saying this, you are communicating the idea that you’d like to host an event. Moreover, you can say:
“They want to throw a party.”
By doing so, you are changing the subject to a third person.
You could even be more specific and say:
“Amy wants to throw a party.”
Getting more specific, you could say:
“Amy wants to throw a party for Qi.”
Specific language helps the listener to understand the message. If you think about it, when you speak, you are like a radio transmitter and along the way to the receiver, the message may become distorted. To be better understood, it’s advisable to be specific in your language. For example:
“Amy wants to throw a winter solstice party for her small group of friends”
communicates a complete idea so has less chances of becoming distorted.
In general, Phrasal Verbs are a Verb + Preposition combination, like “cheer up.” But, there’s another kind of Phrasal Verb too, the Separable Phrasal Verb.
Scat Singing Cheers me up
What is Scat Singing, you may ask? In Jazz, an American style of music, Scat Singing is the use of nonsense words like “zippity zippity zippity zam za zim” to make improvised melodies.
How do nonsense words relate to learning English? In our case, these sounds cheer the Speaker up, which brings us to Phrasal Verbs – “cheer up” is a Phrasal Verb.
Meaning of Separable Phrasal verbs and how to use it
Phrasal verbs could be separable or inseparable. Phrasal verbs are operable when the verb and the proposition are separated by an object between them. They are: Verb + Object + Preposition
They are based on simple Phrasal Verbs:
Verb + Preposition
An example of a Separable Phrasal Verb is “turn down,” the topic of today’s lesson.
