The reason we have special terminology like "imperative" rather than just calling them "commands" is that the imperative has a GRAMMATICAL meaning In English, an imperative: -uses the bare form of the verb ("be" not is/was/to be) -occurs without a subject
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That's it, that's all. If it's an English verb in the bare form (the form that would come after "to" but there's no "to") and with no subject, it's an imperative Doesn't matter how command-like or order-y or dictatorial or not the sentence is
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So, let's compare these two sentences: Go away! -"go" is bare form -no subject
IMPERATIVE
I command you to go away.
-"command" looks identical to bare form
-has a subject (I)
-"go" not bare form (has "to")
-has subject ambiguously (you)
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But, you might say, wouldn't the subject of "go away" be "you"? Sure, maybe, but what we care about for our imperative diagnostic test is whether that subject is OVERT, that is, whether it's an actual word in the sentence
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So why am I making such a fuss about the imperative simply being the FORM of how a recipe is constructed in English? Couldn't I just say "recipe instructions are commands" and then the imperative would go without saying? Nope, because OTHER LANGUAGES
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So here we come to French, which is what started this thread: In French, we can spot the imperative by: -bare form (if tu, i.e. singular/informal you) or -ez form (if vous, i.e. plural/formal you) -doesn't have a subject
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(One of the nice things about learning technical diagnostics is that they sometimes work across languages. Imperatives, in particular, tend to be bare forms of verbs, and they're also v common in child-directed speech. Maybe not entirely a coincidence?)
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Some recipes in French do use the imperative! Look at all those verbs ending in -ez in this crepe recipe: Mélangez (mix) Incorporez (incorporate) Ajoutez (add) Laissez (let) (recipe source: https://odelices.ouest-france.fr/videos/comment-faire-une-pate-a-crepes-et-cuisson-des-crepes-technique-video-10812/ …)pic.twitter.com/VvphJCG4sT
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However, what is more common is for French recipes to use a different form of the verb. Let's look at another crepe recipe: Mélanger (to mix) Ajouter (to add) Faire (to do/make) Servir (to serve) (recipe source: https://www.recettes.qc.ca/recettes/recette/crepe-mince-137952 …)pic.twitter.com/l6XdnYBxGd
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Is this recipe still giving instructions/directions? Yes, the FUNCTION of the verbs in both recipes is the same But the FORM of the verbs is different The second recipe uses the infinitive. In English terms, that would look like: To mix the flour and salt. To add the eggs.
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Huh, it reminds me of “Step one is <infinitive>” kind of instructions in English. Do you know what French instructions that aren’t recipes use?
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