English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

B9.4 Imperatives
B9 Clause types
Section B Development

The formal characteristic of imperatives is that no subject is mentioned; this is the only situation (apart from ellipsis - see B11) where a full clause does not need a subject. The basic form of the verb is used:

Take care.

Be quiet.

There is also an emphatic imperative with do:

Oh, do be quiet.

Negative imperatives are formed with do not (or don’t) followed by an infinitive:

Don’t laugh at me.

This also applies to be:

Don’t be scared.

Although there is no subject and auxiliary with imperatives, it can be suggested that the underlying subject is you and that there is an underlying auxiliary will. This is based on the evidence of tag questions, for example:

Take a seat, won’t you?

Close the door, will you? ( . . . can you? is also possible)

Don’t forget my birthday, will you?

Although standard imperatives are addressed to the hearer (i.e. the second person), there is a first person plural equivalent in the shape of let’s (or formally let us), used to make suggestions:

Let’s watch a film tonight.

The tag question for this is . . . shall we?