Pass the paint pot - Imperatives and phrasal verbs

Using imperatives to tell people to do something

Hi and welcome to another great lesson from New English Academy. I’m Giles Parker and I’m your guide for this course. Today we’re going to look at some really useful phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are verbs that have two words to them, always a verb and either a preposition or a particle. You hear them all the time in spoken English so it is a good idea to start learning them. We’re also going look at how to tell people what to do. This is called the imperative form and it is very useful for giving instructions and giving directions or orders. Our comprehension text today is called ‘Pass the paint pot’ and features a dialogue between yours truly and a friend of mine, Marian, who helped me paint my house recently. He is just starting to learn English, so please forgive some of his pronunciation. I think he does very well. As ever, you can download the free transcript and the free guidebook with 25 different activities on how to improve your English using these podcasts from the website, www.newenglishacademy.com. Don’t forget to check out the catalogue of free online English courses too. This podcast is aimed at beginner level students but there is something useful here for everyone.

Grammar explanation:

Here in the Green Heart of Italy, I have made lots of new friends. Some friends are local people and other friends come from foreign countries to find work here. My friend Marian comes from Slovakia. He is a stone-mason, which means he knows how to build things with stone. Marian speaks pretty good Italian, but many of the people he works for don't come from Italy and they don't speak much Italian. So, he has to speak to them in English. Often, they want to help him do his job. This means Marian has to speak to them in a mixture of Italian and English. He has to give them instructions and directions and tell them what to do and how to do it.

When Marian tells someone to do something, he uses a very useful bit of grammar - the imperative form of a verb. The imperative is the verb when you tell someone to do something, when you give directions or instructions or give an order. It's very easy to use. It is also very direct and straight so it is a good idea to be polite with it. 

To tell someone to do something with the imperative just use the base form of the verb - that is, the verb without to. You don't have to change it or add anything to it.  So for example:

• Give me that nail gun.
• Start the compressor.

If you want to tell someone not to do something, I mean, if you want to use the imperative in the negative, that is really easy too. Just add Do not before the verb. To make it friendlier, or politer add Please and make a contraction from Do not to Don't... So for example:

• Don't stand there.
• Please don't do that.

Marian always tries to be polite so he doesn't always use imperatives. Instead, he makes them into requests. This means, he asks you to do something. It is very easy to take an imperative and change it into a request. All you need is a simple modal auxiliary, such as Can or could and make it into a question.  For example:

• Could you pass me that hammer, please?
• Can you put away the tools, please?

When someone uses imperatives or requests, you can answer in a couple of ways. If you want to do it, you can say Sure! or OK! For example:

· Put that hammer in the box there.

Sure!

· Don’t throw out that newspaper.

OK.

But…if you don't want to do it then you have to find a p