Imperative verbs are also known as Bossy verbs because they tell you what to do. We put imperative verbs at the beginning of a sentence, which automatically changes.
The imperative is probably best considered a rather than a tense in English, since it does not signal when any given action is performed. But even though it is not a tense in the traditional sense of the word for ESL students, understanding the imperative is important. They will encounter the imperative in English when giving or receiving instructions, commands or calls to action. When, your students will also need to use and/or understand the imperative. Here are some fun ways you can bring the imperative into your classroom that are creative, too.
Have fun with the mood and you will find that your students and you will be in a good one. Try These 8 Interactive Classroom Activities for Using the Imperative •.
1 Read Recipes Recipes are a great example of the imperative mood in authentic English text. The step-by-step directions for creating a culinary masterpiece, or at least lunch, are written in the imperative. In the case with recipes, the writer is giving a set of instructions to the reader with the hope that the reader will be able to reproduce the same results in his or her kitchen. Start your imperative cooking lesson by giving your students some recipes to look over. You will want to match the complexity and content of the recipe to your students’ language level. Copies from cookbooks or printouts online are great, but do not overlook simple instructions that come with a food product, like cooking directions on how to make pasta or rice.
Point out to your students that the instructions in the recipe use the imperative mood and that the verbs take the second person present conjugation on a sample recipe. Then have your students find examples of imperative verbs in their own recipes.
You may want to make a list of all the verbs your students find and review their definitions, especially cooking specific verbs, as a class. 2 Follow Recipes If you have the classroom resources, or your students have adequate resources at home, give them a to follow. If possible, have the ingredients for a no-cook recipe on hand, and have your students follow the directions in class. Has tons of great ideas for no-cook recipes from the very simple to the very complex! Either individually or with a partner, have your students follow the directions for the culinary delight.
(Be aware of any allergies your students may have and plan accordingly.) If your students follow their directions correctly, they should end up with something that looks very similar to the finished product shown in the recipe, and it should taste good, too. Celebrate your students’ accomplishments by having a social time and sharing each group’s creation!
3 Write Your Own Now that your students have followed directions given to them in the imperative, have them write their own imperative instructions for making a favorite food. Ask your students to for an item that they know how to cook. It might be a dish from their or something local and more familiar to everyone in class. Even can do this activity though they may not actually know how to cook. Their instructions will be charming and even funny and might be worth posting on a bulletin board in class. 4 Do Your Own Cooking Demo Besides written recipes, many cooking demonstrations use the imperative to communicate with their viewers how to make a particular dish.
There are hundreds of cooking demos available on YouTube, so choose one that your students may like and show it to the class. Point out that as the actor/chef makes the recipe, he or she is giving instructions with the imperative mood to the viewer. Watch the video again and challenge your students to make note of any imperative verbs the chef uses. Follow by having your students do their own cooking demo in front of the class. You can request a serious tone and perhaps even ask your students to bring the food in and make the dish in class. Alternately, you may want your students to take a lighthearted approach and demonstrate how to make a fictional dish with real or fictional ingredients they might find in the classroom.
Either way, your students will be putting the imperative to good use as they speak in front of your class. For fun, end your lesson with one or more videos of the famous Muppet the Swedish Chef. His comical kitchen exploits will elicit laughter no matter what native language your students speak! 6 Build Something Another great option for following directions is putting together a model. Kits are great, containing complete sets of instructions and materials, but they can be expensive. As an alternative, try supplying your class with a collection of building blocks and give them a set of directions for building various items.
You can find thousands of directions on. Have your students choose the item they would like to build or just make a few sets of directions available in class and let them get to their constructions. Your students will have fun with their building block creations, and they will not even realize they are practicing the imperative in the process! 7 Tell Me How Your students will also need to use and understand the imperative mood when giving advice. Give your class a chance to share about something they are good at and give advice to classmates who might be trying that activity for the first time.
Give each person five minutes in front of the class to explain how to do something that they know how to do. It may be something recreational like skateboarding or something professional like examining a specimen under a microscope or even something silly like how to become a superhero. Ask each person to give advice to a person who may just be starting out learning the activity. What should he do? What should he not do?
Allow your students to ask questions after each presentation. 8 Give Advice Advice giving can be creative, too. Role play a call in radio show where the host gives advice to the caller. To set the scene, show your students a small clip from the television show Frasier. Then recreate the scene in your classroom. Instead of showing the whole clip, you could show part of the television clip where the caller presents his problem, and then pause the video.
Ask your students to offer advice using the imperative. Take several answers from your students before playing the rest of the clip and seeing what Frasier actually says. The next time you bring the imperative into your classroom, think about what interests your students. Once you have found that, look online for instructions or directions or make some yourself for an activity related to that interest. Ulead Photo Express Italiano Torrent. Your students will have fun engaging in the activities and you will get the satisfaction of a lesson well taught.
What topics have you used to teach your students the imperative?
Bossy Verbs Do you ever wish you had a robot to do some of your chores for you? Think of what kind of commands you would want to give it.
'Clean my room,' 'Do my homework,' 'Wash the dishes!' ' These sentences all use imperative verbs. An imperative verb is an action word that gives a command. We use imperative verbs in sentences in which you tell someone what to do.
If you seem bossy when you read a sentence, it often has an imperative verb in it! In this lesson, we'll look at imperative verbs and some examples. Characteristics Imperative verbs command others to do something, so many people playfully call them, 'bossy verbs.' ' They come at the beginning of imperative sentences in the present, simple form - the base form of a verb. Imperative verbs can also be paired with the word 'don't' with the same use of the verb. So, we can say, 'Talk loud when you present your project,' or 'Don't talk while someone else is presenting.'
' They can also be paired with the word, 'please.' ' We can say, 'Get me some water,' or 'Please, get me some water.' ' The word 'get' in this sentence is still an imperative verb, even though it doesn't start the sentence. Examples Let's take a look at this short list of imperative verbs: • Bake • Bring • Clean • Do • Move • Open • Shut • Tell • Throw • Wash • Write We use each of these verbs in the base form. World Atlas Free Download For Ipad more.
For example, the word 'bake' changes forms in the past and future, 'baked,' and 'will bake.' ' We add an 's' if we talk about someone who does it in the present, like, 'She bakes cookies every day.' ' When we tell someone to bake or instruct them to do so, however, we use the base form, 'bake.' ' We would never say, 'Bakes the cake,' or, 'Baked the cake.' ' Instead we say, 'Bake the cake.'
' Other examples of imperative verbs in use include: • Don't forget to wash your hands before heading back to work. (forget) • Drive slowly on the interstate. (drive) • Turn here.
(turn) • Finish your work. (finish) • Play nicely. (play) In these sentences, the imperative verbs begin the sentence, are in the base forms, and instruct or command someone to do something. Uses of Imperative Verbs It's important to know that we don't use imperative verbs very often, especially with strangers. When you are trying to be polite but you want something done, it's better to ask in the form of a question. • For example, instead of saying, 'Carry these bags.'
' To be polite, we would instead make a request, 'Can you carry these bags, please?' ' We use the imperative form when a person in authority is trying to get something done, like a parent and child or teacher and student.
The imperative form gives an instruction. • For example, 'Make your bed,' or 'Be quiet in the hallway.' ' We use the imperative form when we are angry, but we can also use them when we are giving instructions. Recipes and manuals use imperatives to list steps to do something. • For example, 'Set the oven to 350 degrees,' or 'Insert AA batteries.' ' We can also use the imperative form more freely with friends, such as, 'Send me the photo,' or 'Come to my house tomorrow.' ' Lesson Summary Imperative verbs are used as commands to tell someone what to do.
They come at the beginning of the sentence in the base form of the verb. Just remember, if you had a robot, what would you tell it to do for you? If you think of what commands you'd give it, you'll think of imperative verbs!