So I have seen usages of “Your will be done” in the context when some higher authority is issuing orders but shouldn’t it be “Your will will be done”? it makes more semantic sense than the former. Answer Like Mr Beadles said, the ‘will’ here is a noun. It’s not an imperative, though, which would … Read more
I need to interpret simple imperative sentences. Certainly (a) “Drink the milk.” is a legal imperative sentence, as are (b) “Drink a milk.” and “Drink the milks.,” (but with a different “milk” noun). Is “Drink milk.” a legal imperative sentence? If so what does it mean? My concern in the “declarative” feel to “Drink milk.” … Read more
I am from Singapore. I have heard many Singaporeans use imperative sentences with emphatic ‘do’ when they make requests or ask for something to be done a certain way. For example, they would say something like: -Do get back to me once you have seen my email. -Do take a seat and we will get … Read more
In the sentence “Answer this question, what is eleven times nine?” How can I remove “this question”, punctuate properly, and still keep the imperative “Answer”. How about: “Answer this: what is eleven times nine?” Answer If you wanted to remove the “this question” part, you should consider… What is the answer of eleven times nine? … Read more
In Early Modern English, the second person plural (singular) declensions were: Nominative: – Ye (Thou) Oblique: – You (Thee) –and– Genitive: Your (Thy & Thine) & Yours’ (Thine) In Language there are exceptions to rules, or what-have-you, but it is to my understanding that "Be ye" is subjunctive, not imperative, unless it is a different … Read more
I’m doing some copy editing for a website, and I’m wondering whether there should be a comma in this sentence: “Join the waitlist and be the first to know.” My grammar sense makes me think it should be “Join the waitlist, and be the first to know.” That said, since the clauses are so short … Read more
In this movie clip, there’s this conversation between Monkey and Beetle, starting at 50 seconds into the clip: Monkey: What? Beetle: Well, fast learner. Did you know you could do that? Monkey: Show off. The context is that while Monkey and Beetle were arguing, Kubo made a boat. What did Monkey mean by "Show off"? … Read more
The following English sentence, a 19ᵗʰtranslation from a medieval Latin hymn from the 12ᵗʰ or 13ᵗʰ century, is well known, at least among Christians: O come O come Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. It uses the imperative mood (come, come, ransom), the indicative … Read more
I listened to the Simple Minds’ song Don’t You. It has following chorus: Don’t you, forget about me Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t Don’t you, forget about me Why is this usage of imperative mood correct? I thought that right usage is: Don’t forget about me Answer This is a turn of phrase that is used … Read more
I was wondering whether the following sentences are punctuated properly: To show this, multiply the ODE by x; integrate over x, and perform repeated integration by parts, it then follows that: f=0. Answer ‘To show this’ is adverbial, so the first comma makes sense. Then there is a list of imperatives. Commas are fine for … Read more
