Learn 10 Ways to Use the English Verb ＂To be＂ in the Imperative
Have you ever wanted to tell someone, "Be careful!" or "Be happy!" in English? Let me show you how. In this video I will help you learn 10 ways to use the English verb, "to be" in the imperative to tell someone to do something. TRANSCRIPT: Hi Bob the Canadian here. Sometimes in English you need to be able to tell someone what to do. This verb form is called the imperative, and in this video we're going to look at 10 ways to use the verb, "to be" in its imperative form. 1. Be careful! You can say, "Be careful!" to someone if they are doing something dangerous. Imagine you and a friend are mountain climbing, and as your friend climbs above you, you see that he is in a dangerous situation. You could say, using the imperative: Be careful! Be careful up there Dave. You might slip. 2. Be quiet. Imagine you are driving in a van and you have a bunch of your children in the back if you have children and they are being loud. You could use the imperative phrase, "Be quiet!" to tell them that they are being too loud and you would like them to quiet down. Be quiet kids! I'm trying to concentrate on my driving. Be quiet kids! It's too loud in here. 3. Be prepared. Let's imagine that a storm is approaching and you are listening to the news. On the news the news anchor may say: Be prepared! A storm is coming. Be prepared people! High winds are imminent. And this is the imperative form of "to be" with the word prepared. Letting you know that you should make sure you have food, candles, and other things you may need in the event of a disaster. Be prepared! 4. Be happy! You might know the song, "Don't worry. Be happy!" And this song actually uses two sentences in the imperative. The first is the negative form, "Don't worry." and the second is the affirmative form, "Be happy!" And basically it is telling you that you should set aside your worries in life, don't think about your problems, and just try to be happy. Don't worry. Be happy! 5. Don't be late. So I've switched over to using the negative form of the imperative. In the affirmative form we say things like, "Be happy!". In the negative form we say things with, "Don't" in front. So we would say things like, "Don't be late." So imagine you are a teacher and you and your students are going to go on a trip. You would say to your students: Don't be late tomorrow morning. We are leaving at 7am. Don't be late because the bus will not wait for you. 6. Don't be mean. You might be talking with a brother or sister and maybe it's turning into an argument and one of you is starting to get angry and saying words that they should not say. You could say: Don't be mean. Don't be mean to me when you talk. And this is again the negative form of the imperative and you're indicating to the person that you would prefer that they are kind to you. Don't be mean. Let's keep this argument civil. Don't be mean.
Have you ever wanted to tell someone, "Be careful!" or "Be happy!" in English? Let me show you how. In this video I will help you learn 10 ways to use the English verb, "to be" in the imperative to tell someone to do something. TRANSCRIPT: Hi Bob the Canadian here. Sometimes in English you need to be able to tell someone what to do. This verb form is called the imperative, and in this video we're going to look at 10 ways to use the verb, "to be" in its imperative form. 1. Be careful! You can say, "Be careful!" to someone if they are doing something dangerous. Imagine you and a friend are mountain climbing, and as your friend climbs above you, you see that he is in a dangerous situation. You could say, using the imperative: Be careful! Be careful up there Dave. You might slip. 2. Be quiet. Imagine you are driving in a van and you have a bunch of your children in the back if you have children and they are being loud. You could use the imperative phrase, "Be quiet!" to tell them that they are being too loud and you would like them to quiet down. Be quiet kids! I'm trying to concentrate on my driving. Be quiet kids! It's too loud in here. 3. Be prepared. Let's imagine that a storm is approaching and you are listening to the news. On the news the news anchor may say: Be prepared! A storm is coming. Be prepared people! High winds are imminent. And this is the imperative form of "to be" with the word prepared. Letting you know that you should make sure you have food, candles, and other things you may need in the event of a disaster. Be prepared! 4. Be happy! You might know the song, "Don't worry. Be happy!" And this song actually uses two sentences in the imperative. The first is the negative form, "Don't worry." and the second is the affirmative form, "Be happy!" And basically it is telling you that you should set aside your worries in life, don't think about your problems, and just try to be happy. Don't worry. Be happy! 5. Don't be late. So I've switched over to using the negative form of the imperative. In the affirmative form we say things like, "Be happy!". In the negative form we say things with, "Don't" in front. So we would say things like, "Don't be late." So imagine you are a teacher and you and your students are going to go on a trip. You would say to your students: Don't be late tomorrow morning. We are leaving at 7am. Don't be late because the bus will not wait for you. 6. Don't be mean. You might be talking with a brother or sister and maybe it's turning into an argument and one of you is starting to get angry and saying words that they should not say. You could say: Don't be mean. Don't be mean to me when you talk. And this is again the negative form of the imperative and you're indicating to the person that you would prefer that they are kind to you. Don't be mean. Let's keep this argument civil. Don't be mean.