Chapter IV, Part 4
IV.C.4
The Imperative Clause Type for Commands
54. The Imperative Claus for Command is quite distinct in form by its restricted Lexicogrammar: mostly a Human Agent not expressed as Subject; only Second Person; and only Present Tense. The unmarked option for the Affirmative starts with the Process Verb; the Negative starts with the Auxiliary plus the Negation ‘don’t’ or ‘do not’ and then the Process Verb. The unmarked Pitch contour is falling toward End Weight [1116-17].
55.
For either Polarity, Certain Stress fits the Weight attributed to the Process
(VI.17-22). A Process judged important or unpredictable gets Strong Stress and
confers Front Weight [1117]; otherwise, Weak Stress occurs if another Item can
take Strong Stress, mostly leading to End Weight [1118]. So in a short
Affirmative or Negative Command, the Verb gets Strong Stress in any case
[1119-20].
[1117] ‘!Stop
this ¡joke!’
shouts Ali. (Mother without a Mask)
[1118] Next time
you get a blister, ¡don’t
¡stop
the !game—¡stop the !pain. (advert)BNC
[1119] !Stop!
!Turn! !Shout! (Fields in the Sun)
[1120] Don’t !think
at all. !Sketch! (Woodworker)
56.
The function of soliciting compliance encourages options for emphatic Com-mands.
At Lower Weight, one option adds the Second Person Pronoun ‘you’ with Weak
Stress to Affirmative [1121] or Negative [1122]; the Process Verb may get Weak
Stress too. At Higher Weight, another option places Strong Stress on the
Auxiliary ‘do’ or ‘don’t’ or on the ‘not’ of ‘do not’, and
Weak Stress on the Process Verb [1123-25]. Affirmatives with both of the options
can mark a contrast between speaker and hearer, but mostly in literature [1127].
[1121] she said angrily, ‘Now ¡you just ¡lis·ten to !me’. (Vets Might Fly)
[1122] !Don’t ¡you let her ¡know what you’re !up to, mind. (English
Crime)
[1123] !Do be pre·¡pared for some honest advice, though. (Hair Flair)
[1124] ‘I’ll come round and make sure you’re all
right’ ‘No, !don’t, !don’t ¡do that!’ I said, too
urgently. (L-Shaped Room)
[1125] Now, ¡do !not ¡let
them lure you to the !hus·tings (Middlemarch)
[1126] You have her father’s love, Demetrius; let me
have Hermia’s; ¡do !you ¡mar·ry !him. (Midsummer)
[1127] I have now told you everything. […] ¡Do !you
in turn be as ¡frank
with !me. (Sherlock
Holmes)
At Highest Weight, Strong Stresses can be multiplied,
perhaps like this:
[1128]
‘I say, !give ¡her !your !arm!’ young Newland nervously hissed (Innocence)
[1129] A shrill scream sounded above me! ‘For God’s sake, !don’t !touch the !beam! (Fu)
57. As in Statements and Questions (but not in Exclamations) Commands can join in alter native Pitches, one Pitch contour rising and the other falling (cf. IV.19, 33, 48). If you dont enter the room, then leave it [1130]; if you don’t ‘expound’ the riddle of Shakespeare's King Antiochus, then ‘receive the sentence’ to ‘cancel off your days’ [1131], which to the modern ear sounds like Prince Pericles is a newspaper subscription.
.
58.
Just as the Question and Exclamation can take on a form like Declarative, so too
can the Command, and again something special can be suggested (cf. IV.14, 32,
46). Unmarked options include ‘you will’ [1132] or ‘will not’ [1133],
and ‘you must’ [1134] or ‘must not’ [1135]; and ‘you’ are enjoined
to do or not to do what is expressed by the following Infinitive with a Strong
Stress.
[1132] You will please to !tell her that her show of devotion for my daughter is disagreeable to me. (Dombey)
[1134]
You are killing her […] with your devilish moods and mysteries. You
must !stop. Do you hear? You must !give
her up. (Blue Flower)
[1135] He attempted to pass. ‘You must not !go! she exclaimed energetically. (Wuthering)
These data suggest high-handed, pompous Commands, such
as would hardly be used in ordinary dealing with friends or family, and so seem
highly marked.
59.
Whilst the modern Imperative is just Second Person, Commands might be wanted for
the other Persons too. In older usage we find a Command as a Process Verb with Strong Stress and a Subject in First Person
[1136] or Third Person [1137]. Today, we find unspecified Agents like
‘everybody’ [1138] or ‘somebody’ [1139].
[1136] here !sit we down;
take you your instrument, play you the whiles! (Shrew)
[1137] !speak any man with us, and we will
obey. (Self-Reliance)
[1138] Everybody
keep !still a minute. (Penrod)
[1139] I could hear Susan screaming ‘Somebody
!help me’. (Today)
Such
restrictions can be offset by Commands with ‘let’ like [1140-41], which will
be described later on as a Pattern within Non-Finite Minor Clauses (see IV.78).
[1140] Let each
bring his spoil to our chosen place of rendezvous (Ivanhoe)
[1141] Let
everybody leave this room, while I am talking to the queen (Irish Fairy
Tales)
60.
The Tag Command
is
none too frequent and I haven’t found it in ‘grammar’-books. The basic
options are simply the Pro-Verbs ‘do’ [1142-43] in the Affirmative, and
‘don’t’ [1144-45] in the Negative, both in a separate Tone Group following
the Command Clause and taking Certain Strong Stress.
[1142] Relax, Charles dear soul, and stop wilting, !do. (Phoney
War)
[1143] Put me down as a nutter, !do. (Lee’s Ghost)
[1144] ‘Don’t talk to me, you aggravating thing, !don’t!’
(Pickwick)
[1145]
‘They are so beautiful!’ said Mrs Kenwigs, sobbing. ‘Oh, dear’, said all
the ladies, ‘don’t give way, !don’t.’
(Nickleby)
The
‘do’ in a separate Tag can add the Pro-Noun ‘it’ as a Direct Object for
Affirmative [1146] or Negative [1147]; Strong Stress probably occurs on ‘do’
or ‘don’t’ in a falling Pitch contour.
[1146]
Save him, save him!
[…] !Do
it, Heyling, !do it (Pickwick)
[1147]
‘Oh, Tom, don’t lie — !don’t
do it.’
(Sawyer)
A Tag Command in a later Turn by another speaker can
encourage or discourage obedience [1148-49], but I find very few instances.
[1148] ‘Do sit down, Hilda,’ said Connie. ‘!Do!’
the man said. (Chatterly)
[1149]
‘O Priam, yield not to him!’ ‘Do !not,
dear father.’ (Troilus)
As Framing Command Tags, we might count
‘see’ or ‘remember’.
[1150] She’s been
telling tales behind my back! Well, I won’t stand for it, see! (Stolen
Heart)
[1151]
Moderation in all things, remember! (Wildfell)
61. The Look-Ahead Tag Command placed in front to anticipate a Command may encourage or discourage in advance [1152-53], though I found few instances. Sample [1154] is a rare one with both Look-Ahead and Look-Back Tags.
[1152]
!Do!
Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow upon the foul disease. (Lear)
[1153] !Don’t, Maggie, my dear — don’t look so ugly! (Floss)
[1154]
Do
stop your dogs digging there! […] Oh, call them off! !Do! !do!
— Oh, !don’t, !don’t! Don’t let them dig! (WouldBeGoods)
62.
A mild Command can take a Tag Question of ‘will you?’ [1155] and ‘won’t
you?’ [1156]; or, in casual speech, ‘willya?’ [1157] and ‘wontcha?’
[1158].
[1155] Just strike
a match, will you? (Brown)
[1156] Be very good to him, won’t you? (Little
Women)
[1157] Hey Ed, get my bag, willya?
(Travellin’ Riverside Blues)www
[1158] Lay off the Spider King, wontcha? (Internet
chat)www
These
Affirmative and Negative Tags animate compliance to do what is commanded whilst
hinting at greater freedom to decide than for a plain Command.
63. Commanding is the most problematic of the four Major Clause Types because of power relations it might imply, and the loss of face if the speaker is disobeyed or for the hearer meekly obeys. Prosody is essential for regulating the degrees between the mild Commands for simple or easy compliance, with Weak Stresses, soft Volume, and a shallow falling Pitch contour in [1159-60]; and forceful Commands for immediate or unconditional compliance, with Strong Stresses, loud Volume, and a steep falling Pitch contour [1161-62].
Conversely, speakers of English have a fine repertory of outwardly polite and modest ways of getting you to do things without seeming to utter Commands, e.g.:
[1163] ‘Perhaps,
Mary’, she said tentatively, ‘you wouldn’t mind giving us some tea?’ (Night
and Day)
[1164] I wonder if you would be so
kind as to cast a professional eye over the experimental laboratories for me. (Lucifer
Rising)
Obedience
can be made to seem an act of refined courtesy that honours the hearer.
IV.D
Minor Clause Types
64.
Minor Clause Types
do not themselves serve the essential functions of the Major
Clause Types of Stating, Questioning, Exclaiming, or Commanding. Instead, their
unmarked function is to constitute the Background of the Processes expressed for
such functions by the Major Clauses constituting the Foreground
. So terms like
‘declarative’ and interrogative’ must accurately apply to Major Clauses,
and not, as in traditional grammars, to whole ‘sentences’ (IV.14). A term
like ‘declarative sentence’ must mean: a ‘sentence that coincides with a
declarative clause’.
IV.D.1 Dependent Clauses
65.
A Dependent Clause
is a Minor Type with Subject and Predicate, ‘depending
on’
an ‘Independent Clause’ as a Major Type in the same Sentence and with an
essential function. Thus, [1165] States the ‘thinking’, not the ‘having a
break’; [1166] Questions the ‘staying’, not the ‘retiring’; [1167]
Exclaims about ‘being miserable’, not ‘offending’; and [1168] Commands the ‘discarding’,
not the ‘using’.
[1165] You’ll think more clearly after
you’ve had a break. (Waters of Eden)
[1166] Are you going to stay in London
after you’ve retired? (Furniture)
[1167] How miserable you were when you had offended her! (Idle Fellow)
[1168] Always discard a swab after you
have used it once. (Taking Good Care)
Also
due to Foregrounding, the reactions to a Statement address the Major Process,
not the Minor Process. Thus, the reacting speakers deny the ‘blackballing’,
not the ‘trying to join’ [1169]; ‘disagree’ with the ‘being
important’, not with her ‘having hope’ [1170]; disbelieve the
‘standing ready’, not with the ‘putting’ or ‘turning’ [1171]; and
are ‘glad’ about a man ‘being a good cobbler’, not about his ‘looking very young’
[1172].
[1169]
‘Your husband was blackballed when he tried to join the Country Club.’
‘That’s not true!’ (Crime)
[1170] ‘It’s important she should have hope.’ ‘I
don’t agree.’ (Woman of My Age)
[1171] ‘These parties stand ready to take the mills off your hands
at the value I put upon them when I turned them in.’ ‘I don’t believe you!’ (Lapham)
[1172] ‘Though he may look very young
he’s a good cobbler.’ ‘Glad to hear it.’ (Shoe-maker’s
Daughter)
66. When the two Clause Types occur together, which is of course the unmarked Pattern for ‘dependency’, both a Dependent Clause and an Independent Clause prefer a falling Pitch and End Weight. In a separated Prosody, the weight or length of each Clause may justify assigning it its own Tone Group, set off by a pause in between, no matter which comes first. [1173-74]
Sometimes alternative Pitch contours, with one rising and one falling, as we have seen for Major Clauses (IV.19, 33), can be shared between Minor and a Major Clause [1175-76]; thanks to the distinct contrast in Pitch, no pause may be needed.
One
plausible effect is to invite comparison between Minor and Major Process,
e.g. between two
Agents who ‘moved’,
or between
who’s
to be the ‘Beauty’ and who the ‘Beast’.
67.
Sometimes too, the separation between Clauses is so clear in the Prosody that
the Dependent Clause is treated as an Utterance in its own right. The most
common one occurs in answering a Question from another speaker [1177-78]. Or,
the same speaker may express an afterthought [1179-80].
[1177] ‘Why hasn’t she told him?’ ‘Because she has come to her senses.’ (Longest Journey)
[1178]
‘When shall we give Bleak House its mistress, little woman?’ ‘When
you please’. (Bleak House)
[1179] Besides, he may have been driven over the edge by her carryings-on. Because carry on she did. (Crime)
[1180] ‘She is a jolly companion to be with, amusing, restful — interesting.’ ‘I think that is a fair description. When she cares, that is. When she is in good form.’ (Secret Places)
These separated Clauses are disdained as ‘sentence fragments’ by most teachers of ‘formal writing’ (cf. IV.81), a subject-matter that rarely addresses Prosody.
68. In an integrated Prosody, both Clauses constitute a single Tone Group, provided that the weight or length is plainly low for the Minor Clause [1181-82] or for the Major Clause [1183-
84], again no matter which comes first.
69. Integrated Prosody is most logical when the Minor Clause is integrated also into the Grammar of the Major Clause. The Minor Clause can be Framed in various Patterns [1185-88].
But here too, weight and length may call for separated Prosody:
70. The four Major Clause Types can serve as integrative Frames, most clearly with the prototypical Verbs, though with the falling Pitch typical of Statements:
In return, a Major Clause Type that is not a Frame can integrate a Minor Clause into its own Prosody, as for a Question [1194], an Exclamation [1195], and a Command [1196].
71. Framing Statement Tags can retroactively contribute a Communicative Frame to reaffirm a Statement [1197], or a Question [1198], or a Command [1199].
[1197]
Rearmament is a mistake, I tell you. (Maggie
Jordan)
[1198] How could anyone abuse a wee child like that, I ask you. (Inside the RUC)
[1199] Just be thankful you haven’t got longer hair, I’m
telling you. (conversation)BNC
72.
Extremely popular as retroactive Cognitive Framing Tags are ‘you know’ and
‘you see’ (in the sense of ‘understand’, not ‘look at’), which more
feebly reaffirm the Statement. ‘You know’ can suggest that ‘you’ are
aware and are just being reminded [1200]; ‘you see’ can suggest that the
speaker is making something clear [1201]. Yet placed at the Front as an ordinary
Frame in the same Tone Group, ‘you know’ can indicate that Statement is
fully certain [1202], whilst ‘you see’ can indicate that the Statement is
confirmed by visual evidence [1203].
[1200]
You’ve got to live your life too, you know,
said Keith with a grin. (Furniture)
[1201] That quietness was typical