VOA慢速英语2021--语法与母亲节

Grammar and Mother’s Day 

Many countries around the world will celebrate Mother's Day on May 9th.

In celebration of the holiday, we will explore what a Mother's Day poem can teach you about English grammar.

You will learn about the imperative¹ mood - a way that English speakers form commands or instructions. You will also learn about negative statements.

Let's begin our report with a few important terms and ideas.

Imperative mood

In English, verbs have different moods. Mood means the speaker's purpose or reason for saying something. It is separate from a verb's tense or place in time - past, present, and so on.

There is the indicative² mood - when a speaker makes a statement that expresses an idea or fact. Here is an example:

My name is John.

Notice that the subject of the sentence is "my name." English has an imperative mood – when a speaker makes a statement that gives an order, command or instruction. Such sentences generally do not have subjects. Here is an example:

Finish your homework before you go to bed.

Notice that this statement suggests a subject, "you," but it is missing³. Another important word, "will," is missing also.

The imperative mood does not really have a tense. When you remove the word "will," you remove what marks the verb's tense.

In the book "Doing Grammar," Max Morenberg notes that "An imperative is the only English sentence whose main verb is infinitive⁴."

Let's explore imperatives⁵ a bit more in a poem by Bruce Lansky. It is called On Mother's Day.

On Mother's Day

Lansky begins his poem with the following words:

On Mother's Day it isn't smart

To give your mom a broken heart.

So here are things you shouldn't say

To dear old mom on Mother's Day

From these lines, you can tell that Lansky is going to use the imperative mood to give a group of instructions.

Lansky writes the following:

Don't tell her that you'll never eat

A carrot, celery, bean, or beet⁶.

Don't tell her you think smoking's cool.

Don't tell her you've dropped out of school.

Notice that Lansky uses the negative form of the imperative three times with the words "don't tell her."

How did Lansky arrive at these exact words? Here is the process by which English speakers make the negative form of the imperative.

You begin with a full statement, such as:

You will not tell her you think smoking is cool.

Then you take out the words "you will."

Add the word "do" before "not," as in:

Do not tell her you think smoking is cool.

Finally, combine the words "do" and "not."

Don't tell her you think smoking is cool.

For those who hope to write one day, Lansky has a humorous final instruction for Mother's Day.

Don't tell her when you're grown you'll be

A starving poet—just like me.

Closing thoughts

You can use what you have learned⁷ today to form instructions (or negative commands) in many kinds of situations.

Any time you need to tell people what to do, think about the imperative mood. But be careful about how you use it. For example, you probably do not want to give too many commands or instructions to your boss – or your mother, for that matter.

I'll end this report with a sentence that uses the imperative mood:

Remember to be kind to your mother on Mother's Day.

Words in This Story

negative – adj. describes a word or statement that means "no" or that expresses a denial⁸ or refusal⁹ instruction

carrot – n. the long orange root of a plant that is eaten as a vegetable

celery – n. a vegetable that is grown for its long light green stems¹⁰

bean – n. a seed that is eaten as a vegetable and that comes from any one of many different kinds of climbing plants

beet – n. a garden plant with thick leaves and a rounded red root

1 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

2 indicative   

adj.(of)象征的；陈述的；n.陈述语气

参考例句：

• His presence is indicative of his willingness to help.他的出席表示他愿意帮忙。
• Use the indicative mood to make a sentence.请用陈述语气造句。

3 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

4 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。

5 imperatives   

n.必要的事( imperative的名词复数 )；祈使语气；必须履行的责任

参考例句：

• Nixon, however, had other imperatives. 但尼克松另有需要。 来自辞典例句
• There could be some cultural imperatives in there somewhere! 在公共传播那里，在某些方面，可能有更迫切的文化需要！ 来自互联网

6 beet   

n.甜菜；甜菜根

参考例句：

• He farmed his pickers to work in the beet fields. 他出租他的摘棉工去甜菜地里干活。
• The sugar beet is an entirely different kind of plant.糖用甜菜是一种完全不同的作物。

7 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

8 denial   

n.否认；拒绝，拒绝给予

参考例句：

• The newspaper printed a denial of the untrue story.报社刊登了否认不实消息的声明。
• Her denial of my advice hurts me.她拒绝我的忠告伤害了我。

9 refusal   

n.拒绝

参考例句：

• He persisted in his refusal to pay the money.他坚持拒绝付钱。
• Our offer was met with a firm refusal.我们的报价被坚决拒绝。

10 stems   

n.（花草的）茎( stem的名词复数 )；词干；（高脚酒杯的）脚；烟斗柄v.遏制[阻止]（液体的流动等）( stem的第三人称单数 )；封堵；遏止

参考例句：

• The present wave of strikes stems from discontent among the lower-paid. 当前的罢工浪潮起因于低工资雇员们的不满情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her interest in flowers stems from her childhood in the country. 她对花卉的兴趣产生于她在乡下度过的童年时代。 来自《简明英汉词典》