Ruth:
On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 4:13 PM, Ruth Mathys <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'm rather enjoying being regarded as a guru! Stop before it goes to my > head. Anyone can throw big words around and sound impressive. > Enjoy it. In relatively few postings, you’ve had quite an affect on this list. > > > 'Imperative' is the label given to the verb form but there is a wide range > of meanings that could be 'actioned' by that form (and this differs from > language to language, of course). In BH it's fine to ask God to do > something by using an imperative, isn't it? I think the English imperative > is a very strong form -- I use it on my children but not my husband! In my > English at least, it's really important for politeness to ask indirectly > ("When you have a moment, would you be able to...?) But that's not true of > every language or culture. I remember being quite taken aback at first in > a cross-cultural situation when my peers used unvarnished imperatives on me > all the time. But it's just how you do it in that language. > > (Even in English, not every imperative form is a true command. Think of > expressions like "Get a life!" or "Hold me back!") > But those are also idiomatic phrases, and while the imperative form is used, is the impact softened by the use in the idiom? > > Ruth Mathys > > Karl W. Randolph.
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