Commands (The Imperative)

When we omit the subject of a sentence in English, we create a command (also called the “imperative” mood). 

There is a big difference between the following pairs of sentences.

1) “I go to school” (a statement) and

2) “Go to school” (a command).

Sentence one tells a truth about my life:  at present, I am a student.  Sentence two is a command for the person to whom I speak or write:  it commands that person to go to school.

3) “You eat kimchi with rice for breakfast” (a statement) and

4) “Eat kimchi with rice for breakfast” (a command).

In sentence three, I am telling you something that I have observed: I am noting your usual breakfast.  In sentence four, I am telling you what to eat for your breakfast.

5) “She goes to work at nine o’clock every day” (a statement) and

6) “Go to work at nine o’clock every day” (a command).

Sentence five tells a truth about a female’s life: she goes to work at a regular hour of nine o’clock.  Sentence six orders the person to whom I speak or write to go to work everyday at a certain time.

When we omit the subject in English, we make a command.  More specifically, the command is for "you"—either the person who reads the sentence or the person to whom we speak.  Why is this important?

When we text on a mobile phone, we often omit the subject:

7) “c u l8r” (see you later)

8) “meet u @ 9” (meet you at nine o’clock)

9) “ttyl” (talk to you later)

These three common texting phrases are (grammatically incorrect) commands.  Sentence seven is actually a command for the person to see him or herself later.  Sentence eight is a command for the person to meet him or herself at nine o’clock.  Sentence nine is a command for the person to talk to him or herself later. 

Sentences seven to nine are absolutely fine for texting (or casual conversation) because we need to save space and time when we text.  Other texters will understand what we mean by these phrases: 7) I will see you later; 8) I will meet you at nine o’clock; and 9) I will talk to you later.  However, these three texting phrases are inappropriate for any type of formal writing.  

Resources

The Writing Center at University of Ottawa usefully explains the different types of sentences.

Quiz

The BBC’s Skillwise has a three-level quiz for the imperative.

It's and Its

It’s = it is

Its = something belongs to “it”

Why We Confuse Them

The use of the apostrophe for “it” differs from one of the two general uses for apostrophes that we are taught in primary school:

1) To show a contraction of two words.

When we contract two words, an apostrophe replaces the contracted letters.  “It” follows this rule:

have + not = haven’t

I + am = I’m

they + are = they’re

she + will = she’ll

let + us = let’s

it + is = it’s

2) To show possession.

When we want to show that somebody/something owns an object, or that an object originates in or is part of somebody/something, we affix an apostrophe s (’s) to the end of that somebody/something.  “It” does not follow this rule.

Tom’s friend = the friend of Tom

The dog’s collar = the collar of the dog

Shakespeare’s plays = the plays of Shakespeare

The city’s hospital = the hospital of the city

The Cat in the Hat’s hat = the hat of the Cat in the Hat

But

Its colour = the colour of it

Possession for “it” is an exception to the apostrophe s rule, quite possibly because “it’s” is a contraction for “it is.”  The possessive of “it” is “its.”

Resources

The following post-secondary institutions have good interactive worksheets to practice this difference:  The University of Bristol, Santa Monica College, and Capital Community College.

Mixed Metaphors

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which

1. a word or phrase is applied to another object and
2. that word or phrase is not analogous to the object to which it is applied.

Examples

In the following lines from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, “a stage” is applied to “all the world”:

 

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players. (II, vii)

The world is not actually a stage; men and women are not actors.  In the following sentence from Proverbs, “a shield” is applied to “God”:

God is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. (Prov 30:5)

“A shield” is a physical object of protection in warfare, and “God” is a spiritual entity.  The two words are not analogous.

Metaphors create images for readers.  In the previous two examples, readers must consider how the object is like the word or phrase that is applied to it.  Metaphors challenge readers to consider an object in a new way.

Mixed Metaphors

Metaphors can confuse readers when the images that they create conflict, as in the following example from a student journal:

Rock stars are a jet fighter whose life goes downhill at a great rate of knots.

Here, “a jet fighter” is applied to “rock stars.”  This coupling is not necessarily problematic, but there are several parts of the sentence that may confuse the reader:

• “a jet fighter” flies
• “going downhill” is for land-based transportation
• “knots” is a sailing term
• “rock stars” is plural, but “a jet fighter” is singular
• “a jet fighter”is a machine and therefore cannot “live”

The image is difficult to interpret because it is not uniform.  Readers may struggle to imagine an item that is simultaneously going down hill, sailing the ocean, and flying through the air.  In the following example, we have a confusion of physical senses:

No one sees the world through a passive voice.

It is difficult to “see” through the mouth (i.e. “passive voice”).

Do not use mixed metaphors.

Resources

Rutgers has a good explanation of metaphors and mixed metaphors. 

Daily Mixed Metaphor is a blog that lists several humorous mixed metaphors.

The Atlantic Wire has an amusing short article on “The World's Most Mixed Metaphor.”

Affect versus Effect

“Affect” is a verb and “effect” is a noun.  What does this difference mean in your writing?

Affect

If someone or something is performing an action on another person or thing, use “affect.”  “Affect” often has the sense of “to influence”:

• My partner affects the way I behave: she encourages me to be a better person. (“My partner” is performing an action on me.)
• The rain affected driving conditions: it made the road slippery. (“The rain” is performing an action on the road.)
• The medication will affect you in two ways.  It will make you drowsy and hungry. (“The medication” is performing an action on you.)

Effect

“Effect” is a thing.  It often has the sense of “result.”  You can count the number of “effects” just as you can count any other thing.  “Effect” will therefore often (but not always) have one of the following types of words before it:

• an article like the or an;
• a counter like one, two, three, etc.;
• a possessive adjective like my, your, his, her, its, our, or their;
• an adjective that describes the effect like harmful, clear, or negative; or
• a word like many, some, few, no, etc.

We can see such words before “effect” in the following examples:

• My partner has a positive effect on the way I behave.
• Rain has an effect on driving conditions.
• The medication will have two effects on you: it will make you drowsy and hungry.

Resources

Grammar Girl has a good tutorial on the difference between affect and effect.  

You can practice using “affect” and “effect” in the online quizzes on Grammar Book, Grammar-Quizzes, and The Scriptorium.

Plain Written English

The purpose of this blog is simple: to explore the stylistic problems that I encounter while marking papers and reading articles on the Internet.  When I encounter a stylistic peculiarity, I will write a post about it and refer to electronic resources that address it.  Similarly, if you find any errors in my posts or on the Internet in general, please feel free to discuss them here.  I would like this blog to facilitate the learning of plain written English.

Considering Technorati's State of the Blogosphere report for 2010, I realize that stylistic features of written English do not figure amongst the most popular topics about which people blog.  They are not even mentioned even though blogs could not exist without consideration of style.