Implied subjects: commands
المؤلف:
EVELYNP.ALTENBERG & ROBERTM.VAGO
المصدر:
English Grammar Understanding the basics
الجزء والصفحة:
P186-C13
2025-11-14
22
Implied subjects: commands
1.Open that book right now!
2. Don’t even think about crossing the street here!
3. Please be careful.
We all recognize a command when we hear one. We have seen that all sentences have a subject, but where is the subject of these commands? Speakers of English readily agree that these sentences do, in fact, have a subject. The subject, though not stated, is understood or implied to be you. Thus, when someone says ‘‘Wash the dishes!’’ you know they’re talking to you. Commands are also called imperative sentences.
In writing, command sentences often end with an exclamation point(!).
Quick tip
The subject of commands is an understood or implied you.
Answers
To enhance your understanding
There are a number of ways to prove what you, as a speaker of English, intuitively know: that you is the implicit subject of command sentences. We present one of these arguments here.
Take a look at the following sentences:
4. I held my breath.
5. You held your breath.
6. He held his breath.
7. She held her breath.
While these sentences are grammatical, the following sentences are not:
8a. *I held your breath.
8b. *I held his breath.
8c. *I held their breath.
9a. *You held my breath.
9b. *You held his breath.
9c. *You held their breath.
Can you explain why these sentences are ungrammatical? Clearly, a person cannot hold someone else’s breath. Thus, the two underlined pronouns must refer to the same person. If they don’t, the sentence is not grammatical, as in 8 and 9 above.
Now what about commands which contain this same expression? Look at the following grammatical and ungrammatical commands:
10. Hold your breath!
11. *Hold my breath!
12. *Hold his breath!
13. *Hold their breath!
In fact, the only pronoun allowed in the command context Hold ______ breath Is your. Since we know that your must refer to the same person as the subject, it follows that the subject in the command must be you. That is, even though the you is not actually stated, we treat a command as though the subject were you.
Answers
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