ohmyrichard
Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
Dear teachers,
I have been thinking about the following sentence structures for a very long time, but cannot figure out a satisfactory interpretation. I would like you, especially native speakers of English, to help me with them. My question is, Are they all imperatives or statements?
1. God bless America. (I often hear it at the end of President Barack Obama's speeches)
2. Thank you.
3. Woe betide you if you arrive late again.
I am especially interested in "Thank you", as it comes in the form of an imperative just like "Answer my question." We can make the imperative "Answer my question." complete in form by adding the subject "You"saying "You please anwer my question". However, it is against the common sense and also hilarious to restore the completeness of "Thank you." by saying "You thank you."
So, are the above sentences imperatives or statements? Please explain your understanding(s) of these sentence structures in as much detail as possible. Thanks a lot.
Richard
I have been thinking about the following sentence structures for a very long time, but cannot figure out a satisfactory interpretation. I would like you, especially native speakers of English, to help me with them. My question is, Are they all imperatives or statements?
1. God bless America. (I often hear it at the end of President Barack Obama's speeches)
2. Thank you.
3. Woe betide you if you arrive late again.
I am especially interested in "Thank you", as it comes in the form of an imperative just like "Answer my question." We can make the imperative "Answer my question." complete in form by adding the subject "You"saying "You please anwer my question". However, it is against the common sense and also hilarious to restore the completeness of "Thank you." by saying "You thank you."
So, are the above sentences imperatives or statements? Please explain your understanding(s) of these sentence structures in as much detail as possible. Thanks a lot.
Richard