The sentence

The future-in-the-past
Sometimes we want to refer to events which were ‘destined’ or planned to take place in the
past (‘the future-in-the-past’). We use was going to, was about to, was to and was due to. We
use these forms for:
- events we couldn’t foresee: They didn’t know they were to be reunited ten years later.
- events which were interrupted: We were just going to leave, when Jean had an
accident.
We also use would for ‘destiny’ in story-telling:
They had already reached 9,000 feet. Soon they would reach the top.
J. The imperative
Some uses of the imperative to express different functions
1. We don’t use the imperative just for ‘giving orders’. We can use it e.g. for:
- offering: Have another sandwich - prohibiting: Do not walk on the grass.
- directing: Take the next turning left. - warning: Look out! A bus is coming!
2. We can make an imperative more polite or more urgent with Do. Compare:
- ordinary imperative: Help yourself!
- polite imperative: Do help yourself!
- negative imperative: Don’t help yourself!
The imperative to address particular people
1. When we say e.g. Wait here! we might be addressing one person or several. We are really
saying ‘You (singular or plural) wait here!’
2. If we want to speak to someone in particular, we can:
- add you (unstressed) for an instruction: You wait here for a moment. (= I want you to)
- add you (stressed) to express annoyance: ‘You keep quiet!
- use you with (or without) a name: You wait here, Henry. Or: Henry, you wait here.
- add yourself/yourselves to verbs like help, enjoy, behave: Help yourself!
3. If we are talking to groups of people, we can use the imperative with:
- everybody: Everybody keep quiet! Keep quiet, everybody.
- somebody/nobody: Somebody answer the phone! Nobody say a word!
- Don’t .. anybody: Don’t say a word, anybody! Don’t anybody say a word!
The imperative with question tags
We can make a request by adding a ‘tag’ like will you? to an imperative:
1. We add will you?/won’t you?/can’t you? to express annoyance: Stop shouting, will you?
2. We add would you?/could/can you? for neutral requests: Post this for me, would you?
3. We add will you?/won’t you? for friendly offers: Take a seat, will you?
We show our feelings not just by adding a tag, but through stress and intonation.
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