Hey guys! How are you today?
Well, after watching the content concerning going through the immigration,
it's time to look at some important grammar points.
We'll start with highlighting a very common verb form, the imperative form.
Many people think that the imperative is only used to give orders.
Well, that's not entirely true...
Of course, we can give orders using the imperative,
but we can also make suggestions, requests and invitations,
give instructions, etc.
Let's take a look at some examples!
Look at this sentence:
Here we have the verb "to be" in the imperative.
What's the idea in this sentence? What do you think?
That's a piece of advice, right?
How about this one:
In this sentence, "check" is in the imperative form.
And what's the idea here?
It's more of a recommendation than an order, don't you think?
Last one:
"Place" is also in the imperative.
This sentence can be seen as an instruction on how to proceed
when having your fingerprint scanned during the immigration control.
See, guys?
There are different ways to understand the same sentence,
and it varies according to the context.
But one thing that does not vary is the structure of this verb form.
Look!
The imperative is formed by the verb in its base form and the complement.
This is the affirmative form.
Let's take a look at an example!
Notice that you can't see the subject in this structure,
when we use a sentence in the imperative, the subject of the imperative is always "you".
That's why in most imperative sentence, we omit the subject.
And it happens both in the affirmative and the negative form.
And to form the negative of the imperative we simply use "don't" before the verb.
"Don't" + verb + complement.
And, once again, we can't see the subject.
The idea here is a strong recommendation.
This structure of the imperative is very simple, isn't it guys?
Now, there is another form
in which most conjugations also use the verb in the base form,
the simple present.
But its structure is different from the imperative structure,
since in the simple present the subject is obvious.
Let's compare the structures,
take a look at the following sentence in the imperative!
We've already seen that's a piece of advice in the imperative, right?
Now, check this next sentence!
The second sentence is in the simple present.
We can see the subject "I", and we cannot omit it from the sentence.
Now let's compare the negative forms of the imperative and the simple present,
Take a look!
Here we have the imperative in the negative form.
I'm using "don't" before the verb to tell you what you should not do.
Now let's have a look at the negative form of the simple present.
See? I'm using "don't" to form the negative and here the subject is obvious!
So far, we have seen the structural differences
between the imperative and the simple present.
What about the difference in use?
Well, while the imperative is used to give orders and instructions,
make suggestions, recommendations, invitations,
and even to place orders in many contexts,
the simple present is used to talk about facts, habits and routines.
And there's another wildly used verb form that also refers to actions in the present,
the present continuous.
The difference here is that the present continuous
is used to talk about actions in progress in the present.
Let's look at an example.
Note that the sentence is about a situation that is still happening,
because the person hasn't been allowed in the US yet.
That is, the process of entering is in progress.
The focus of this verb form is in the continuity of the action,
let me show you another example!
When I say that, I'm describing the action you are performing at this moment.
That's why I use the present continuous.
It's different from saying, for example:
Here, I'm no longer talking about what you are doing now,
but what you usually do.
Your habit or your routine.
That's why this second sentence is in the simple present.
Let's sum up these ideas.
The present continuous is used for actions in progress in the present,
and the simple present is used to talk about habits and routines.
Another difference between these two verb forms is the structure,
as you've probably realized by now.
Let's take a look at the structure of the present continuous!
Subject, the verb "to be",
conjugated in the present tense according to the subject,
and the action verb in the "ing" form.
This is the affirmative form.
For example:
"Am" is the verb "to be" in the present, conjugated for the subject "I".
The use of the contracted form "I'm" is also very common.
If the subject were "you",
the verb "to be" would be conjugated as "are" and so on.
In the negative form, we add "not" to the verb "to be".
So, it goes like this.
And in the interrogative form, we invert the position of the verb "to be"
with the position of the subject.
Then, we have:
And we could also use question words in this structure,
for example:
Let's take a look at some more examples!
This is a very common question during the immigration interview.
Based on the context,
you know that the officer wants to know about your stay in the next days or weeks.
That is, the officer is asking about the length of your stay in the country.
Now, let's see another common question during the immigration interview:
In that case,
the officer is asking if you're bringing tobacco with you right now
or in your luggage.
So, the officer is referring to a situation in progress, right?
That's it for now!
We talked about some very common verb structures in English,
and now it's time to do those follow-up activities!
And I will see you guys next class!
Bye!