Imperative sentences

An emperor is a very powerful leader of a country or an empire and gets to command everyone. That’s how you can remember this type of sentence - an imperative sentence is a command or request type of sentence.

The shortest sentences you can have are imperative sentences. Say you see a small kid just about to step onto the road in front of speeding car. You might yell out something like:

Stop!

That’s a complete sentence; it’s an imperative sentence. Imperative sentences are generally commands.

An imperative sentence can be so short because often there is an ‘understood’ subject, even though it’s not actually in the sentence. For instance, in the ‘Stop!’ example, the reader probably understands that the sentence really means something like:

‘You, stop!’ or ‘Hey you, stop!’

Imperative sentences can either end in a period or an exclamation mark, but usually a period. An exclamation mark is used if the statement is particularly strong - like if you’re trying to stop a kid from stepping out in front of a bus. In a less stressful situation, just use the period:

Wait. I’ll come with you.

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