Jill: John, look what happened to my lamp!
John: Oh, is that the one you always have on your desk?
Jill : Yes, it was a present. One of the office cleaners broke it.
John : I’m sure you can fix it.
Jill (looking angry): But I’m so mad! It was so beautiful.
John: Go easy on them. I’m sure it was an accident.
Jill (laughs): Yeah, you’re right. And you gave me an idea for a grammar lesson.
John (cheerfully): Great! Tell me about it.
Jill: Aha! I want to talk about the imperative form – and you just gave another example.
John: You’re welcome. Imperatives are like commands, aren’t they? What did I say?
Jill: You said: “Go easy on them.” Notice that sentence has no subject, but we understand it to be “you should.”
John: And I meant you should not treat the cleaners too harshly. What is the other example?
Jill: You said, “Tell me about it.” That also has no subject, but I understood it to mean I should tell you about it. And I will go easy on the cleaners. They have a hard job and we should thank them.
John: That reminds me of a song.
Jill: And that’s Everyday Grammar!
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