Many countries around the world will celebrate Mother’s Day on May 9th.
世界上许多国家都将在5月9日庆祝母亲节。
In celebration of the holiday, we will explore what a Mother’s Day poem can teach you about English grammar.
为了庆祝这个节日，我们将探索一首母亲节诗可以教你什么英语语法。
You will learn about the imperative mood - a way that English speakers form commands or instructions. You will also learn about negative statements.
您将了解祈使语气 - 英语使用者形成命令或指示的一种方式。您还将了解负面陈述。
Let’s begin our report with a few important terms and ideas.
让我们从一些重要的术语和想法开始我们的报告。
Imperative mood
命令式语气
In English, verbs have different moods. Mood means the speaker’s purpose or reason for saying something. It is separate from a verb’s tense or place in time - past, present, and so on.
在英语中，动词有不同的语气。语气是指说话者说话的目的或原因。它与动词的时态或时间地点（过去、现在等）分开。
There is the indicative mood - when a speaker makes a statement that expresses an idea or fact. Here is an example:
当演讲者发表表达想法或事实的陈述时，存在指示性语气。这是一个例子：
My name is John.
我的名字是约翰。
Notice that the subject of the sentence is “my name.” English has an imperative mood – when a speaker makes a statement that gives an order, command or instruction . Such sentences generally do not have subjects. Here is an example:
请注意，句子的主语是“我的名字”。英语有祈使语气——当说话者发表命令、命令或指示的陈述时。此类句子一般没有主语。这是一个例子：
Finish your homework before you go to bed.
睡觉前完成作业。
Notice that this statement suggests a subject, “you,” but it is missing. Another important word, “will,” is missing also.
请注意，该陈述暗示了一个主语“您”，但它缺失了。另一个重要的词“意志”也被遗漏了。
The imperative mood does not really have a tense. When you remove the word “will,” you remove what marks the verb’s tense.
祈使语气实际上没有时态。当你删除“will”这个词时，你就删除了动词时态的标记。
In the book “Doing Grammar,” Max Morenberg notes that “An imperative is the only English sentence whose main verb is infinitive .”
马克斯·莫伦伯格（Max Morenberg）在《做语法》一书中指出，“祈使句是唯一一个主要动词为不定式的英语句子。”
Let’s explore imperatives a bit more in a poem by Bruce Lansky. It is called On Mother’s Day .
让我们在布鲁斯·兰斯基的一首诗中进一步探讨祈使句。它被称为母亲节。
On Mother’s Day
在母亲节
Lansky begins his poem with the following words:
兰斯基在诗的开头这样写道：
On Mother's Day it isn't smart
在母亲节这并不明智
To give your mom a broken heart.
给你妈妈一颗破碎的心。
So here are things you shouldn't say
所以这里有一些你不应该说的话
To dear old mom on Mother's Day
母亲节致亲爱的老妈妈
From these lines, you can tell that Lansky is going to use the imperative mood to give a group of instructions.
从这些字里行间，你可以看出兰斯基将要使用祈使语气来发出一组指示。
Lansky writes the following:
兰斯基写道：
Don't tell her that you'll never eat
别告诉她你永远不会吃饭
A carrot, celery, bean, or beet.
胡萝卜、芹菜、豆类或甜菜。
Don't tell her you think smoking's cool.
不要告诉她你认为吸烟很酷。
Don't tell her you've dropped out of school.
不要告诉她你已经退学了。
Notice that Lansky uses the negative form of the imperative three times with the words “don't tell her.”
请注意，兰斯基三次使用了祈使句的否定形式，并表示“不要告诉她”。
How did Lansky arrive at these exact words? Here is the process by which English speakers make the negative form of the imperative.
兰斯基是如何得出这些确切的说法的？以下是说英语的人使用祈使句的否定形式的过程。
You begin with a full statement, such as:
您以完整的陈述开始，例如：
You will not tell her you think smoking is cool.
你不会告诉她你认为吸烟很酷。
Then you take out the words “you will.”
然后你把“你会的”这几个字去掉。
Add the word “do” before “not,” as in:
在“not”之前添加“do”一词，如下所示：
Do not tell her you think smoking is cool.
不要告诉她你认为吸烟很酷。
Finally, combine the words “do” and “not.”
最后，将“做”和“不”这两个词结合起来。
Don’t tell her you think smoking is cool.
不要告诉她你认为吸烟很酷。
For those who hope to write one day, Lansky has a humorous final instruction for Mother’s Day.
对于那些希望有一天能写作的人，兰斯基为母亲节提供了一条幽默的最后指示。
Don't tell her when you're grown you'll be
别告诉她等你长大了你就会
A starving poet—just like me.
一个饥饿的诗人——就像我一样。
Closing thoughts
结束语
You can use what you have learned today to form instructions (or negative commands) in many kinds of situations.
您可以使用今天学到的知识在多种情况下形成指令（或否定命令）。
Any time you need to tell people what to do, think about the imperative mood. But be careful about how you use it. For example, you probably do not want to give too many commands or instructions to your boss – or your mother, for that matter.
任何时候你需要告诉人们该做什么时，都要考虑祈使语气。但要小心如何使用它。例如，您可能不想向您的老板或您的母亲发出太多命令或指示。
I'll end this report with a sentence that uses the imperative mood:
我将用祈使语气的一句话来结束这份报告：
Remember to be kind to your mother on Mother’s Day.
记得在母亲节那天善待你的母亲。