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imperative phrase

Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A grammatical phrase framed in the imperative mood to express a direct command, request, prohibition, or urgent instruction.

Detailed Definition
Imperative phrases project authority, urgency, or intimacy, directing the reader or a divine/imagined interlocutor; common in invocations, spells, or dramatic monologues, they collapse distance between speaker and audience through direct address.
Example
Example in poetry:
Write the truth, even if your hand trembles; Stand firm, though the earth quakes beneath you; Speak now—silence is complicity; Walk the path, though thorns tear your feet; Carry this song to those who’ve never heard it.
Additional Notes
Imperative phrases command: “Go! Leave this place!”; they create urgency and authority; used in protest, invocation, and dramatic monologues; avoid aggression—use moral weight: “Write, though the world would silence you”; related to exhortative phrase and hortatory phrase; ideal for poems demanding action or awakening.
Also Known As
command imperative sentence directive prescriptive phrase
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