How to Ask People NOT to Do Something in English Stop it Please dont...

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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this

lesson I’m going to talk about how to

make negative requests by negative

requests I mean how to make requests for

someone not to do something or to stop a

behavior so I’m going to talk about some

formal and some very casual examples of

this I hope that it’s useful let’s get

started alright first one the first one

is probably the most useful and the

easiest to remember it’s kind of polite

a little bit but it’s also very clear

and direct the pattern is please don’t

verb please don’t

worm so put any verb here in the regular

like the plain infinitive form no change

to the verb just please don’t plus a

regular verb example please don’t take

my pens please don’t fire her so in

these examples my verbs are take and

fire please don’t take my pens please

don’t fire her so we can make very

simple ones too like please don’t sit

there or please don’t smoke

for example these are very quick short

direct easy to understand requests to

stop or not to do something okay let’s

go to a very formal expression you might

see this on signs or you might see this

in official rules and regulations

policies for example this is not

something that is commonly used in

everyday speech please refrain from verb

ing so we tend to use the ing form of

the verb here please refrain from please

refrain from this refrain from means

don’t please don’t and instead of using

the regular infinitive form of the verb

here we use the ing form here so this is

like the more formal version of the

first pattern

please don’t burp to make it more formal

please refrain from verb in examples

please refrain from feeding the pigeons

so here feeding is in the ing form

please refrain from feeding the pigeons

if I want to use another simpler example

like in this sentence I used please

don’t smoke we could use that here

please refrain from smoking that’s a

very common one that you might see

posted in restaurants like on signs

please refrain from smoking please

refrain from ing form for a formal way

to say don’t do this behavior okay let’s

go on to three examples that are very

casual these are ones you’ll use with

kids

you’ll hear among close friends family

members and in some cases these are the

easiest to use because they’re so direct

first one stop verb + ing so this is

very very direct there’s no please

there’s no could you it’s just stop so

this is a very direct request stop verb

in examples stop hitting your sister

hitting is the ing form stop hitting

your sister stop looking at me so these

are very direct so we can imagine these

might be from like a parent to their

child or perhaps us to a close friend

for example so these are used in

situations where we’re very close to the

listener stop ing in the verb form okay

let’s go to another one

don’t plus a verb sometimes if the verb

is very clear if the action is very

clear we drop the verb and we extend

this don’t sound so let’s look at some

examples with a verb first don’t plus a

verb it’s just like this please don’t

verb but even more direct more casual

don’t put your elbows on the table so

elbows remember this part of your body

and putting it on a table like at a

dinner table for example is considered

rude so don’t put your elbows on the

table don’t bless our verb and some

extra information here don’t put your

elbows on the table don’t chew with your

mouth open so chewing is the action

this action of your mouth and chewing

with your mouth open instead of closing

your mouth as you chew is also

considered rude so these are a couple

quick room maybe reminders from a mother

or father or other parent figure don’t

put your elbows on the table don’t chew

with your mouth open

don’t plus a verb so you might hear

especially young kids and kind of adults

who are having a little bit of fun with

language you might hear the verb getting

dropped so a great example would be mmm

like if a kid is fighting with their

brother or sister and the kid is getting

punched like there’s someone like that’s

hitting the kid the kid might just say

don’t sew because the action they want

to stop is quite clear like don’t hit me

is what the is what the speaker the

little kid means but they dropped the

the verb because it’s very clear the

unpleasant action is very very clear in

those cases you might hear speakers drop

the verb completely don’t when it’s very

clear we know which action we don’t want

so you might hear that in lots of cases

though we do include the verb okay let’s

go to another one though a pair stop it

and stop that stop it and stop that so

here the difference is it and that this

just depends on the speaker’s feeling

really stop it means stop the behavior

stop that also it means stop the

behavior stop that is probably used more

when we want to point out a behavior a

little bit removed from us so if I’m

watching bad behavior across the room I

could say stop that stop that I could

say stop it as well if I want to it just

kind of depends on the speaker’s the

speaker’s moved a little bit so stop it

or stop that or quick commands again

often from parents to mean stop that

behavior to stop that behavior stop it

or stop that so you can use both of

those may be a question some of you

might have stopped

this stop this we don’t use that one

very much stop you could say stop this

car for example if you want to talk

about an object or something that is

moving that you want to stop moving you

could say stop this car or stop this bus

for example but when you’re talking

about behavior we don’t use stop this we

say stop that or stop it

interesting point okay let’s go along to

a very casual kind of more common in the

last maybe 10 to 15 years I would

imagine I’m not sure specifically but

this is when we see a lot on the

internet these days and a lot used among

young people could you not plus maybe do

that sometimes this is dropped so this

is very similar to don’t but what makes

this interesting is it’s phrased as a

polite expression could you could you is

use in polite requests here we’re using

not though so could you not do something

could you not do that this is actually

not used in formal situations yes we use

could and you hear making us think oh

well maybe it’s formal but this is

actually a very casual expression could

you not do that we use this with that

sort of intonation could you not do that

we use it with close friends only

so examples could you not post such

embarrassing pictures of me online so

this is used with someone that we’re

quite close to we make kind of a direct

and slightly sarcastic maybe request

sometimes to people so again as I talked

about with don’t if the action is very

clear we can drop this whole part of the

sentence and just keep could you not so

if for example maybe a close friend is

singing really really loudly in my ear I

could say could you not or I could say

could you not do that which means please

stop please stop so this is kind of an

interesting an interesting pattern it

sounds kind of formal it seems like it

could be formal but it’s not actually

it’s quite it’s quite catchable

okay let’s go on to the last one for

today this one is a formal expression if

you could please not verb we would

appreciate it if you could please not

verb we would appreciate it so again

this might come from maybe a service

staff or you might see this on a sign in

a restaurant or perhaps add like I don’t

know some other kind of gathering place

where lots of people visit so if you

could please not regular verb form we

would appreciate it so a formal

expression at the beginning and at the

end so example if you could please not

feed the animals at the zoo we would

appreciate it so here’s my verb feed the

animals at the zoo I have an object here

we would appreciate it or if you could

please not smoke we would appreciate it

so this is a formal request not to do

something and we include an appreciation

expression too so this is another nice

formal expression you can use if you

forget though this one is maybe the

easiest to remember it’s good and polite

situations good in casual situations

please don’t burp pretty simple so I

hope that this was useful for you of

course if you have some other patterns

that you know of or if you have any

questions please feel free to let us

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• thanks very much for watching this

lesson and I will see you again soon bye

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