Giving orders and instructions in English Common Expressions
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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I’m going to talk about some
expressions we use for rules in English
some of this will be review some of
these will be some special phrases that
we use almost always for rules and
regulations so let’s get started okay
let’s start with this first group up
here of three expressions the first one
I think is a review point we can use
this as please or please do not so we
contract this do not - don’t as well try
to use this contracted form when
possible but we use this as kind of just
like a basic request so this is kind of
a simplest most basic way to express a
rule or something you want someone to do
or something you do not want someone to
do some examples please remove your
shoes so here you see please is used
before the verb removed so please remove
in this case we follow it with a verb
let’s look at a negative example then
please don’t hear I’ve used the reduced
don’t instead of do not do not is okay
but don’t will sound a little more
natural please don’t feed the animals so
here again I have a verb following my
expression please don’t feed the animals
feed means give food too so please don’t
feed the animals
these are very common expressions that
are kind of soft there are more like
requests in some cases okay let’s go on
to the second one also may be a review
point subjects so we’ll see this in the
plural form whatever the subject is will
be plural must or must not so as we saw
with please we can use this as a
positive or a negative so when we use
must it means something that the subject
has
to do there’s a requirement on the other
hand using must not means it’s something
that the subject absolutely should not
do like it’s illegal or it’s something
that they make they need to make sure it
does not happen let’s look at some
examples of this first visitors must
check-in visitors must check-in so here
I have my plural subject visitor so for
example visitors to a company or
visitors to a museum visitors must
check-in so here I have my verb to check
in somewhere it’s like to announce that
you are there to like meet at the
reception here’s another example in the
negative though again I have the plural
form visitors but this time must not be
is my verb visitors must not be
unattended unattended means alone or
without an escort without someone to
help you somewhere so we can use must to
show something that like we’re
responsible to do and something that
absolutely must not happen something
that we should not do we use must not to
talk about this so if you like you can
check I think we have videos on the
channel about using must and must not
you can check those for some more
information about must and must not okay
let’s go on to the next expression this
is kind of a set phrase not so much a
grammar pattern but a set phrase we ask
that you please we ask that you please
so here this we is like an organization
so you’ll see this for like a company or
maybe a hotel we means like our group so
we ask meaning a request from us a
request from our company that you please
so again we’re putting this please here
before some requests let’s look at an
example
we ask that you please remain seated so
for example on an airplane we ask would
be like the airplane staff or the
company perhaps we ask that you please
remain
so this means in other words please stay
in your seat please stay in your seat so
this makes it a little bit more formal
like a rule kind of but it’s phrased as
a request ok so let’s go on to a couple
more that are a little more complex the
first one is this expression subject or
subjects is or are two plus a verb so we
use this in more formal situations
actually this is 2 or r2 pattern let’s
take a look at some examples first you
are not to leave before the exam has
finished you are not to leave so here we
see subject you you are not to plus our
verb not to leave so this means don’t
leave or you must not leave this is the
feeling here we use this perhaps in like
an examination a test taking situation
but it’s quite formal there are lots of
rules so you here means you the student
or you the test taker or you the group
of test takers as well so this might
appear on like an examination guideline
sheet let’s see one more example
visitors are not to enter staff only
area so here we see the same thing this
time it’s plural visitors are not to
enter is my verb are not to enter staff
only areas so again this is the negative
are not 2 which means visitors must not
enter staff only areas so you’ll see
this in like formal kind of regulations
or formal rules like school rules
university rules test-taking rules maybe
company rules as well
contracts legal stuff too so are not too
or is not too depending on your subject
ok so let’s take a look at the next one
then another kind of similar pattern
here we’ll see know something is or are
to be plus the past participle verb so
we see this
to be pattern that we saw here but we’ll
use this to talk about like something we
cannot do or we’ll use this to talk
about like an object or some kind of
noun phrase at the beginning here so
let’s take a look at some examples it’s
kind of hard to imagine here’s one no
food is to be brought into the theater
no food is to be brought into the
theater this means don’t bring food to
the theatre here so we begin with no and
then this is my the thing that I’m like
banning in this case I’m saying don’t
bring this thing so no food is to be
brought into the theater so ok I’ll
introduce one more example and then
explain why we might use something like
this let’s follow this up with phones
are to be turned off so in this sentence
I removed No
so we might not begin with No so phones
plural are to be turned off so here
again are to be and my verb turned off
so why would we use this you notice here
there’s no person involved like in my
other examples I said you or visitors or
visitors whatever please remove your
shoes for example in these sentences
though there’s no person there’s no
actor so it’s kind of like soft in that
you’re not actually saying who like who
is this rule for you don’t say like
please you should not bring something in
as we’ll talk about later but this
sounds a bit more formal and there’s no
like guidelines for exactly who this
rule is meant for so this sounds kind of
stiff kind of formal and we would use
this in like public spaces so like this
example is common for a movie theater or
another like concert hall type space so
this means it applies to everyone in
general so this can mean visitors it can
mean guests that can mean people just
moving through the building so this
applies to everybody so you’ll see this
to be pattern in more formal such
we shion’s and for kind of more like
legal rules okay let’s move along to the
next one the next two actually both use
this word prohibited prohibited let’s
look at the sentence first here I’ve
used guests guests are prohibited from
something-something ing so we’ll use
this ing form of a verb here guests are
prohibited from ing depending on where
you live you may see this used as
prohibited - and then the regular the
dictionary form of the verb
guests are prohibited to do something in
my research I found that from and the
ing form tends to be a little bit more
common but I have seen that both are
used so for your information but how do
we use this for example guests are
prohibited from using the pool so we see
this commonly used guests here because
we see this commonly for hospitality
situations we might see it in like a
hotel or when using a building a
facility of some kind or perhaps we
would see it on like an airplane like
passengers maybe - could be applicable
here so guests are prohibited from using
the pool this part are prohibited from
means guests this part right here guests
cannot is what this means guests cannot
use the pool that’s what this means so
prohibited is a strong word it’s a
strong word that means you cannot do
something prohibited from doing
something so let’s look at another
pattern though this one uses prohibited
from using let’s see another way to use
prohibited this one something something
is or are depending on your subject
strictly prohibited strictly prohibited
so in this case instead of using a
person as the subject here we’ll use
some kind of noun phrase like an object
so here’s an example photos are
strictly prohibited this is a very
common example so photos taking pictures
photos plural photos are strictly
prohibited so strictly means like we’re
very strong about this rule strictly
prohibited means photos are something
that absolutely must not be taken you
absolutely must not take photos photos
are strictly prohibited
another example entering the temple here
I have a noun phrase entering the temple
is so this is a singular noun phrase is
strictly prohibited you absolutely must
not enter the temple so strictly
prohibited you can understand as
absolutely must not so a very strong
rule so pay attention to this when you
are traveling if you see something that
says prohibited or strictly prohibited
it means you should be really really
careful not to do that thing okay let’s
continue on to some more grammar points
let’s go back to some grammar I’ve got
the next one in parentheses here it’s
not so much a pattern just a reminder we
can use command form for rules so the
command form typically makes very short
quick sentences but they’re very clear
they’re very direct though so please be
careful these are useful in like
guidelines or if you’re talking maybe to
like students or you’re you just need to
communicate very quickly and effectively
you can use command form examples go to
the lobby pick up your ID card so you
notice here there’s no please or we ask
that you or students must nothing like
that we’ve just got this very short
quick command form verb so this is just
the simple present tense so go to the
lobby pick up your ID card these sound
direct so they’re useful when talking
about rules or when giving someone
directions to okay one more that’s
similar here subject should verb so this
is a very open pattern fresh
let’s look at examples what do I mean
here students is my subject students
should be at school by 9:00 students
says my subject should be is my verb
students should be at school by 9:00 so
this means it’s like students ought to
be so it’s best if students are at
school by 9:00 so should sounds a little
bit soft so in most cases in other words
students should be at school by 9:00 but
perhaps there are some cases where
students are not at school by 9:00 this
is kind of like a soft rule we should
try to follow the rule though there may
be some exceptions perhaps one more
example customers should make a line
customers should make a line this is
something you might see at a retail
store or a department store for example
so customers should make a line again
this is kind of like a soft suggestion
for a rule like you won’t get in trouble
a customers will not get in trouble if
they do not make a line but it’s a good
idea to like it’s best for everybody to
do this thing so you’ll see this should
for kind of softer rules okay let’s look
at the last two here very similar I’ll
read them together actually first is
avoid plus a verb in the ing form avoid
ing and refrain from something something
ing again the same verb form these both
mean please don’t please don’t do this
thing let’s look at the examples first
avoid running in the halls
avoid running in the halls and refrain
from taking photos okay so I said that
these both mean please don’t but there
are some small differences between these
avoid doesn’t actually mean
please don’t it means as much as
possible
please don’t so in this case running in
the halls is
the activity that we’re saying please
avoid so that means as much as possible
do not run in the halls if maybe there’s
an emergency someone might run okay
perhaps but avoid it avoid running in
the halls try not to do this thing as
much as possible this one however
refrain from refrain from this one means
do not do not take photos refrain from
taking photos means do not take photos
refrain from sounds more polite then do
not take photos so these are a quick may
be reference I guess a quick reference
list for some rules some expressions
related to rules when you travel please
pay attention to these kinds of things
so these are often posted at like travel
spots or places that tourists like to
visit a lot you’ll see them in
hospitality situations hotels airplanes
and so on so do pay attention please do
pay attention to these rules because
they can help you
you know better communicate and work
together with the people in that area
wherever you’re visiting or wherever
you’re staying so this is a quick
reference point I hope that it’s helpful
for you of course if you have any
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much for watching this lesson and I will
see you again soon bye
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