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
know in the comment section if you liked
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- thanks very much for watching this
lesson and I will see you again soon bye
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