You know telling sentences. Some sentences do a different job: they tell someone to do something. “Please shut the door.” “Feed the fish.” We call them bossy sentences, or commands.
A command often starts with the action word: Feed the fish. Put on your coat. Adding please makes it kind.
Key idea
A command tells someone to do something. It usually ends with a period.
Why it works
When you say “Feed the fish” to your brother, you don’t say his name first. He knows you mean him. A command works the same way on paper: the person reading or listening is the one who does it.
Worked example: Is it a sentence?
“Close the gate.”
- Who is told to close the gate? The person you are talking to.
- What happens? Close the gate.
- It is a whole idea, so yes, it is a sentence: a command.
Answer: Yes. It is a command, and it ends with a period.
Common mistake
Thinking “Close the gate.” is not a sentence because nobody is named. In a command, the one who does it is you, the person spoken to. It is as if the sentence said “You, close the gate.”
For the grown-up. A command said with strong feeling, like a warning, can end with an exclamation point: “Look out!” Most everyday commands end with a period. Play “Teddy says”: take turns giving each other commands, then write two of them down.