imperative

grammar · medium

易错句子It is imperative that every student submits the form by Friday.

正确表达It is imperative that every student submit the form by Friday.

在 It is imperative that... 后的从句里，英语用虚拟语气，动词一律用原形 submit，不加 -s，也不随主语的单复数变化。这里 every student 是第三人称单数，但句子表达的是“必须、要求”，所以不能按一般现在时写成 submits。

grammar · medium

易错句子It is imperative to us to cut costs this quarter.

正确表达It is imperative for us to cut costs this quarter.

表示“对某人来说必须做某事”时，imperative 后用 for + 人 + to do，不能用 imperative to somebody：这里的 to 只是不定式标记，不能引出“对谁而言”。汉语“对我们来说很必要”逐字译成 to us，应改为 for us。

grammar · medium

易错句子You are imperative to hand in the report before noon.

正确表达It is imperative that you hand in the report before noon.

imperative 是形容词，用来说明事情或行动“紧迫、必须”，不能用来描述人，所以没有“某人 is imperative”的说法。应改用 It is imperative that... 或 It is imperative for somebody to do... 结构；把汉语“你必须交报告”直译成 You are imperative，是主语和评价对象弄反了。