Hi, this is Arup and this is your channel "Language and Literature". You know, currently, I am going through a new series of lectures on a new topic that is the classification of sentences based on meaning. According to meaning, The sentence is of five types: assertive, interrogative, imperative, optative, and exclamatory. I have already discussed the first three types of sentences--assertive, interrogative, and imperative sentences. And, from those lectures, you have come to know that each type of sentence is unique in its structure and function. So, an optative sentence is no exception. What I am going to do today is that I am going to talk about the function of the optative sentence. That means I am going to make you understand what an optative sentence is and, then, I am going to introduce the structures one by one with sufficient examples. So, let me start the class with the definition of the optative sentence. The main purpose is to make you understand what an optative sentence is. 


What is an optative sentence? We use an optative sentence when we want to express any blessing or curse or wish or prayer. So, when we want to express these things--blessings, curses, wishes, or prayers--we use optative sentences. Optative sentence follows certain structures. I am going to introduce these structures one by one. 

The first structure is may + subject + v1 + remainder.

It is really a very common and popular structure we generally use regularly. One thing I should tell here is that when I was a high school student, my teacher used to give me the examples I am going to give you right now. 

  1. May our president live long.
  2. May God bless you.
  3. May you be happy. 
These are the very common examples of this structure and this structure is always used by us in our daily life. But the second structure is not very common. But it is one of the many types of structures of the optative sentence. What is the second structure of the optative sentence?

The second structure is:  may + subject + be + v3 
  1. May you be called there.
  2. May the bad be punished.
  3. May the good be rewarded.
  4. May he be called there. 
So, you can see "may" is followed by a subject and then we use "be" and then v3 form of the verb. So, this is the second structure, a very uncommon one. But you can use it in your daily life. We hardly use this second structure. But lots of people use it. And, then, we can go to structure number three. 

Structure Number Three: May + Subject + never / not + V1 form + remainder

We use structure number three when we want to express any negative thought or idea or negative expression: May + Subject + never / not + V1 form + remainder
  1. May he not do this work.
  2. May you never tell a lie.
  3. May he never go there.
These are the examples of structure number three. And we use structure number three when we want to introduce any negative thought or idea or expression. Now we can go to structure number four. But structure number four is not similar to earlier one in response to the starting of the earlier ones. Structure number four does not begin with "may" but it begins with different word that is "long" followed by "live" + "subject"

Structure Number Four: long + live + subject
  1. Long live our president.
  2. Long live our relationship. 
This meaning can be generated through structure number one. Instead of saying "May our president live long", we can say, "Long live our president. So, here, we have two structures but we can express the same meaning too. So, you should remember this thing. Then, you can go to structure number five. 

Structure Number Five: Wish + object + remainder
  1. Wish you a great day. 
  2. Wish you a happy married life. 
  3. Wish you every success in your life. 
These are the some expressions of structure number five. Besides th
ose structures, we have some random expressions. And these expression don't follow any structure we need to remember through our daily practice. For example:
  1. Happy Birthday.
  2. Have a great day. 
  3. Good Morning!
  4. Good afternoon!
  5. Good evening!
These are the some examples which do not follow any structure. So, These are the optative sentences I have talked about today. While discussing optative sentences, I have introduced five structures and at the same time we have some random expressions too we need to remember. So, what I want you is that you should go through these structures and try to bring your own examples in your daily life. That will help you understand optative sentence better and you will be able to have better control over optative sentences within very short period of time. Thank you very much for watching this lecture! Thank You! Take care! Bye!

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