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Instructing Others Formally and Informally
Objectives
Comprehend the way to give
instruction to other people formally and informally by understanding the
meaning of the conversation.
Learn about it!
In this lesson you are going to
learn about instructing others formally and informally. First, we will take a
look at several dialogues in which instructions are used in our daily
conversation.
Situation
1
Teacher : .... That’s how you give
instruction to others in English. Any question?
Student A : Can I say that in a
formal situation, Maam?
Teacher : Yes, you can. It is also
applicable in a formal situation, but it is better to add the word ‘please’ to
make it more polite. Are there other questions?
Students : (no response)
Teacher : Alright, then. Now,
please open your book and do exercise 3 in 20 minutes.
The dialogue above is a conversation
between a teacher and a student. In the conversation above, the teacher
instructs the students to do the exercise from the book. The underlined
sentence indicates the instruction given by the teacher for the students.
Situation
2
Moderator : Ladies and gentlemen,
the seminar is about to begin. For those who are still outside, please
return to the seminar room immediately.
From what the moderator said in the
text above, we can conclude that the situation is formal. The sentence
indicates that the moderator instructs the participants of the seminar to
return to the seminar room by saying “….please return to the seminar room
immediately”. The use of the word ‘please’ here indicates that the
situation is formal.
Situation
3
Father : Dio, clean your room.
It’s quite messy.
Dio : Later, dad. I’ll do it after
this show.
Father : Do it RIGHT NOW. Do you
hear me?
Dio : Yes, dad. Alright, I’ll do it
now.
Father : Good.
In the dialogue, Dio is asked by his
father to clean his room. His father instructs him by saying, ‘Dio, clean your
room.’ The conversation between father and son above happens in an informal
situation.
Based on the examples above, we can
see that the instruction is always in imperative. You have already learnt about
imperative in the previous lesson. To refresh your memory, imperative can be
used to give instruction to others. In imperative, the verb is always in its
base form (simple present verb).
In informal situation, it is okay to
instruct others directly using the imperative. However, in formal situation
several expressions below can be used in order to make the instruction more
polite.
- Please ....
- Could you please ....
- Would you ... please
- Would you please ....
- Can you ....
Pay attention to another example
below.
Situation
4
Teacher: Aldo, would you clean
the board, please?
Aldo : Sure, Sir.
Teacher: Thank you.
In the dialogue above, the teacher
instructs the student formally by saying “would you clean the board, please?”
The phrase, “would you … please?’ is also used in order to make the instruction
less direct.
Situation
5
You watch a television show. It is a
cooking show. The chef tells you how to make a breakfast menu.
Chef: Okay, now I’m going to tell
you two easy-steps to make a healthy breakfast. You only need a pack of cereal
and a bottle of milk. Now, let’s get started. First, put the cereal into a
bowl. Then, pour milk into the bowl. That’s it. Your cereal milk is ready!
See? It is simple and easy to make.
In the example above, the chef gives
the viewer instruction how to make breakfast. As there are several steps, the
chef uses the word ‘first’, and ‘then’ to make a sequence. The
chef does not add the word ‘please’ or the phrase ‘could you ….’
because in a TV show you do not usually use formal language. So, the chef
instructs the viewer informally using imperative.
Keypoints
- The key in deciding which expression suits the
occassion is by looking at the degree of formality.
- Formal occassions are for example: seminars,
conferences, class sessions.
- Informal occassions are for example: talks between friends, some of television show, study group discussion
Lets Practice!
Jawablah pertanyaan-pertanyaan berikut dengan jujur dan bertanggungjawab!
| No. | Pertanyaan | Jawaban | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | Saya mengetahui arti kata-kata pada pada teks di atas |
Ya | Tidak |
| 02. | Saya bisa mengucapkan kata-kata sesuai dengan audio/video yang disajikan |
Ya | Tidak |
| 03. | Saya bisa memperagakan percakapan dengan membaca teks yang tersedia |
Ya | Tidak |
| 04. | Saya bisa memperagakan percakapan dengan sedikit membaca teks |
Ya | Tidak |
| 05. | Saya bisa memperagakan tanpa membaca teks |
Ya | Tidak |
| 06. | Saya bisa memperagakan tanpa membaca teks disertai dengan variasi baru atau pengembangan teks |
Ya | Tidak |
| 07. | Saya bisa membuat karya video terkait dengan percakapan yang diperagakan |
Ya | Tidak |
| 08. | Saya bisa membuat video dan telah disosialisasikan pada sosial media yang saya miliki |
Ya | Tidak |
Bila ada jawaban "Tidak", maka segera lakukan review pembelajaran, terutama pada bagian yang masih "Tidak".
Bila semua jawaban "Ya", maka Anda dapat melanjutkan ke pembelajaran berikutnya.
Buatlah jurnal harian untuk membantumu dalam mempercepat proses pembelajaran dengan menjawab soal evaluasi diri berikut ini.
- Apakah yang kamu telah pelajari pada bagian ini?
- Apa yang menarik pada sesi ini?
- Apa kendala yang kamu alami?
- Apa yang kamu lakukan untuk mengatasi kendala tersebut?
Informasi lainnya yang terkait dapat diakses pada tautan berikut ini
