Suasion and Hortation

suasion

There is also a guide to semantics which covers some of the differences between sentence meaning and utterance meaning. Here we are concerned with utterance meaning.
There is also a guide to mood in general on this site which covers some of the more theoretical aspects of of how language is used to express wishes and unreal states rather than indicating current reality.

Here are some examples of what this guide is about:

I wish it would rain.
If only it would rain.
Leave me alone, dammit!
You shall leave now.
Long may it last.
Dogs are to be carried on the escalators.
Don’t you dare talk to me like that!
Let’s go.

All of these sentences are intended to affect the behaviour of others or to express a hope that the world were different. They advise, oblige or suggest at variable levels of intensity. A mouse trap is designed to affect the behaviour of mice. We can do this linguistically, too.

You may not be familiar with the term suasion; few are, to be honest. It was defined by Wilkins as:

the category of utterance designed to affect the behaviour of others
(Wilkins, 1976: 46)

Other analyses speak of hortatory sentences. That's the line taken here.
(Lots of course materials and teaching guides chop this area up into misty concepts such as suggesting, requesting and demanding. That is too vague for our purposes.)

Hortative derives from the Latin hortatorius meaning encouraging or cheering (think gladiators, Ben Hur and chariot races and you have the idea).
In some languages (such as Japanese and early European languages like Ancient Greek) a special grammatical tense form or modal category is reserved for what is known as hortative sentences. However, most modern languages have lost the special case reserved for such things. These days, we prefer just to talk about the function and the word for it is suasion – i.e., persuading and dissuading.
(The topic of suasion gets a section to itself in the Council of Europe publications which are available on the web:
Waystage 1990 by Van Ek and Trim
Threshold 1990 by Van Ek and Trim
You may like to look there for more linguistic realisations of some of the following.)

Three main divisions

The divisions set out here are not the only possible way to analyse this area but, for teaching purposes, they are helpful because they represent some universal concepts. How languages express the concepts varies dramatically, of course, but they all do it somehow.

1. The optative

The optative expresses wishes and hopes. Usually, the optative is directed at things or situations we cannot personally affect or change. In this respect, it is not really an example of suasion but it belongs in this area.
However, it is in any case not always a straightforward matter to distinguish between optative statements addressed to hopes about the world at large and and hortative ones addressed to individuals or groups.
For example:
I wish you wouldn't do that
is actually hortative (i.e., intended to persuade others to alter their behaviour) but
I wish he wouldn't do that
is optative insofar as it is not addressed to the person involved (who may not even be present).
It's easy to see that changing the person of the pronoun from second to third (you to he / she / it / they) or vice versa (he /she / it / they to you) may make the utterance shift between hortative (you) and optative (he / she / it / they).

English does this in a number of ways. Can you think of two ways to express wishes and hopes in English?
Click here when you have made a note.

The most obvious one is using the words wish or hope.
Some languages (including yours or your students'?) don’t distinguish the ideas of hope and expect but English does.
The forms are slightly tricky. English often uses the verb will and its past tense form, would, after these optative verbs and that causes some trouble because would has two different functions:
1. As an expression of a wish concerning the (usually immediate) future that is unlikely to be fulfilled, for example:
      I wish it would get warmer
      I wish you were coming to my party
  In this sense, the use parallels the form of unreal conditionals such as:
      If it were warmer, we could eat in the garden
2. To express an unfulfilled wish in the past tense, where would is the past of will. For example:
  I wished the rain would stop
  Here are some more examples. All the clauses here can be connected using that:
  - I wish (that) it would rain
    present tense of wish + would clause to express the speaker's view that rain is unlikely but desired
  - I hope (that) it rains
    present of hope + present tense clause to express slightly more certainty that it will in fact rain
  - I hope (that) it'll rain
    present tense of hope plus will clause to express slightly more certainty that it will in fact rain
  - I wished (that) it would rain
    past of wish + would clause to set the desired event / state in the past
  - I hoped (that) it would rain
    past of hope with a would clause to set the desired event / state in the past
The use of the word wish is also slightly anomalous.
1. When used with actions or events, the convention is to follow it with would as in, e.g.:
      I wish he would stop talking
      I wish you would listen
      I wish you would be more sensitive
  etc. The last example, incidentally, is the dynamic use of the verb be, not its use to refer to a state so it is akin to an action.
2. When the verb is used to refer to states, then the subjunctive form of the verb be is conventional as in, e.g.:
      I wish it were warmer
      He wishes he were ten years younger
      I wish she were here
  etc. and often, in colloquial speech, the subjunctive form can be replaced by the indicative so we also allow:
      I wish it was warmer
      He wishes he was ten years younger
      I wish she was here
  although this usage is avoided in formal writing and speech.
3. When the verb is used to express a forlorn hope (i.e., one which the speaker / writer does not think will be fulfilled), the verb wish is usually followed by the past form as in, e.g.:
      I wish you studied harder
      I wish she came more often
      I wish she was working with me
4. The progressive form of the verb follows wish when the speaker wants to emphasise an alternative to the present but the simple form is used when we are thinking of an habitual state or condition that we want fulfilled. We get, therefore:
      I wish I lived in a larger house
  i.e.,
      I would prefer to live permanently in a larger house
  vs.:
      I wish I were living in a larger house
  i.e.,
      It would be convenient at the moment if my house were larger
5. When the verb itself is in the past, two forms are possible:
  1. past tenses, the subjunctive or would express the fact that the thing wished for and the wishing happened at the same time:
        I wished he studied harder
        I wished she came more often
        I wished she was working with me
        I wished the rain would stop
        I wished she were here
        He wished he were ten years younger
    These uses refer to a state or event in the past that the speaker / writer perceives as impossible or highly improbable.
  2. past perfect forms express that the wish is for an event which did not occur before the wish was expressed:
        I wished he had studied harder
        I wished she had come more often
        I wished she had been working with me
    The reference, here, is to events which the speaker / writer knows are impossible because they are in the past.
    The form is, however, not usually available to refer to states so:
        ?I wished it had been warmer
        ?He wished he had been ten years younger
        ?I wished she had been here
    are all rare to the point of non-existence.
The if only structure is common:
    If only it would rain
    If only the sun would shine
etc.
For states, rather than actions, the subjunctive form is preferred as in:
    If only he were wealthier
When the sense is negative, as it often is, in for example:
    If only it weren't so cold
the mood is called imprecative (wishing for something not to occur). (The term is also, incidentally, applied to any sentence containing a swear word.)
See below under the subjunctive for more examples.
This structure can also be employed in the past to express regret or that a wish was not fulfilled as in, e.g.:
    If only I hadn't been so rash
    If only the sun had shone
etc.
More formal expressions with old uses of the modal auxiliary verb may such as
    May the force be with you.
    May he live a thousand years.
This is poetic or formal (hence the use in Star Wars, by the way, to give the impression of ancient knights going out to defend the kingdom and so on). A similar form occurs regularly in many other languages and in songs in English (see the footnote for an example).
The verb cannot be used in the past in this meaning to express regret or unfulfilled hopes so we do not allow, e.g.:
    *May the food have arrived before us
A formal expression with let, e.g.:
    Let it rain
    Let the sun shine
    Let it be light
    Let him be promoted
etc.
This is rare and a subjunctive use of the main verb.
It cannot happily be used to refer to unfulfilled past wishes and hopes so we do not allow:
    *Let him have been promoted
The subjunctive:
1. We have some leftover phrases from Old English using the present subjunctive as in
  God save the Queen
  Long live Che Guevara
  and so on. You can tell it’s the present subjunctive by the missing ‘-s’ inflexion on the verb. There's a guide to the subjunctive on this site.
2. We sometimes use the past subjunctive after if only, e.g.:
      If only he left
      If only she didn’t talk so much
      If only I were clever
  It is more common to use would (see 1.) but would cannot be used for states so, e.g.:
      *If only I would be clever
      *If only he would be here
  are not available and we use the subjunctive after if only as in, e.g.:
      If only I were clever
      If only he were here
  Unlike the use of the subjunctive after wish, the replacement with the indicative is rarer and:
      If only I was clever
      If only he was clever
  are less acceptable, even in informal speech.
3. We also have an odd past subjunctive which is much like the wish construction. For example,
  Would that it rained
  Would the rain only came
  etc.
  It’s also quite rare.
4. Less rare is the use of the subjunctive to refer to past hopes (usually unrealised) as in, e.g.:
  Would that he had asked before he went
  expressing regrets.
5. wish itself is often followed by the subjunctive as we saw above as in, e.g.:
  I wish he were here.

2. The hortative

The hortative is the name given to utterances which attempt to persuade others to do something. There are two essential ways to do this:

We encourage someone else to do something.
This is called the exhortative.
We try to get someone to cooperate with us in doing something.
This is called the cohortative.

Can you think of a few of the ways we do this in English? Click here when you have a note.

Exhortative: i.e., encouraging someone else to do something. The uses are almost always in the second person.
In English we frequently use modal auxiliary verbs of obligation as in
    You should try the dark beer
    You must try the dark beer
    You ought to try the dark beer
and so on.
These uses of modal auxiliary verbs are not imperatives in this case but variations in the strength of encouragement.
Many other modal auxiliary verbs are possible:
    You might try ...
    Could you (please) ...
    Would you mind ...
All of these uses of modal auxiliary verbs can be described as deontic insofar as they refer to some form of obligation.
We also use the bare imperative form as in
    Try the dark beer!
and sometimes soften it with just as in
    Just try the dark beer!
Cohortative: i.e., encouraging cooperative behaviour. These uses are almost always first person plural.
In English, the most common way is the let’s construction which contains the only example of the abbreviated us in English. To use the full form, let us, is considered formal and mostly reserved for written language or prepared statements and speeches.
The contracted let’s construction is always cohortative. If you say it in full, it usually becomes an imperative. Compare:
1. Let us go (usually meaning Release us!). It is possible to use this full form as a cohortative but it sounds odd and may be ambiguous.
  In writing, it is more common, especially as a form of conjunct in, e.g., Let us now go on to consider ... etc.
2. Let’s go (meaning I am encouraging you to cooperate in leaving now)
Other constructions are possible:
    Shall we ... ? (only cohortative)
    How about ... ? (cohortative and exhortative)
    What about ... ? (cohortative and exhortative)
    Why don't we ... ? (cohortative but exhortative when we change the pronoun to you)
and they carry varying strengths of persuasive force. How about ... and What about ... are the weakest of them. The exhortative expression Why don't you ... can carry a strong imperative sense.

Hortative verbs:
These verbs are sometimes dealt with as verbs followed by a to-infinitive and fall into the realm of catenative verbs. That is not the line taken on this site because the insertion of the indirect object often breaks the chain.
There is a range of verbs, almost all of which are to do with suasion of some kind which take a direct nominalised clause with the to-infinitive as the object.
The structure they conform to is:

Structure:	subject	verb	indirect object	nominalised clause as direct object
Examples:	She	persuaded	her mother	to lend her the money
Examples:	Peter and John	forced	their elder sister	to sell her house

It is probably impossible to come up with a complete list but this is near enough:

advise
ask
beg
beseech
coach
coerce
command

compel
convince
counsel
direct
drive
employ
encourage

enjoin
exhort
expect
forbid
force
goad
hire

implore
incite
induce
instruct
invite
order
pay

persuade
press
pressur(is)e
prompt
provoke
push
remind

require
summon
teach
tell
train
urge
*warn

* This verb is only used with a negative clause as its object.
As we saw, none of these verbs is properly catenative in the active voice but all may be seen that way in the passive. We get, therefore:
    She was compelled to leave
    I was persuaded to come
    They were paid to go
and so on.
For our purposes, these are analysed as verbs taking nominalised to-infinitive clauses as their objects rather than as catenative verbs per se.

3. The imperative

The imperative is the form we use to oblige someone else to do something, and it also comes in four main flavours.
Can you think of two ways we oblige other people to do, or not to do, things in English?
Click here when you have a note.

The imperative itself, of course. The form of the imperative is very simple in English and its effect can range from an absolute demand to a mild suggestion or polite request (i.e. a hortative). Examples are:
    Leave me alone, dammit!
    Get off my land!
    Give me a moment to think, please.
    Just wait a moment.
    Don’t drink that!
and so on.
We soften imperatives with words like kindly, please, just etc. or make them more demanding by using intonation and swearing.
Adding a question tag (with rising intonation and greater stress) often has the effect of intensifying the imperative:
    Just do it, will you?
Three notes:
1. There is in English no progressive imperative (you can’t say
  Be going!
  for example) as is possible in some languages.
2. The negative imperative in English uses the do operator as in, e.g.:
  Don't go there
  Please don't ask
  etc.
3. The omission of the subject is somewhat unusual in that a finite clause in English usually needs a subject. However, it can be inserted for emphasis as in e.g.:
      You do it
      You stop now
  etc.
  Because this is an emphatic use, it cannot be softened in any way so, e.g.:
      *Please you don't do it
  is unavailable.
Modal auxiliary verbs of obligation (deontic uses):
These include:
1. The obvious must and have to forms as in, e.g.,
  You must not let him come.
  You have to arrive before 9.
2. Depending on context and intonation, other modal auxiliary verbs can express obligation as in:
      You should attend the examination at 09:00 (which is not advice)
      You shall leave now.
      You will not write.
  The last two of these uses are rare and very formal.
3. A less frequently noted modal in this respect is dare as in, e.g.:
      Don’t you dare talk to me like that!
  It is only possible to use dare as a negative imperative as in, e.g.:
      Don't you dare try that!
  and the positive imperative, e.g.:
      *Dare do it
  is not available in English.
4. In question forms, other modal auxiliary verbs appear as in:
      Can you stop that please?
      Would you come here a minute?
      Would you mind opening the window?
  These uses of can and would as imperatives often depend on the relationship between speaker and hearer, i.e., who is in authority. The greater the power gap between speakers, the greater will be the imperative force.
The lexical or main verb need is used to soften imperatives by reducing the threat that a simple imperative would imply. The verb is often used in the passive in this case or in a way which implies an external constraint or demand. For example:
    Get these figures to the manager today, please
threatens the face of the hearer because the speaker is assuming or exercising authority but
    These figures need to be given to the manager
or
    The manager needs these figures
reduce the threat to the hearer's face, although the force of the imperative may not be weakened.
The if only structure can be used as an imperative, too, as in, e.g.,
If only you would shut up
but it’s uncommon.
The present tense of be.
This is generally reserved for notices and very formal statements such as:
    Children are not to run in the corridors.
    Dogs are to be carried on the escalators
and so on.
It is equivalent in strength to the use of must.
There is a rather odd use in the past tense, e.g.:
    You were to come at 6 o’clock
which is a rare instance of a past imperative in English and usually implies a complaint that the obligation was not fulfilled.
On notices and commands, English uses a very simple form – the word no followed by a noun (verbal or otherwise). For example
    No entry
    No smoking
    No talking
etc.
Sometimes just the noun will do:
    Silence in court!
    Smoking forbidden
Softened imperatives
English habitually softens the imperative mood in a number of ways. The usual reason for this is to save the face of the hearer by disguising the authority which the imperative implies. For example:
1. We use a passive:
  Do that now
  vs.
  That needs to be done now.
2. We use the first person plural:
  You must do it today
  vs.
  We must get it done today.
3. We attribute the imperative to a third party:
  Get the accounts up to date today
  vs.
  The taxman wants up-to-date accounts today.
4. The use of please:
  Please open the door
  but this is not available, as we saw above, with imperatives emphasised by the use of the pronoun.

The summary

As was stated above, the optative really doesn't fall neatly into the area of suasion but, in English at least, similar forms are used and the language is intended to affect the behaviour of someone or something other than the speaker (even when it is clear that there is no possibility of its happening).
Conceptually, and for teaching purposes, it seems sensible to include it here.

summary

Teaching suasion

Structural issues

The important issue is to look carefully at the forms of the various realisations of the functions. There is something of a mishmash.

wish and hope are followed by would clauses, with or without a connecting that. Tense structures with wish, in particular, can be complex and include the use of the subjunctive.
if only can be followed by a would clause (with or without that) and is also followed by a subjunctive form.
let's, shall we and why don't we are followed by the bare infinitive but how about and what about are frequently followed by a gerund.
many of the grammatical realisations are rare or only formal (or both).

It makes sense, especially at lower levels, therefore, carefully to select realisations which have parallel forms and to teach the area piecemeal. Trying to introduce too many forms and too many levels of intensity will confuse and disorientate your learners.

The imperative in English is a very simple form often taught very early in a learner's career but there are some constraints on its use and subtle ways to limit the presumption of authority as we saw above.

Meaning issues

wish is followed by past forms because, by its nature, the verb is used to refer to hypothetical or unreal statements. In this sense, it mirrors the use of unreal conditional forms such as
    If I were twenty years younger, I'd ask her to marry me
A short poem is a useful way to help learners remember the forms:
    I wish I loved the Human Race;
    I wish I loved its silly face;
    I wish I liked the way it walks;
    I wish I liked the way it talks;
    And when I'm introduced to one,
    I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!
    Walter Alexander Raleigh, Wishes of an Elderly Man, Wished at a Garden Party, June 1914
the line between imperative and hortative statements is not clear cut. So, for example:
Have some more cake
is usually hortative although it looks like an imperative
and
Have some sympathy
is imperative in meaning.
For teaching purposes, it is very important that the illocutionary force of the forms is made clear.
the use of modal auxiliary verbs is very variable in terms of the strength of hortation / imperative and is radically affected by intonation.
the role relationship between speaker and hearer (i.e. the tenor of the discourse) is a key issue. For example, between equals a statement such as
You have to try harder
may be exhortatory but between a boss and an employee, it becomes an imperative.

Setting a clear context for any presentation or practice is, therefore, even more important than usual.

Pronunciation issues

Allied to the meaning and context concerns is the use of intonation and stress. For example:

Falling intonation towards the end on:
Why don't we do it?
may indicate an imperative but rising intonation is more likely to indicate a cohortative.
Stressing the modal auxiliary verb will normally increase its intensity.

It's important that the role of pronunciation is given prominence in teaching this area or you risk your learners sounding imperative when they mean to be hortative and vice versa.

A very rough rule of thumb regarding level is:

	optative	hortative	imperative
A1	hope + present tense if only + would	let's the imperative with rising intonation commoner modal auxiliary verbs (should, ought to, must)	the imperative with falling intonation
A2
B1	if only + subjunctive wish and its tense complexities	less common modal auxiliaries (have to etc.) softening with just, kindly etc.	modal auxiliary verbs of obligation and the effect of stress and intonation
B2
C1	odd subjunctives the use of may	imperatives as exhortatives and the effect of stress and intonation	the role of irony and sarcasm to make the hortative imperative
C2

There's a short memory test.

Related guides
will and would	where you will find more on this verb which causes a good deal of confusion
responding to suasion	for more positive, negative and temporising responses to suasion
requestives	for a guide focusing on asking whether, asking for, asking to and asking in
causatives	for a guide to a related area which is not considered at all here
semantics	for a general guide to making meaning
mood	a short guide to the area explaining indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods
types of modality	for more on dynamic, epistemic, deontic and alethic modality

Footnote on may:
A good example of the use of may as an optative modal auxiliary verb is in this song by Bob Dylan, Forever Young:
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

References:
Van Ek, J and Trim, J, Waystage 1990, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Van Ek, J and Trim, J, Threshold 1990, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wilkins, DA, 1976, Notional Syllabuses, London: Oxford University Press