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# Main verb with imperative *do* — `Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin` — proposal

**Proposal: accept** the EWT custom, not the rule of `_en/feat/VerbForm.md` ([Main verb with imperative do: Inf in the text, Imp in the data](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/ud-2.18/seeds/imperative-do/)). Align the 8 EWT exceptions with `VerbForm=Inf` with the EWT → `mova` converter.

**What exactly in `mova`.** In an imperative sentence with *do* (*Don't worry*, *Do not hesitate*, *DO NOT GO HERE*) both verbs — *do* and the main VB — have `Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin`.

**Why.**

- **More consistent.** The main verb of an imperative sentence becomes `Imp` regardless of whether *do* is present: *Go!* and *Don't go!* are annotated the same way. By the letter of `VerbForm.md`, *go* in *Don't go* would be `Inf`, and the mood feature would sit only on the function word.
- **More informative.** The sentence type (directive) is visible on the lexical verb, which is the one taking part in the fact. For RAG and `kg` this is a clause-level feature (the UD survey digest «future», section 4, item 4).
- **Matches most of the gold data:** 98 of 106.
- **Lossless into the standard.** The literal `VerbForm.md` form is obtained deterministically: a VB with `aux` *do* that has `Mood=Imp` → `VerbForm=Inf`, remove `Mood`. Export to "EWT 2.18" diverges from gold only in the 8 exceptions.

**Evidence from the data** (EWT 2.18, engine): `Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin` — 98, `VerbForm=Inf` — 8 (*Don't cling*, *Don't go!*, *don't let that fool you*, *Do not go there*…). Separately: *Don't* with `Mood=Ind` in imperative sentences — 7; these are EWT errors (report `verbal.md`).

**Rule for the EWT → `mova` converter** (proposal for [EWT ↔ mova — converter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/treebanks/en/ewt/convert/), the `convert` language from [The Mova dialect: a UD metadialect, treebanks, and converters](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/docs/dialect/)):

```
rule: ewt.imperative-do-main
what: main VB with imperative do — Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin, as in 98 of 106 EWT cases
from: ewt
to: mova
match: v[xpos=VB, feats.VerbForm=Inf]; d[lemma=do, rel=aux, head=v, feats.Mood=Imp]
set: v[feats+=VerbForm=Fin; feats+=Mood=Imp]
source: EWT 2.18; dialects/mova/seeds/imperative-do.md
```

Checked with the engine (`en convert-check`, 26.09): on EWT 2.18 the rule changes exactly 8 words, FEATS `VerbForm=Inf` → `Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin`. There is no reverse rule: the 8 exceptions are not visible from the tree, so the reverse-run report has a separate line for these 8 tokens.

**Check.** Seed [Imperative mood](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/en/seeds/verbal/imperative/): `en.verbal.imperative-do-main-verb` (warn) follows EWT, `vb-aux-infinitive` excludes imperative *do*. Counter `ud218.imperative-do-inf`.

**Origin.** [Main verb with imperative do: Inf in the text, Imp in the data](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/ud-2.18/seeds/imperative-do/); `2.18:docs/_en/feat/VerbForm.md:12`, `:21`.

Mova decides.

- [← previous Features from context, form wins; Exponence — proposal](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/features-context/)
- [next → iobj without obj and with xcomp — proposal](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/iobj-sole/)
- [↑ back to dialects/mova/seeds/](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/)