Learn English – “Let keep it clean” or “Let us keep it clean”

letmeaningword-in-context

I found in this online dictionary http://www.reference.com/example-sentences/vigilant?s=1
a sample sentence of the form

We need to be more vigilant concerning about our environment, let keep it clean and let reduce our emission.

But the use of let keep it clean transcends my understanding of the word let. Always I use let in a sentence such as Let something be something. So I wish to know the general rule behind this usage.

Best Answer

Those are typos, and there's a grammatical error in the sentence as well. It should read thus:

We need to be more vigilant about our environment. Let us keep it clean and let us reduce our emissions.

You could also use "concerning" instead of "about", but not both. You could also use "let's" instead of "let us"; "let us" is quite formal but I wanted to show the construction more clearly. Also, the sentences are run together and should be separated. If you do want to run them together, you should use a semicolon rather than a comma.

So, your understanding of the word let is correct, and the understanding of whoever wrote the sentence is incorrect. I will add that the general rule behind this usage is this: the first person plural imperative is constructed by using "let us" in front of the verb. For example, "Let's go to Joe's" is a suggestion that we go to Joe's house together. It's similar to "Allons chez Joe's" in French, or "Gehen wir nach Joe's" in German.

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