Blurb:

The aim of a directive speech act is to cause the hearer H of the directive utterance to perform some action, and this is explored in chapter 6, The directive speech acts. This communicative function of a directive speech act is indispensable to human interaction. Directives express the attitude of speaker S toward some prospective action by the hearer H. That is, a directive expresses an attitude of S toward some prospective action by H and reflect S’s intention that the utterance, or the attitude it expresses, is to be taken as a reason for H’s to undertake the action. The term directive is due to Searle. Directive speech acts are satisfied, and complied with if the world comes to match its propositional content. They have a world-to-word direction of fit.