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I'm writing a short article and now I'm stumped, thought I'd turn to your collective intelligence to help out.

"You must stay for dinner!"

It's not exactly an imperative, I think, because the subtext is something like, "We would be happy if you accepted our hospitality", which implies a request but doesn't command anything. So how might I describe that in a few words? Is it a "friendly offer"? But I'm hoping for something more exact, if there's a linguistic term for this kind of phrase, for example.

Thank you in advance!

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    An exhortation?
    – Dan
    Apr 3, 2018 at 20:32
  • "Part of speech" refers to the function of a single word--noun, verb, adjective, determiner, relative pronoun, etc. A whole sentence isn't a part of speech. You seem to mean "What type of sentence is ...".
    – Green Grasso Holm
    Apr 3, 2018 at 20:35
  • An enthusiastic invitation.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Apr 3, 2018 at 21:30
  • a heartfelt plea
    – lbf
    Apr 3, 2018 at 21:33
  • With some of my relatives it was a threat.
    – Hot Licks
    Apr 3, 2018 at 21:44

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an exhortation TFD A suprahortative modality in English

  1. The act or an instance of exhorting.
  2. A speech or discourse that encourages, incites, or earnestly advises.

As in:

"You must stay for dinner" she exhorted!

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