Is 'do be' correct in 'do be aware'?

Do be aware that this repository is just for the WordPress.com desktop wrapper.

Is it correct to say do be? I feel like the do is unnecessary. I am correct?

Solution 1:

The use of what is sometimes referred to as the emphatic do expresses the speaker's personal desire that the command be performed. It seems to re-frame what would otherwise be a simple command as something approaching a request. Thus, one might say "Do sit down" to a guest in a situation where "Sit down" would sound rude. (Modern American speakers might be unlikely to use this construction, but it would be perfect for a character in Downton Abbey.)

Jarry and Kinssine write that the "emphatic do will not be used in when speaker desire is not presented as part of the reason for the the hearer to perform the act. Therefore it is more felicitous in a request than a command." (Mark Jary, Mikhail Kissine, Imperatives, Cambridge University Press 2014, p. 174)

Perhaps 'Do be' in your question doesn't seem quite right because the purpose of the sentence is more in the nature of a rule (this repository is only for WordPress.com desktop wrapper) than an instruction that should be followed because it will make the speaker happy.

Consider, by way of contrast, someone saying to their boisterous children "Do be quiet" where the use of do seems (to me) to add some information about the speaker's state of mind.