Though the last time I tried a newbie on IF (“Cold Iron”) she typed all kinds of commands like “pick up the book” and “walk through the door.” It was a very good thing that responses were implemented. And she got surprisingly far in with only a couple of nudges from me about how to formulate commands, until she got to the part that required compass navigation, which utterly flummoxed her. (More here and here.)
So maybe the conventions the community is used to don’t always work the best for everyone.