| 10.2 the mood of a verb |
| 10.2.1 the mood of a verb |
In a lot of languages as well as in English, there are three moods: the indicative (only this one we have used until know), the subjunctive and the imperative.
indicative: He went swimming.
The indicative is used to talk about facts, things that really happened, are happening or are going to happen.
subjunctive: I request that he be granted time to examine the records.
With the subjunctive we describe a subjective attitude towards the world. That we believe, fear, want something or that someone wanted someone to do something.
imperative: Go away!
The imperative is normally defined as the mood we use to give an order. Actually it is rarely used this way. In a sentence like Feel free to do what you want we ask someone to do what he wants to do and this is really a strange kind of order. As a real "order" the imperative is rarely used and normally
it is not a good idea to use it this way.
| contact privacy statement imprint |
