Mood in English Grammar
Mood refers to the factual or non-factual status of events. Non-factual here means events that do not happen or are only desired. The moods of English are indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.
The Indicative Mood
The indicative is a factual mood. It is by far the most frequent mood, and involves all the choices of person, tense, number, aspect, modality, and voice discussed above:
- I’ll give you a call in the week.
- We were talking about this the other day.
The Imperative Mood
The imperative mood is a non-factual mood and is used to issue directives. It involves the base form of the verb:
- Sign here, please.
- Just leave it on the table.
The Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood is a non-factual mood and is very rare in English. It refers to wishes, desires, etc. It is used after a very limited number of verbs (e.g. suggest, insist, recommend, demand), occasionally after conditional subordinators (e.g. if, lest, on condition that, whether), and occasionally after expressions of necessity (e.g. it is important/imperative/essential that).
The subjunctive occurs only in very formal styles. It involves the base form of the verb, with no inflections:
- They insisted that she consult a psychiatrist and, fortunately, Laura had the strength to insist that it be a woman.
The subjunctive form of the verb be may occur as the base form be or as hypothetical were (for all persons). The were subjunctive is especially used after if, as if, though, and as though:
[from a hotel workers’ manual, describing how to deal with customer complaints in the restaurant]
- The kitchen and restaurant staff must be contacted immediately and the cause for complaint dealt with. The guests must be persuaded to return to the restaurant, where it is imperative they be served with a more than satisfactory meal and be completely pacified.
- I can remember it as if it were yesterday.
(or, non-subjunctive: I can remember it as if it was yesterday.)