English verbs have four moods:
indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and infinitive.
Mood is the form of the verb that shows
the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed.
1. Indicative
Mood: expresses an assertion, denial, or question:
Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas.
Ostriches cannot fly.
Have you finished your homework?
2. Imperative
Mood: expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice:
Don’t smoke in this building.
Be careful!
Don’t drown that puppy!
3. Subjunctive
Mood: expresses doubt or something contrary to fact.
Modern English speakers use indicative
mood most of the time, resorting to a kind of “mixed subjunctive” that makes
use of helping verbs:
If I should see him, I will tell him.
Americans are more likely to say:
If I see him, I will tell him.
The verb may can be used to express a wish:
May you have many more birthdays.
May you live long and prosper.
The verb were can also indicate the use of the
subjunctive:
If I were you, I wouldn’t keep driving on
those tires.
If he were governor, we’d be in better
fiscal shape.
4. Infinitive
Mood: expresses an action or state without reference to any
subject. It can be the source of sentence fragments when the writer mistakenly
thinks the infinitive form is a fully-functioning verb.
When we speak of the English infinitive,
we usually mean the basic form of the verb with “to” in front of it: to go, to sing, to walk, to speak.
Verbs said to be in the infinitive mood
can include participle forms ending in -ed and -ing.
Verbs in the infinitive
mood are not being used as verbs, but as other parts of speech:
To err is human; to forgive, divine.
Here, to err and to
forgive are used as
nouns.
He is a man to be admired. Here, to be admired is an adjective, the equivalent of
admirable. It
describes the noun man.
He came to see you.
Here, to see you is
used as an adverb to tell why he came.
_From English Grammar 101_
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