MOOD
Mood is a grammatical category which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the predicate verb.
The action may be represented as a real fact, a problematic action or as something unreal that does not exist.
There are the following moods in English: the direct moods - the Indicative and the Imperative; the oblique moods – the Subjunctive and the Conditional.
Direct moods
I. The Indicative Mood
The Indicative mood shows that the speaker considers the action or state denoted by the predicate as a real fact and affirms or negates its existence in the present, past or future. The verb in the Indicative mo0d has the category of tense, aspect and voice.
I haven't yet looked at the newspaper.
We are studying oblique moods now.
If it rains, I’ll stay at home.
The doctor was sent for.
II. The Imperative Mood
The Imperative mood expresses commands and requests generally addressed to the second person singular or plural. The Imperative mood has only one form which coincides with the infinitive of the verb without the particle "to": Listen to him.
Be careful.
The negative form is built up by means of the auxiliary "do":
Don't listen to him.
Don't be late.
The auxiliary "do" may also be used in affirmative sentences to make the request or command more emphatic:
Do be careful.
Do listen to him.
In commands and requests addressed to the first and third person the combination "let + infinitive" is used:
Let him do it.
Let us do it together.
The negative forms are:
Let's not talk about it.
Don’t let's talk about it.
Oblique moods
If I had a garden, I should grow tulips in it.
had - the subjunctive mood
should grow - the conditional mood
The oblique moods represent actions or states as desired, imaginary, or contradicting reality.
The Forms of the Infinitive
|
Tenses |
Active |
Passive |
|
Indefinite |
to write |
to be written |
|
Continuous |
to be writing |
- |
|
Perfect |
to have written |
to have been written |
|
Perfect Continuous |
to have been writing |
- |
I. The Subjunctive Mood
The Subjunctive mood represents an action as absolutely unreal.
The Subjunctive mood is a synthetical mood and it has two tenses: the present tense (The Present Subjunctive mood) and the Past tense (the Past Subjunctive mood).
The form of the Present Subjunctive mood coincides with the Past Indefinite (It is a grammatical homonym of the Past Indefinite tense). The verb “to be” has the form “were” for all persons:
If I knew…
If she lived…
If I (she, it, they, etc) were…
The Present Subjunctive mood expresses an unreal action at present. The Present Subjunctive mood may also refer an action to the future or to no particular time.
The form of the Past Subjunctive mood coincides with the form of the Past Perfect tense (It is a grammatical homonym of the Past Perfect tense)
If I had known…
If she had lived …
If they had been …
The Past Subjunctive mood expresses an unreal action in the past.
II. The Conditional Mood.
The Conditional mood is аn analytical mood. It has two tenses, the present tense (The Present Conditional mood) and the past tense (The Past Conditional mood).
The Present Conditional mood refers the action to the present (or to the future) and is built up by means of the auxiliary verbs "should" or "would" and the Indefinite infinitive of the notional verb (or sometimes the continuous infinitive):
I should read...
He would be reading ...
The Past Conditional mood refers the action to the Past and is built up by means of the auxiliary verbs "should" or "would" and the perfect infinitive of the notional verb (or sometimes the Perfect continuous infinitive):
I should have told you…
They would have helped him ...
The meaning of the Conditional mood is very close to the meaning of the Subjunctive mood. It also expresses an unreal action but this unreality always depends on some condition.
If I were ten years younger, I should go to the disco.
If I were ten years younger – this is absolutely unreal
I should go to the disco – the unreality of this action depends on the first clause
The Conditional mood expresses an unreal consequence out of some unreal condition.
the Pr. Subj. m. the Pr Cond. m.
If I were in your place I shouldn't think so.
the Past Cond. m. the Past Subj. m
I should have gone with you if you had invited me.
SentencesШ the Mixed Type