Grammatical Mood

English grammar is a diversified and varied branch of English language and one has to have complete command of it to understand and write well. You might or might not have come across the word mood or grammatical mood of a sentence. Know that this mood is not anything like the ordinary moods that we have or show.

Grammatical mood is more of an intangible thing that depicts the mode of the sentence. Today, we will discuss about the mood of English sentences in detail.

Mood

The attitude of the writer that is portrayed in a sentence with the help of a verb is called the mood or grammatical mood of the sentence.

There are two types of grammatical moods:

1.      Major Mood

2.      Minor Mood

Major Mood

The basic mood of a sentence is called major mood. The major mood of grammar is further categorized into three main types which are commonly used in spoken and written English language. These three moods include:

        i.            Subjunctive Mood

      ii.            Imperative Mood

    iii.            Indicative Mood

Among these Indicative mood is the most commonly occurring mood and a sentence is said to be in indicative mood if it is declaring a fact. Imperative mood is used to demand or request something. Subjunctive mood however, indicates a wish or a doubt in a sentence.

All the three major moods are discussed in detail in my separate articles with the names Subjunctive Mood, Imperative Mood and Indicative Mood.

Minor Mood

Minor mood of English grammar is rarely used and seen in spoken and written text. It is much diversified and is used marginally for communication. Various forms of minor moods are found in English grammar which include:

        i.            Tag

      ii.            Excalamative

    iii.            Alternate Question

    iv.            Curse

Tag

Among these types, tag is the one that is often seen and spoken about. When a declaration or question is added to a declarative sentence, the mood is called tag.

Example:

“You are going, aren’t you.”

Excalamtive

The sudden expression of joy or cry refers to exclamative mood.

Example:

What a nice meal!

Alternate question

When a question is asked with two or more answer choices in the same sentence, it is called alternate question.

Example:

Are you a listener or a speaker?

Curse

When some is proclaimed as ill fortuned, the mood is curse.

Example:

“You are a pig.”