imperative mood

The mood of verbs shows how the speaker regards the utterance. The speaker might regard the utterance as a statement: that's the indicative mood. The speaker might ask a question: that's the interrogative mood. The speaker might issue a command: that's the imperative mood. Or the speaker might state a possibility, hope, wish, or hypothetical: that's the subjunctive mood.

You form the imperative mood by using the second-person conjugation and ordinarily leaving out the subject. The subject is the implied you. Sometimes, the speaker includes the subject, either at the beginning of the sentence or postponed to the end. For emphasis, the speaker can even put a comma after the subject.

Here are some examples of the imperative mood. Notice in the “Frances” examples thatFrancesis the third person. But the imperative mood is formed by using the second-person form of the verb:

• Close the window.
• Come here!
• You come here.
• Frances, write the report.
• Write the report,Frances.