Verbs Control Mood

The verbs we use in speaking and writing provide the mood of our language. Mood in this sense is not a reference to emotions such as anger, love or loneliness.

Mood is sometimes confused with tense—the time of past, present, future. We use verbs for mood in spoken and written language differently from tense. Mood expresses the meaning and intent of our words. It’s a difficult concept for people who were born speaking a language other than English to understand. People reared with English as their natural language use mood without thinking about it.

Our language has four moods. They’re indicative, imperative, subjunctive and infinitive. Examples of each one will make them easier to understand.

Indicative Mood expresses a declarative statement, a denial or a question. Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina. Summer will begin next month. The earth is controlled by gravity. 

Imperative Mood expresses a command, prohibition and advice. Don't smoke inside this building. Be careful! Obey the speed laws.

Subjunctive Mood expresses doubt or something contrary to fact. It’s the least used and most misunderstood of the moods. If I should see him, I'll tell him. If I were you, I wouldn't disobey that rule. May you live a long life and prosper. In fiction writing the use of subjunctive mood in dialogue can seem stilted and unnatural. I think ignoring the subjunctive mood entirely would make you a better writer.

Infinitive Mood expresses an action or state of mind without references to any subject. This mood uses the infinitive form of verbs. That’s when “to” is placed in front of the verb. To err is human; to forgive is divine. This example shows that to err and to forgive are used as nouns. He is a man to be admired. This example shows to be admired  is used as an adjective. He came to see you. To see you is used as an adverb to tell why he came.

The Infinite Mood can be tricky and should be used sparingly. Otherwise, it can make you fiction writing obvious and tiring.

Most of us use mood correctly in our writing simply because we grew using it. The rule of thumb that it just sounds right is the best way of testing our use of the mood. 

Thank you for reading this blog. Check this space in about a week for a new posting. Read my web site at www.joevlatino.com. You can read an excerpt from my book “The Device.” It’s available through the web site and in e-book form from Amazon.com.