Understanding the Subjunctive Mood in Grammar

When we hear the phrase "in a mood," we often think of emotions, but have you ever considered the grammatical mood? Despite its misleading name, grammatical mood is not about our feelings. Rather, it indicates the purpose and tone of a sentence through the use of verb forms.

The Purpose of Grammatical Mood

Grammatical mood reflects the intention behind a sentence. It reveals whether a statement is stating a fact, making a request, posing a question, or expressing a possibility or condition.

The type of mood in a sentence can be identified by examining the verb forms used, providing hints to the purpose and tone of the sentence.

The Five Main Types of Grammatical Mood

In English, there are five main types of grammatical mood:

• Indicative, which states a fact or belief (e.g. Paris is the capital of France).
• Imperative, which makes requests or commands (e.g. Don't sit there!).
• Subjunctive, which expresses a hypothetical situation, wish, possibility, or suggestion (e.g. If I were rich, I'd buy a beach-side villa).
• Interrogative, which asks questions (e.g. Are you coming with us later?).
• Conditional, which states conditions and makes requests (e.g. If I get this work done, can we go out for dinner?).

Other types of grammatical moods, such as the optative and potential moods, are less common in English. Other languages may also have additional moods with different uses and meanings.

It's important to note that grammatical mood should not be confused with other grammatical categories like tense and aspect, as each serves a distinct purpose. While all three provide supplementary information in speech and writing, grammatical mood indicates how a sentence should be interpreted, tense shows when an action occurred, and aspect conveys the nature of the action.

The Subjunctive Mood

In this article, we will focus on the subjunctive mood, a specific type of grammatical mood.

The Meaning of Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive mood expresses wishes, obligations, possibilities, or suggestions, often used to discuss hypothetical situations that have not yet occurred and are uncertain to happen.

Although the subjunctive mood is more commonly used in formal situations, it is increasingly uncommon in English and many other languages.

Examples of Subjunctive Mood

Here are a few examples of the subjunctive mood in sentences:

• "John wishes he were rich and famous" (expressing a wish).
• "It's important that you all be here tomorrow" (expressing an obligation).
• "If I work hard, I could go to Thailand in summer" (expressing a possibility).
• "It is recommended that she go to the dentist this week" (expressing a suggestion).

All of these sentences describe hypothetical situations using specific verb forms that indicate the subjunctive mood.

The subjunctive mood can also be used to express conditionals, as shown in the following examples:

• "If I were rich, I would end world hunger."
• "If I were really tall, I'd be able to reach the top shelf."

The subjunctive and conditional moods have similar forms and can be used in similar ways. The main difference between the two is that the conditional mood is more commonly used for realistic conditions, such as "if it rains, I will go home," while the subjunctive is used for less likely conditions, like "if I were famous, I'd live in Hollywood."

The Structure of Subjunctive Mood

How can we spot the subjunctive mood in a sentence and how is it formed?

The subjunctive mood is recognizable by certain distinct forms. One clear indicator is the use of a bare form of the verb, meaning it is not modified for tense, person, or number. For example, "love," "dance," and "eat" are all bare form verbs because they remain the same irrespective of tense (e.g. "danced"), person (e.g. "he dances"), or number.

An instance of the bare form of a verb used in the subjunctive mood is "I suggested that she join the party tomorrow."

Understanding the Subjunctive Mood in English: Examples and Usage

The subjunctive mood is a verb form used to express suggestions, wishes, hypothetical situations, and conditions that have not yet occurred. A sentence using the subjunctive mood replaces the inflected form of the verb with its bare form, as seen in the example sentence "It is important that you be present."

Some common phrases that use the subjunctive mood include "God bless you" to express a wish or blessing and "if I were you" to refer to a hypothetical or conditional situation.

For example, if someone offers you a soggy pizza, you might suggest cooking it for another 10 minutes by saying "I'd cook it for another 10 minutes if I were you." In this case, "were" is used regardless of the person, so it would be "if he were you", "if we were you", and so on.

The Verb Tenses Used in the Subjunctive Mood

When discussing hypothetical situations, the verb tense in the subjunctive mood changes to the past form. This means that the verb "goes back" one tense, as in "I wish (present tense) I ran (past tense) faster" or "We wish (present tense) we had (past tense) a car." Another example is "Leo wishes (present tense) he were (past tense) rich and famous."

The Use of "Be" in the Subjunctive Mood

"Be" is also commonly used in the subjunctive mood for demands or suggestions, such as "It is necessary that he be here at 12 tomorrow" or "The boss has suggested that you be present at the meeting." In these cases, the verb remains as "be" instead of changing to "is."

The words "that," "if," and "wish" are frequently used in the subjunctive mood to express wishes, demands, suggestions, conditions, or hypothetical situations. For instance:

• "I wish I had a dog."
• "If I were you, I'd buy a Dalmatian."
• "It is necessary that you walk it every day."
• "It is important that you feed it too."

In these examples, "if" is used for imaginary hypothetical situations ("if I were you") or conditions ("if you don't"). "That" is used in suggestions ("it is important that") or obligations ("it is necessary that"). These are all examples of the subjunctive mood.

However, it's important to note that these words are not exclusive to the subjunctive mood. Other grammatical moods may also contain these words.

The Subjunctive Mood in Clauses

The subjunctive mood is often used in sentences with multiple clauses, where one clause has a subjunctive verb and the other has an indicative verb. For example:

• "I wish (indicative) I were (subjunctive) on holiday right now."
• "They suggested (indicative) that he visit (subjunctive) the zoo."

The Subjunctive Mood is a Mood, Not a Tense

The subjunctive mood is not a tense, but rather a mood. In English, we use terms like "past," "present," and "future" tense, but the subjunctive is different. It can combine with tense to form the past subjunctive, present subjunctive, and future subjunctive.

Other languages, like French, Spanish, and Italian, also have the subjunctive mood, but with different verb forms and sentence constructions.

Key Takeaways on the Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive mood is one of five main grammatical moods in English, along with indicative, imperative, interrogative, and conditional. It is used to convey information on how a sentence should be interpreted and indicates a wish, obligation, possibility, or suggestion related to a hypothetical situation in the present or future.

Understanding the Subjunctive Mood in Sentences

The subjunctive mood is formed when one clause contains a subjunctive verb and the other clause contains an indicative verb, creating a statement. To identify a sentence in the subjunctive mood, there are a few recognizable forms to look for, such as the use of the bare form of the verb, 'were', 'be', 'that', 'if', or 'wish'.

Other terms used to describe the subjunctive mood include 'subjunctive verb' and 'subjunctive mood'.