Mood

What is Mood?

Mood is a feature of verb phrases that expresses the speaker’s assessment or opinion of the reality of that verb phrase. Broadly, it expresses whether the speaker regards the scenario to be actual (realis mood) or not (irrealis mood). More specifically, mood might communicate tendencies, hypothetical scenarios, hopes, potential cause and effect, and more.

Importantly, mood is ultimately about the speaker’s perspective or intention, not about the true facts of the situation. For example, a speaker might choose to talk about a theoretical possibility as if it were a fact by using the realis mood, perhaps to convince the listeners to take it seriously, or perhaps because the speaker themself doesn’t acknowledge that it might not be true.

While other languages feature inflections (morphological changes to certain words) to convey various moods, modal inflections are rare in English. More often, we use modal auxiliary verbs to convey mood. We might also use modal modifiers (like ‘probably’, ‘supposed’, ‘necessarily’, etc.) or special terms or phrases (like ‘what if’ or ‘if only’). For some unreal moods, we might apply backshifting or a subjunctive style. The particular mood markers vary from one mood to the next.

The ways in which mood is expressed through semantics and syntax is called ‘modality’.

Types of Realis Mood

The real mood, or realis mood, is what we use when we don’t question the reality of the situation. Realis moods express what the speaker understands to be true and actualized. The most common realis mood is called the indicative mood.

Indicative Mood

In English, most sentences are in the indicative mood by default. “I’m hungry,” “Diedre just got her driver’s license,” and “We’re flying to Amsterdam,” are all in the indicative mood. The indicative mood expresses that an action, event, or state is understood to be or assumed to be true in the time frame of the context (usually past or present).

As the indicative mood is the default for English, there are no mood markers for the indicative mood.

eg: “Margret ran a marathon last month.”
eg: “It’s snowing right now.”

Alethic/Gnomic Mood

The alethic mood, or gnomic mood, expresses general truths, including but not limited to: laws of nature, basic principles, and perfectly consistent observations. For example: “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”

The alethic mood is almost always expressed in the Present Simple tense, which sometimes makes it indistinguishable from a corresponding expression in the indicative mood. Sometimes, substantive nominals or nouns without determiners indicate generality and may therefore communicate the alethic mood. It’s also possible to use modal auxiliaries for the alethic mood, as in “A square must have four sides,” or “Tarantulas can be dangerous.”

eg: “A marathon is 26.2 miles, or 42.2 kilometers.”
eg: “It only snows when the temperature is at or below freezing.”

Habitual Mood

The habitual mood is used for recurring actions, events, or states. Whereas the indicative mood expresses verbs in the moment, for habitual mood verbs may or may not be true of the moment. And while habits are recurring, they are not perfectly consistent or endless like in the alethic mood.

Sometimes, the habitual is grammatically indistinct from the indicative, especially in the Past Simple or Present Simple tenses. Other times, we use certain modal auxiliaries (like will, would, or used to) to denote habits. We might also use adverbials to express frequency.

eg: “Margaret used to run the Boston Marathon annually.”
eg: “It snows every winter here.”

Putative Mood

The putative mood is used to express reactive emotions — like surprise, skepticism, delight, or dismay — over a situation that is otherwise assumed to be true. Some interjections like “Wow!”, “Oh no!”, and “No way!” express the putative mood.

Here are a few other ways to apply this mood: 1) Start an embedded clause with “that [subject] should”; before that in the host clause should be an adjective of emotion or judgement like ‘odd’, ‘sorry’, ‘surprised’/’surprising’, ‘too bad’, ‘unfortunate’, etc. or a reactive verb like ‘can’t believe’ or ‘regret’. 2) Use Echo Questions like “You are?” or “It is?” without subject-auxiliary inversion. 3) Start a clause with “What a [nominal phrase]” or “How [modifier]”, even though the resulting sentences aren’t questions.

eg: “What a dedicated runner Margaret is!”
eg: “I’m astonished that it should snow so early this year.”

Types of Unreal Mood

The irrealis mood, or unreal mood, is what we use to communicate that the verb phrase is not confirmed or assumed to be an existing reality. Instead, the unreal mood indicates theoretical situations which may range from the likely to the fantastical. For instance, the unreal might be used to express what the speaker wants to happen, what they’re relieved didn’t happen, what they expect could happen in the future, and so forth.

Importantly, the terms irrealis and unreal do not necessarily signify falsehood. Sometimes these moods convey fiction, but they can also express uncertainty or “not yet”.

Epistemic Mood

The epistemic mood expresses what the speaker believes might be true. Unlike with indicative mood, the verb phrase is not merely assumed to be true; instead, for epistemic mood, the speaker acknowledges their own assessment regarding the likelihood of that verb phrase being true.

We usually use modal verbs for the epistemic mood, though we might also or instead use modal adverbs like ‘apparently’, ‘perhaps’, or ‘supposedly’. We could even use modal adjectives like ‘likely’ or ‘possible’, especially when leading into Content Clauses (eg: “It is possible that Diedre just got her diver’s license,” or “We’re not certain whether they’ve left for Amsterdam already.”). Similarly, we might use cognitive verbs or similar expressions to introduce Content Clauses; “I believe …”, “I’m sure that …” etc. communicate the epistemic mood. The speaker’s choice of mood markers here indicates their level of certainty — from uncertainty with ‘might’ or ‘potentially’, to utter conviction with ‘must’ or ‘undeniably’.

The epistemic mood is often (though not necessarily) backed up by evidence or rationale. For the past (or sometimes present), uses of the epistemic mood can be called deductions. For the future, they can be called expectation or predictions.

eg: “Margaret will probably start training for her next marathon soon.”
eg: [looking out the window] “It must’ve snowed last night.”

Hypothetical Mood

The hypothetical mood is used for verb phrases that are assumed to be untrue, or at least are acknowledged to be unknown, but are nonetheless considered. Hypothetical situation may be potentially true without the speaker knowing for certain, may be theoretically possible in another time or place, or may be completely fantastical.

Hypothetical situations that are known to be clearly untrue might be called counterfactual, especially if those situations have a past or present tense. Meanwhile, hypothetical situations that are fairly likely to come true in the future might be called tentative.

The hypothetical mood is often found in Conditionals, which are made up of two (or more) clauses in the hypothetical mood:

Protasis: the Condition — Hypotheticals in the protasis are usually marked with ‘if’, ‘unless’, or similar subordinators at the start of the clause (although they could instead use subject-auxiliary inversion). Also, their verb phrases are backshifted.
Apodosis: the Consequent — Hypotheticals in the apodosis usually feature would or some other modal auxiliary. Apodosis hypotheticals can overlap with an epistemic, deontic, or volitional mood.

Hypotheticals not in Conditionals align with apodosis hypotheticals, using modal verbs to mark their mood. The most common modal auxiliary used for hypotheticals is would. Another common construction for hypotheticals features Full Infinitive phrases, as in “I wonder what it would be like to live on Mars.”

Other mood markers for hypotheticals include ‘how about’, ‘imagine’, ‘let’s say’, ‘suppose’ or ‘what if’ at the start of the clause especially when asking or instructing someone else to ponder the theoretical scenario. The coordinating conjunction ‘rather … than’ also marks a hypothetical mood.

eg: “Margret would rather run a marathon than do a triathlon.”
eg: “It would’ve snowed last night if it had been just a little bit colder.”

Bouletic/Optative Mood

The bouletic mood (or boulemaic mood) expresses what the speaker hopes, desires, or fears might be or become true. This is regardless of whether they think such situations are even likely. This mood can also be called the optative mood, though that only has a positive connotation. The bouletic mood is unique in English grammar in that it employs specific constructions unique to this mood, and the resulting clauses would not normally qualify as complete sentences.

We use the bouletic mood when we discuss wishes and regrets, using phrases like “If only …”, “I’d rather …”, “It’s (about) time …”, “Would that …”, or “Imagine if …”. The following verb phrase should be backshifted.

We also use the bouletic mood to wish someone well, in which case the main verb should come in its base form. Also, we often start with the modal auxiliary may. For example: “God bless your journey,” or “May she live a long and healthy life.”

eg: “May you have a swift and safe race, Margaret!”
eg: “It’s time we finally got some snow around here!”

Alternatively, bouletic expressions can be structured like imperative sentences (eg: “Have a great race!”), possibly starting with ‘let’ (eg: “Let it snow!”). While these look and sound the same as imperatives, the difference is that they are not intended to be commands since the recipient has no control over the matter. Imperatives are about actions, but bouletic statements are about outcomes.

Certain expressions that begin with a positive adjective followed by a current or forthcoming event — like “Happy birthday!”, “Merry Christmas,” or “Safe travels!” — are also in the optative mood.

Outside of a handful of expressions (“May the best competitor win.”; “Enjoy your meal!”; “Get well soon.”; “Happy birthday!”; etc.), the bouletic mood is pretty rare in casual English.

Deontic Mood

In the deontic mood, the speaker expresses regulations they feel should be enforced. Those regulations may come from the speaker’s own standards, morality, or wisdom, or they may come from an external source like institutional laws, societal norms, or best practices. The speaker generally has an expectation that the regulations should actually be followed (so unlike the bouletic mood which expresses situations that might never come true, situations in the deontic mood often become true, even if they aren’t yet realized when first stated).

One way to express the deontic mood is through modal auxiliaries. There’s a lot of versatility in deontic modal verbs, conveying concepts from permission to advice to obligations, and including the options of marginal modals like had better, need, and ought to.

Another way to express the deontic mood is with Content Clauses, which take on the subjunctive framework: the verb should be in its base form. The main clause usually starts the sentence off with an expression like “It is critical/essential/required/necessary/etc. [that …]”, where the featured adjective conveys importance, necessity, or expectation.

Instead of a Content Clause, a Full Infinitive phrase may alternatively follow the starting expression, perhaps with ‘for [subject]’ in between (as in, “It’s important for my daughter to eat her vegetables.”). Similarly, we can use Infinitive Verb Patterns that begin with verbs of influence (‘encourage’, ‘instruct’, ‘order’, etc.) or verbs of delegation (‘assign’, ‘nominate’, etc.) to communicate the deontic mood.

eg: “It is recommended that Margaret trains hard for her marathon.”
eg: “You should go inside when the snowfall gets heavier.”

Volitional Mood

The volitional mood expresses someone’s willingness or intent. It’s usually that of the speaker, in which case the subject is likely ‘I’ or ‘we’, but the speaker may speak on behalf of someone else if they are confident in that person’s intentions.

The volitional mood is most commonly used for Future Plans, and the most common mood marker is will. Other modal verb options include can/could for willingness but deference, would for willingness but unlikely possibility, and shall for forcefulness.

Volition can also be expressed through Verb Patterns in which a verb of intent — such as ‘aim’, ‘begin’, ‘decide’, ‘plan’, ‘try’, etc. — is followed by a Full Infinitive. Alternatively, we could use BE/get + [adjective of intent] followed by a Full Infinitive, as in “am about to …”, “get ready to…”, “was prepared to …”, etc.

eg: “Margaret will run a marathon again this year.”
eg: “I would drive you home, but my car is stuck in the snow.”

Distal modals (could, might, should, and would) in the volitional mood are often used for polite requests, as in “Could you please pass the salt?” or “Margaret, would you run a marathon with me?”

Unreal Constructions

Backshifting

Backshifting is the practice of shifting the form of a verb further into the past than its meaning. We do this in English for clauses in the hypothetical or bouletic moods (as well as for Reported Speech and polite speech). For example, we might say, “If we go out to dinner tomorrow, …”, using the present ‘go’ for a possible future action (‘tomorrow’). If instead we discuss a counterfactual situation in the present, we would use the past ‘went’, as in “If we went out to dinner tonight, …”.

While Reported Speech verbs can backshift in multiple ways, unreal verbs usually backshifts like this:

A verb with a past meaning backshifts to a past perfect form.
A verb with a present meaning backshifts to a past form.
A verb with a possible future meaning backshifts to a present form.
A verb with an impossible future meaning backshifts to a future-in-the-past form.

Through a backshift, verbs generally retain their tense aspect; whether a verb is perfect, continuous, or both, that aspect should remain the same.

Modal verbs have their own backshifting rules. It depends on the modal flavor, but modals generally backshift in the following fashion:

can backshifts to could, which backshifts to could have.
may backshifts to might, which backshifts to might have.
shall backshifts to should, which backshifts to should have.
will backshifts to would, which backshifts to would have.

When backshifting a modal auxiliary is tricky or results in awkward phrasing, we can use replacement phrases instead, like ‘be able to’ instead of can/could, or ‘be going to’ instead of will/would.

Subjunctive Styles

When a subordinate clause is in an unreal mood, it can take on a subjunctive style. It’s often referred to as “the subjunctive mood”, but that’s misleading because it is not a mood in and of itself; instead, it can be applied to other moods — particularly hypothetical, bouletic, or deontic — and it only works in subordinate clauses.

There are two types of subjunctives. An unreal embedded clause can feature one or both types.

The subjunctive verb is in its base form, unless it is past. That means that subjunctive verbs cannot take on the -s suffix to agree with 3^rd-person singular subjects. For past situations, verbs are only in their Past Simple forms, and any past of BE is ‘were’, regardless of the subject.
- eg: “if Margaret were running a marathon” (not: “~~if Margaret was~~“)
- eg: “It’s important that it not snow on Friday.” (not: “~~that it doesn’t snow~~“)
Subjunctive clauses can undergo subject-auxiliary inversion, which means that the leading auxiliary verb comes before the subject, even if it’s not an interrogative clause. This is usually limited to the auxiliaries BE, HAVE, and should.
- eg: “had Margaret finished her marathon” (instead of “if Margaret had finished her marathon”)
- eg: “should it snow tomorrow” (instead of “if it should snow tomorrow”)

The hypothetical mood is probably the mood that uses subjunctive styles the most in English, and protasis hypotheticals (in Conditionals) are almost the only time that subjunctive inversion is used. The bouletic mood can also use base-form subjunctives. Finally, the deontic mood can use the base-form subjunctive style, but it is now considered archaic or highly formal.

English Grammar Encyclopedia for Educators