How do we know when a sentence is a question? The punctuation (i.e. the question mark) is a giveaway for sure, but the structure of a sentence and the specific use of verbs also play an important part in forming questions.
This use of verb forms to show the purpose of a sentence is what we call 'Grammatical Mood'. The type of grammatical mood when we ask questions is called the 'Interrogative Mood'. Let's look at this in more detail, along with plenty of examples!
Grammatical mood
In English Language, the term 'grammatical mood' does not refer to whether we're having a good or bad day (like 'mood' does). Instead, it helps us to understand the purpose of a sentence and how it should be understood. For example, whether the sentences is a question, demand, statement, wish, etc.
Grammatical mood definition
So how exactly would we define grammatical mood?
Grammatical mood refers to the use of verb forms that indicate (show) the purpose of a sentence and how it should be understood.
Types and examples of grammatical mood
There are five main types of grammatical mood in English Language. These are:
- Indicative- stating a fact or belief, e.g. 'Cheetahs are the fastest land animal'.
- Imperative- making requests or commands, e.g. 'Don't sit there!'.
- Subjunctive- expressing a hypothetical situation, wish, possibility, or suggestion, e.g. 'If I were rich, I'd buy a mansion'.
- Interrogative- asking questions, e.g. 'Are you coming to the party later?'.
- Conditional- state conditions and make requests, e.g. 'If there isn't coffee cake, I'll get chocolate cake instead'.
Different languages use different grammatical moods, and they express these moods in different ways.
Interrogative mood definition
What exactly is the interrogative mood?
The interrogative mood is the use of verb forms to indicate the sentence is a question.
Fig. 1 - Questions are in the interrogative mood.
Interrogative mood examples
Let's look at a few examples of the interrogative mood in a sentence:
Are you going to see Jake's new puppy later?
Is anyone sitting here?
What is your favourite film?
What's the capital of Australia?
Do you like the new décor?
Does it look okay?
Interrogative form
The interrogative mood has a recognisable form that shows the sentence is a question. To form a question, we don't change the main verb of the sentence like we do in some other moods. Instead, we use an auxiliary verb along with the main verb and place it before the subject of the sentence.
An auxiliary verb is a helps that 'helps' another verb to show information about grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, mood, and voice. Examples of auxiliary verbs include be, can, do, have, may, must, will, and would, but there are many more.
If there is already an auxiliary verb in the sentence, e.g. 'Chris is really tall', we can form the interrogative by inverting the auxiliary verb (is) and placing it before the subject (Chris). This forms the interrogative sentence 'is Chris really tall?'.
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