Indicative Mood
Indicative Mood :
The ordinary forms of the indicative mood in the active and the passive voice and in all six tenses - present, past, future, perfect (or present perfect), pluperfect (or past perfect) and future perfect - may be seen HERE .
For the progressive form of the indicative, see HERE .
For the emphatic form of the indicative, see HERE .
The commonest uses of the indicative mood are in statements or questions as to matters of fact…. but it may express almost any other form of thought. Thus….
1. Time and tide wait for no man. [Assertion.]
2. How goes the world with you? [Interrogation.]
3. How it rains! [Exclamation.]
4. If the river rises, the dam will be swept away. [Supposition.]
5. I suspect that he has absconded. [Doubt.]
6. I hope that John will come soon. [Desire.]
7. Though Ellen dislikes algebra, she never shirks. [Concession.]
8. You will report for duty immediately. [Command.]
9. Will you allow me to use your knife? [Request.]
Note : The indicative and the subjunctive were originally quite distinct in form and each had its own set of constructions. But, as our language has grown simpler in its structure, the forms of these two moods have become almost identical, and the uses of the indicative have been greatly multiplied at the expense of the subjunctive. Indeed, there is scarcely any variety of thought expressed by the subjunctive or the imperative for which the indicative cannot also be employed. It is therefore impossible to frame any satisfactory definition of the indicative. Its functions are too varied to be included in one general statement. The indicative is often described as the mood which asserts thought as a fact, and the subjunctive as the mood which expresses thought as supposition (or as mere thought). But the indicative, as well as the subjunctive, may express supposition, condition, doubt, desire, concession, etc. Hence the definitions of these moods are as exact as the facts of the language allow. All the efforts of grammarians to devise more accurate definitions break down when tested by actual usage.
Indicative Mood :
Indicative Mood To HOME PAGE
