G5-c Choose the correct form of a verb to show the indicative, imperative, or subjunctive mood.
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G5-c Choose the correct form of a verb to show the indicative, imperative, or subjunctive mood.
indicative mood The verb form ordinarily used for statements and questions.
imperative mood The verb form used for commands or directions.
subjunctive mood The verb form used for wishes, suggestions, and conditions that are hypothetical, impossible, or unlikely.
| INDICATIVE | There is Homer, the father, who serves as sole provider for the family. Where are the Simpsons today? |
| IMPERATIVE | Take me to the mall. |
| SUBJUNCTIVE | If it were to rain on the day of the picnic, we would simply bring everything indoors. |
base form The uninflected form of a verb: I eat; to play.
The subjunctive is often used in clauses with if or that. Always use the base form of the verb for the present subjunctive. (See G5-b.) For the past tense of the verb be, the subjunctive form is were, not was.
