Interrogative Mood

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!

Interrogative mood: understanding grammatical mood

In the 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 sentence is a question, demand, statement, wish, etc.

So how exactly would we define grammatical mood?

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'.

Interrogative mood definition

What exactly is the interrogative mood? The "interrogative mood" is a grammatical term used to describe sentences that pose a question. This mood is most commonly used in English to ask for information, request clarification, or confirm the accuracy of a statement. In interrogative sentences, there is often an inversion of the subject and verb or the use of helping verbs (such as do, can, will, etc.) at the start of the sentence to form a question.

Examples of sentences in the interrogative mood include 'Are you going to the party?' or 'Do you like coffee?' or 'Can you help me with this project?' Each of these sentences seeks to gain information from the recipient, thereby fulfilling the function of the interrogative mood.

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:

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.