Verbs have three moods. Over the last two days I have covered the indicative and imperative moods; today I am going to blog about the subjunctive mood (the mood being the form that the verb takes and how it is meant to be understood by the reader).
The subjunctive mood is used for situations that are uncertain and isn’t so widely used. The example that Bernard C Lamb gives in his book The Queen’s English is the poem ‘Mid-Winter’ by Christina Rossetti which starts with the subjunctive line of :
“If I were a shepherd.
I would bring a lamb…”
If it had read “I was a shepherd…” it would have shown an indicative mood, but in this case the word if conveys a wish or an uncertainty.
Tomorrow will be blog 100 of my writing challenge. Hope you have enjoyed reading today’s blog. Don’t forget that you can subscribe to receive them daily by email so that you don’t miss any. Just click ‘sign me up’ on the home page.
Until tomorrow…
Sandra
This blog: https://mywritingnotebook.wordpress.com
My other blog: http://sandramadeira.wordpress.com
My website: www.tipsandluxuries.com (includes the introduction to my book ‘A Gift for Stressed and Busy Parents’)
Twitter: @madeirasandra and @tipsandluxuries
Reference list:
Bernard C. Lamb The Queen’s English (2010), UK
My Writing Notebook 
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