Finite moods

Mood: the form assumed by a verb to show the mode or manner in which the action denoted by the verb is represented.

Indicative: asserts something as a fact, or as a condition, as “I came” “if he comes” or it enquires about something, as “ Did he come? ”

Imperative: commands, or advises, or begs for something, as come here!

Subjunctive: expresses a condition, a purpose, or a wish, any kind of contingency except a fact; as “if he came or should come ”(condition), “that he may come ”(purpose); “ may he come! ” (wish).

TENSES IN THE FINITE MOODS

Tense: the form assumed by a verb for showing (a) the time at which an event occurs, (b) the degree of completeness described to an event at the time of its occurrence.

Indefinite: denotes Present, Past, or Future time in its simplest form, making no definite assertion about the degree of completeness or incompleteness to be ascribed to the event, as “I come”, “I came”, “I shall come ”.

Continuous: denotes that the event (in Present, Past, or Future time) is not yet complete, but still going on, as “I am coming”, “I was coming ” “I shall be coming”.

Perfect: denotes that the event (in Present, Past, or Future time) is in a completed or perfect state; as “I have come ”“I had come ”“ I shall have come ”.

Perfect Continuous: combines the force of the two preceding forms; as “I have been coming ”, “I had been coming ”, “I shall have been coming ”.

Person: a verb is in the First person when the subject of the verb denotes a person speaking; in the Second person when it denotes a person spoken to; in the Third person when it denotes a person (or thing) spoken of.

NON-FINITE VERBS

Infinitive: names the action in its most general sense, without reference to any doer.

Participle: that part of a verb which is used either (a) as part of a tense and as such is preceded by an auxiliary verb be or have, or (b) as an adjective to qualify some noun or pronoun.

Gerund: a mixture of noun and verb, – (1) a noun in so far as it can be in the Nominative or Accusative case; (2) a verb in so far as it expresses Present or Past time, – is in the Active or Passive voice, and (if Transitive) is followed by an object.

COMPLEMENT OF A VERB

Complement to an Intransitive verb, or to a Transitive verb in the Passive voice, is a word or combination of words, which completes what the verb left unsaid about its Subject. This is called a Subjective complement.

Complement to a Transitive verb in the Active voice is a word or combination of words, which completes what the verb left unsaid about its Object. This is called an Objective complement.