What is imperative mood?

Definition
	Imperative mood is mood that signals directive modality, especially in commands. Its use may be extended to signal permission.

Discussion
	An imperative verb is typically not inflected for most of the grammatical categories associated with verbs in a language, especially tense and person.

Example (English)

Here is an example of a construction indicating imperative mood:

Come in!

Source:

Palmer 1986 108

Kind
	Here is a kind of imperative mood:
	What is immediate imperative mood?

Sources
	Hartmann and Stork 1972 108
	Chung and Timberlake 1985 247
	Bybee 1985 171
	Palmer 1986 29, 97, 108, 111
	Mish 1991 603
	Crystal 1980 153
	Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985 78, 803

Concept module: imperative mood
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): I
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004