ABSTRACT
If we ask ourselves what we mean by the term ‘mood,’ and find that it may be explained as ‘manner of being,’ it might seem that the distinction between the Derived Forms discussed in the last chapter, and Moods is not very clear. However, on considering some examples of each, it becomes evident that moods are the various conditions under which some particular act is manifested : the action, say, of writing is contemplated as actually taking place (whether in past, present or future time)—or as possibly taking place under certain conditions—or as being desirable, and so on. But it is always the same action of writing. In the Derived Forms, the action itself is in some way modified : it is looked on from the point of view of the sufferer instead of the doer, or as reversed, caused, intensified, 157applied to someone or something, etc., etc. And each separate form is carried unchanged through all the moods and tenses.
