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"indicative mood"

From Richard Nordquist,
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Definition:

The mood of the verb used in ordinary objective statements (stating a fact, expressing an opinion, asking a question).

Etymology:

From the Latin, "stating"

Examples and Observations:

  • "I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom."
    (Dick Powell, Farewell, My Lovely)

  • "Money. You know what that is. The stuff you never have enough of. Little green things with George Washington’s picture that men slave for, commit crimes for, die for. It’s the stuff that has caused more trouble in the world than anything else ever invented. simply because there’s too little of it."
    (Tom Neal, Detour)

  • "There are only three ways to deal with a blackmailer. You can pay him and pay him and pay him until you’re penniless. Or you can call the police yourself and let your secret be known to the world. Or you can kill him."
    (Edward G. Robinson, The Woman in the Window)

  • "She liked me. I could feel that. The way you feel when the cards are falling right for you, with a nice little pile of blue and yellow chips in the middle of the table. Only what I didn’t know then was that I wasn’t playing her. She was playing me, with a deck of marked cards and the stakes weren’t any blue and yellow chips. They were dynamite."
    (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity)

  • "Laura considered me the wisest, the wittiest, the most interesting man she’d ever meet. I was in complete accord with her."
    (Clifton Webb, Laura)

  • "Personally, I’m convinced that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young."
    (Eve Arden, Mildred Pierce)
Audio LinkPronunciation: in-DIK-i-tiv mood
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