Dan's answer helps to distinguish demands from inquiries semantically. The mood differences are as follows: Demand as an imperative is realized by a clause without subject (the subject is the addressee): Get it from the teacher. Take the test! Inquire / interrogative is realize by inverting the subject-finite verb ordering of a declarative: declarative = they were eating the at Joe's house interrogative = Were they eating at Joe's house? The interrogative form can be tricky... hope it helps At 04:45 PM 6/23/01 +0800, you wrote: >Hello everyone, > > I'm an English learner. In our test papers, there are always vocabulary choices about "demand" and "inquire". In Chinese meaning, they are just the same, so I want to know their differences in mood ect. > What are the differances between them? > > Yours > Piao Su > >To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >and select "Join or leave the list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > Judy "Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things." ....Governor George W. Bush, Jr., 11/30/96 To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/