In this book, Francis James develops his theory that the English subjunctive has one meaning. Explaining how modality expresses the relation between a representation and what is represented, James compares the subjunctive to a 'blueprint,' a plan of what the architect intends the world to match, and the indicative to an artist's sketch of the same building, a 'record' to match the world. The subjunctive thus signifies the practical world-to-match-words modality, and the indicative, the theoretical words-to-match-world modality.

In individual chapters, the author gives a unified account of current and earlier uses of the present and past subjunctive and comments on how historical changes have affected the syntax of the moods. He extends his argument to demonstrate how the theory of modality can be applied to other modal forms in English and to moods in other languages.