The five principal requestive modes are wish, question, command, prohibition and vocative address. Their basic objects differ: wishing for a state, seeking information, directing performance, asking for restraint, and securing attention.
Transfer of function is a major rhetorical feature. Questions can deny or rebuke, commands can supplicate, and vocatives can lament. Declaratives used as prayers or directives provide the complementary case: the outward form is informative but its function is inshāʾ.
ModeBasic objectiveTransferred function
WishDesire for an outcomeRegret
QuestionSeek informationDenial / reproach
CommandRequest an actionSupplication / entreaty
ProhibitionRequest restraintThreat / prayer
VocativeCall for attentionInducement / lament