Auxiliary Verbs (Helping verbs).
Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. The auxiliary verbs are meaningless unless they are used as the main verb. They just change the tense or make negative or interrogative sentences.
Example:
- John plays football. (simple present tense)
- John is playing football. (Present continues tense.)
- He went to school. (simple past tense)
- He was going to school. (Past continuous tense)
- Did he go to school? (Interrogative sentence.)
- She has not bought a car. (Negative sentence.)
- He had been watching the movie. (past perfect tense)
- Had he been watching the movie? (Interrogative sentence.)
- He had not been watching the movie. (Negative sentence.)
There are several auxiliary verbs. The most common helping verbs are to be (is, are, am, was, and were), and be form (to be + have, has had, been, Do, does, and did.) of the verb.
1. Is, are, am.
These auxiliary verbs are used with the present continuous tense.
Example:
- She is playing football.
- Is she playing football?
- They are reading books.
- Are they reading books?
- They are not reading books.
- I am riding a horse.
- I am not riding a horse.
- Am I riding a horse?
2) Do and Does.
Do and does come with the simple present to show the tense and mood. In addition, they make negative and interrogative sentences.
- He speaks English.
- He does not Speak English.
- Does he speak English?
- They play football daily.
- They do not play football.
- Do they play football?
check out more about do and does in Simple Present tense.
3) Have and has (been)
Have and has come with the present perfect tense to change into a negative and interrogative sentence.
Examples.
- I have done my homework.
- I have not done my homework.
- Have I done my homework?
- She has boiled the eggs.
- She has not boiled the eggs.
- Has she boiled the eggs?
4) Did (Helping verbs)
It comes with simple past tense to make a negative and interrogative sentence.
- He spoke to us.
- He did not speak to us.
- Did he speak to us?
- We plugged the flower.
- We did not plug the flower.
- Did we plug the flower?
Check out the simple past tense.
5) Was and were.
We use was and were with past continuous tense to make negative and interrogative tense. Was = singular pronouns. Were plural pronouns.
- I was watching the film.
- I was not watching the film.
- Was I watching the film?
- John and Kamran were making noise.
- They were not making noise.
- Were they making noise?
What is past continuous tense?
6) Had (been)
(Auxiliary Verbs) Had come with past perfect continuous tense.
- I had been singing songs.
- I had not been singing songs.
- Had I been singing songs?
- He had been reading books.
- He had not been reading books.
- Had he been reading books?
7. Will and shall.
They are used with future continuous tense. Will can come with all 7 pronouns but shall is used only with the pronouns I and we.
- I will be jogging on the road.
- I will not be jogging on the road.
- Will I be jogging on the road?
- We shall be waiting for him.
- We shall not be waiting for him.
- Shall we be waiting for him?
What is the simple future tense?
The difference between Auxiliary verbs and main verbs. How to differentiate auxiliary verbs.
The verb is the heart of the sentence. A sentence without a verb is partial. So there are two kinds of verbs, dynamic verbs, and stative verbs. Dynamic verbs show action in which physically a person does the activity. Like I am playing football. The main verb is playing which demonstrates that the person moving, but stative verbs do not show physical action. Like he looks angry. The main verb is look which does not show any physical activity.
So Auxiliary verbs can come with both of them. Which is quite clear and simple to identify. In contrast. Sometimes auxiliary verbs perform the job of the main verb which mostly confuses the students.
For example.
- He is a main.
- She has a car.
- We do our work.
- They did their job.
- They had a party.
- The doctor has many patients.
In these sentences, we do not have any main verbs but auxiliary verbs that function as the main verbs in the sentences. So, In such situations Do not mix up. They work as stative verbs. In addition to this auxiliary verbs. We have another group of words which are called modal auxiliary verbs. Modal auxiliary verbs show possibilities, ability, and certainty. They do not change the form.
- Must
- Ought to
- Shall
- Should
- Will
- Would
- Can
- Could
- May
- Might
Learn the examples that are listed below.
- I must explain the grammar.
- You ought to find the answers.
- We shall find the questions.
- I should not speak to her face.
- They will find the cash for the car in Brisbane.
- We would come on time.
- She can speak English.
- Could it be dark at night?
- It may rain tomorrow.
- The man might sing a song.
Check out the exercise and fill in the blanks according to auxiliary verbs and modal Auxiliary verbs.
- The man______________dancing in the car.
(was, were, is) - Why _____________he come to the party last night?
(do, will, did) - The girl ____________ was confused for many years.
(was, had been, have been) - It ______________rain tonight deeply.
(is, are, might) - Akram _____________reading books yesterday.
(is, was, were) - The teacher _________________reading the books.
(will be, was, is) - The students __________________listening to the teachers.
(must, are, have been) - _________________you go to the park last night?
(was, did, has) - What _______________the students doing when you came?
(was, were, are, did, been) - John always ____________weaknesses on stage.
(Doesn’t, has, is, have) - They ______________ pay the fees on time otherwise ___________be fired.
(shall-are, ought to – will, must-are) - _________________she been riding the bike when we arrived?
(has, did, had) - Where __________________ go before we started the party?
(were, been, are, did) - Why _____________you think she is mad?
( didn’t, is, hasn’t, has been, have) - Kamran ____________going to be upset on this decision.
( will, don’t, is, didn’t, has) - I _________________appreciate the students.
(did, have, been, didn’t) - I _______________ care of him.
(don’t, is, was) - They __________________attend the class tomorrow.
(are, will, shall) - ________________the government support the public next year?
(is, Was, will) - The meeting _________________ postponed.
(did, have been, has been)
Find the correct answers to rectify your mistakes.
- The man is dancing in the car.
- Why did he come to the party last night?
- The girl had been confused for many years.
- It might rain tonight deeply.
- Akram was reading books yesterday.
- The teacher is reading the books.
- The students are listening to the teachers.
- Did you go to the park last night?
- What were the students doing when you came?
- John always has weaknesses on stage.
- They ought to pay the fees on time otherwise will be fired. )
- Had she been riding the bike when we arrived?
- Where did they go before we started the party?
- Why do you think she is mad?
- Kamran is going to be upset about this decision.
- I did not appreciate the students.
- I do not care about him.
- They will attend the class tomorrow.
- Will the government support the public next year? (is, Was, will)
- The meeting has been postponed. (did, have been, has been)
