DIFFERENT USES OF AUXILIARY OR HELPING VERBS: TO BE, TO DO, TO HAVE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO AUXILIARY VERBS (ALSO KNOWN AS "HELPING VERBS"):


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OTHER USES OF HELPING VERBS AS PRIMARY AUXILIARIES (TAKING VERB TO DO AS AN EXAMPLE):

Read the following conversation and pay attention to the auxiliary verb “did“:

John: (1)Did you watch last night’s game?

Adam: Yeah! I (2)did. I bet you liked Rooney’s goal, (3)didn’t you?

John: Oh, yes! It was great! But I actually preferred Van Persie’s goal.

Adam:(4)Did you? But overall he (5)didn’t play well, (6)did he?

John: No, not really. But he (7)did score a great goal, right?

Adam:Yeah, I guess so. But so (8)did Rooney, in my opinion.

Now, let’s see the uses of “did” in each case (1 – 8):

(1) Question form: to ask questions: Did you do…?

(2) Short answer: to avoid repeating the main verb: Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t.

(3) Question tag: asking for clarification or approval, at the end of a statement: didn’t you?

(4) Echo questions: expressing certain surprise at something said by someone else: did you?

(5) Negative form: to negate a verb: didn’t play well.

(6) Question tag: same as (3), but in positive form: did he?

(7) Emphasising auxiliary: to emphasise that something happened or was so: he did score a great goal.

(8) Agreement or similarity: to express agreement or similarity with a previous statement or idea: so did Rooney.

So these 7/8 points summarise the main uses of auxiliary verbs. These very same uses apply to other auxiliaries such as have, am/is/are, was/were, modal verbs, etc.

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