Helping Verbs
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| Helping verbs are also called
"auxiliary verbs". |
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Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They
are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence,
but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually
use helping verbs with main
verbs. They "help" the main verb (which has the
real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs
in English, and we divide them into two basic groups:
Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)
These are the verbs be, do, and
have. Note that we can use these three verbs as
helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page
we talk about them as helping verbs. We use them in
the following cases:
- be
to make continuous tenses (He
is watching TV.)
to make the passive (Small fish
are eaten by big fish.)
- have
to make perfect tenses (I have finished
my homework.)
- do
to make negatives (I do not like you.)
to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?)
to show emphasis (I do want you to pass
your exam.)
to stand for a main verb in some constructions
(He speaks faster than she does.)
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Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)
We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning
of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses
necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb
in that sense. These are the modal verbs:
- can, could
- may, might
- will, would,
- shall, should
- must
- ought to
Here are examples using modal verbs:
- I can't speak Chinese.
- John may arrive late.
- Would
you like a cup of coffee?
- You should see a doctor.
- I really must go now.
Main Verbs >>
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Semi-modal verbs (3 verbs)
The following verbs are often called
"semi-modals" because they they are
partly like modal helping verbs and
partly like main verbs:
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