2.2.6: Helping Verbs
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Helping Verbs
Helping Verbs are extremely important when studying the grammar of English Verb Tenses (of which there are 12). Helping Verbs are used in English for the following purposes:
1. Showing Verb Tenses
2. Making Verbs Negative
3. Making Questions
4. With the Modal Verbs, Changing the Meaning of the Main Verb
5. Changing Voice (Active voice to Passive Voice)
Below are the 19 helping verbs in English.
To Be These helping verbs are used to make the negative and the question
am, is, are forms in the simple present and past tenses as well as the
was, were continuous tenses.
Negative Form Question Form
am not is not are not Am I? Is he Are we?
was not were not Was he ? Were they?
Examples:
I am a man. I am not a woman. Were the students at school? No, they weren’t at school.
They are playing baseball? Are they playing football? No, they aren’t playing football.
She was driving to the market. Was she driving to the post office? No, she wasn’t.
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Modal Verbs
can, could, will, would may, might, should, must, (shall)
Negative Form Question Form
cannot, could not, will not (won't), Can I? Would you?
would not, may not, might not, May she? Must it?
should not, must not, (shall not) (Shall we?) Would he?
Can they speak Vietnamese? No, they cannot. Could he do it? No, he could not do it.
We must do our homework. Should students come to class on time? Yes, they should. They should not come late. Will you cook dinner tonight? No, I won’t cook dinner tonight.
The man might have gotten into an accident. He would have called if he had.
To Do With verbs in the present and past tenses, the verb to do is used for the
do, does, negative and the question forms.
did
Negative Form Question Form
do not, does not Do they, Does he ?
did not Did you?
We eat lunch. Do we eat lunch? No, we do not eat lunch.
She goes to class. Does she go to class? No, she does not go to class.
They played football. Did they play football? No, they did not play football.
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To Have Have has two very different uses in English. When have is used
Have, has, had alone, it means to own or to possess something. For example, I have a
car. You have a teacher. He has a girlfriend. However, when have is used with the perfect tenses in English, it is a helping verb whose purpose is only to signify the perfect tenses. As a helping verb, the negative and question forms are made with the verb have.
Negative Form Question Form
have not, has not Have you? Has she?
had not Had we ?
I have eaten dinner. Have you eaten dinner yet? No, I have not eaten dinner.
It has rained a lot. Has it rained this evening? No, it has not rained this evening.
We had done all of our work by the time we left for home. Had we left any work for the next day? No, we had not left any.
She has come to class every day this quarter. Has she been late? No, she hasn’t been late at all.
Helping verbs basically control almost all of the verb formations in English. If you learn and understand helping verbs, you will learn and understand English grammar more easily.
Exercise 1: Underline the helping verb AND the main verb in the following sentences, please.
1. My son and I are cleaning the house for my wife (in her dreams).
2. Some people can speak many languages.
3. My wife doesn’t like to drive on the freeway.
4. Students must learn irregular verbs.
5. I have lived in many countries in my life.
6. We were swimming in the lake when my father came home.
7. You will learn a lot of verb grammar this quarter.
8. It isn’t raining outside today.
9. Students shouldn’t copy other students’ homework papers.
10. My sons have been to many other countries since they were young.
11. Do you know how to drive a car?
12. Have you ever seen a ghost?
13. I might not come to school tomorrow.
14. My sister doesn’t speak any foreign languages.
15. Drivers must not drink alcohol and drive cars.
16. My students are doing a grammar exercise right now.
17. You will do a lot of homework in this class.
18. We have had nice weather so far this quarter.
19. My brother could lift very heavy objects when he was a boy.
20. My grandmother would love to cook for me when I was a boy.
21. Some people have never gone to school in their lives.
22. You aren’t studying in level 4 yet.
23. I can often work in my garden after I get home from school.
24. My family doesn’t go on vacation together very often anymore.
25. It may rain every day in Seattle pretty soon.
26. This will be the last sentence in Exercise 1.
Possessive Nouns and Possessive Adjectives
Possessive nouns and possessive adjectives show ownership. That means that something belongs to someone. Both possessive nouns and possessive adjectives come in front of the nouns they own.
Possessive Nouns
Possessive nouns are made by adding an ’S after a singular noun (or an irregular plural noun) and an S’after a regular plural noun.
Singular Nouns (and Irregular Plural Nouns) Plural Nouns
The boy’s dog the boys’ dog
Tom’s father the students’ teacher
My son’s friend my sons’ friend
Bob and Tom’s sister the ladies’ clothes
The man’s hat the dogs’ tails
The men’s department the parents’ responsibility
The children’s room the tenants’ landlord
Exercise 1: Make the following nouns possessive, please.
Examples:
Don hat Don’s hat the lady shoes the lady’s shoes
The child toys the child’s toys the ladies shoes the ladies’ shoes
The fathers tools the fathers’ tools Wendy books Wendy’s books
1. My two sons room -------------------- 2. The children jobs --------------------
3. Mary Ann car -------------------- 4. The workers bathroom -------------------
5. the student book ------------------- 6. Blanca bag --------------------
7. the teacher sore back ------------------- 8. The employees rules --------------------
9. the doctor patient -------------------- 10. The lawyers offices --------------------
Exercise 2: Fill in the blanks with a singular possessive noun, please.
Examples:
Mr. Bissonnette room is on the second floor. Mr. Bissonnette’s room is on the second floor.
I picked up the student book. I picked up the student’s book.
1. Mr. Bourret brother is named Tommy.
2. Mark wife is a doctor.
3. I bought Tom old car last week.
4. My student uncle died of a heart attack.
5. I stepped on the dog tail by accident.
6. My son pants are in the dryer.
7. Roger father worked in a car factory.
8. I saw the girl new car in her driveway.
9. I took care of Tom children last Saturday evening.
10. The lion roar scared a lot of people.
Exercise 3: Fill in the blanks with a plural possessive noun, please.
Examples:
I put the teachers books on their desks. I put the teachers’ books on their desks.
1. The children school is on Myrtle Street.
2. The women office is on the sixth floor.
3. I put the babies clothes in their room.
4. I saw the carpenters tools on the floor in the basement.
5. I sent the lazy students homework papers to their parents.
6. The nurses uniforms are in that closet over there.
7. The students books are in the closet on the fourth floor.
8. The boy saw his sisters new clothes.
Possessive Adjectives
The possessive adjectives are similar to pronouns in that they replace possessive nouns. For example, I can say Don’s books or I can say my books. “My” means the same thing as “Don’s.” The reason that they are called adjectives is because they must be followed by a noun. The possessive adjectives are as follows:
My
Your
His
Her
Its NOUN
Our
Your
Their
My office is in room 211.
Your teacher has a long beard.
His brother lives in Japan.
Her husband drives an old car.
Its color is gray.
Our room is CAS 210.
Your chairs are made of plastic.
Their native country is Vietnam.
Possessive adjectives with their accompanying nouns can come anywhere in a sentence that a noun can come. As with other adjectives, possessive adjectives do not show plural by adding an “S.” They never change.