Auxiliary
Verbs or Helping
Helping verbs or auxiliary
verbssuchas will, shall,
may, might, can,
could, must, ought to, should, would, used to,
needare used in
conjunction with main
verbsto express shades of
timeand mood. The
combination of helping verbs with
main verbs creates
whatare called
verb phrases or verb
strings. In the following sentence, "will have
been"are helping
orauxiliary
verbsand
"studying"is
the main verb; the whole
verb stringis underlined:
- As
of nextAugust, I
will have been
studyingchemistry for ten
years.
Students should remember
thatadverbsand
contracted formsare not,
technically, part
of the verb. In the sentence, "He hasalready
started." theadverb
alreadymodifies
the verb, but itis not
really part
of the verb. The sameis
true of the 'ntin "He
hasn't started yet"
(theadverb
not, represented by the contracted
n't,is not
part of the verb,
has started).Shall,
willand forms of
have,
doand
becombine with main
verbs to indicate
timeand
voice.Asauxiliaries, the verbs
be, have and
docan change
form to indicate changes in
subjectand
time.
- I shall go now.
- He had won the
election.
- They didwrite
that novel together.
- I am going now.
- He was winning the
election.
- They have
beenwriting that novel fora
long time.
Uses of Shall and
Willand
Should
In England,
shallis
used to express the simple future for first person
Iand
we,as in "Shall
we meet by the river?" Willwould be used in the simple
future forall other persons.
Using willin the first person would express
determination on the part
of the speaker,as in "We will
finish this
project by tonight, by golly!" Using
shallin
secondand third
persons would indicate some kind of
promiseabout the
subject,as in
"This
shall be revealed to you in good
time." This
usageis
certainlyacceptable
in the U.S.,although
shallis
used far less frequently. The
distinction between the
twois often obscured by
the contraction
'll,whichis the
same for both
verbs. In the
United States, we seldom use
shallforanything other
than polite questions
(suggestingan element of
permission) in the first-person:
- "Shall
we go now?"
- "Shall
I calla
doctor for you?"
(In the second sentence,
many writers would use
shouldinstead,although
shouldis
somewhat more tentative than
shall.) In the U.S.,
to express the future tense, the verb willis
used inall other cases. Shallis
often used in formal
situations (legal
or legalistic documents, minutes to
meetings, etc.) to express obligation, even
with third-personand second-person
constructions:
- The board
of directors shall be responsible for
payment to stockholders.
- The college president
shall report financial
shortfalls to the executive
director each semester."
Shouldis
usually replaced, nowadays,
by would. Itis still used,
however, to mean "ought
to"as in
- You really
shouldn't do that.
- If you think that
wasamazing, you should
have seen it last
night.
In British
Englishand
very formalAmerican English,
oneisapt to hear
or read
shouldwith the first-person pronouns in
expressions of liking suchas "I should prefer
iced tea" and
in tentative expressions of opinion
suchas
- I should imagine they'll vote
Conservative.
- I should have
thought so.
(The New Fowler's Modern
English Usageedited
by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford,
England. 1996. Used
with the permission of Oxford University
Press. Examples our
own.) |
Uses of Do,
Doesand
Did
In the simple present tense,
dowill functionasanauxiliary
to express the negativeand
toask
questions. (Does, however,is
substituted for third-person, singular
subjects in the present tense. The past tense
didworks withall persons,
singular and
plural.)
- I don't
studyat night.
- She doesn't work
hereanymore.
- Do youattend
this school?
- Does he work here?
These
verbsalso
workas
"shortanswers," with the
main verb
omitted.
- Does she work here? No, she
doesn't
work here.
With "yes-no" questions, the form of
dogoes in front of the subjectand
the main verb
comesafter the
subject:
- Didyour
grandmother
knowTruman?
- Do wildflowers
growin your back yard?
Forms of
doare useful in
expressing similarityand
differences in conjunction with
soand
neither.
- My wife hates
spinach and
so does my son.
- My wife doesn't like
spinach; neither do
I.
Doisalso helpful
because it means
you don't have to repeat
the verb:
- Larry
excelled in language
studies; so didhis brother.
- Raoul
studiesas hardas
his sister
does.
The so-called
emphatic
dohas many uses in
English.
- Toadd emphasis
toan entire sentence:
"He doeslike spinach. He really
does!"
- Toadd emphasis
toan imperative:
"Docome in." (actually
softens the command)
- Toadd emphasis
toa
frequencyadverb: "He never
didunderstand
his father." "Shealways
doesmanage
to hurt her mother's feelings."
- To contradicta
negative statement: "You didn't do your
homework, did you?" "Oh, but I didfinish
it."
- Toaska
clarifying
questionabouta
previous negative statement: "Ridwell didn't
take the tools." "Then who
didtake the tools?"
- To indicatea
strong concession: "Although the Clintons
deniedany wrong-doing, they
did return some of the gifts."
In theabsence of other
modalauxiliaries,a
form of dois
used in questionand
negative constructions
knownas the
get passive:
- DidRinaldo
get selected by the committee?
- Theaudience
didn't get riled up by the politician.
Based
on descriptions in Grammar
Dimensions: Form, Meaning,and
Use2nd Ed. by Jan
Frodesenand
Janet Eyring. Heinle &
Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples our
own. |
Uses of Have,
Has and
Had
Forms of the verb to haveare used to
create tenses
knownas the
present perfectand
past
perfect. The perfect tenses indicate
that something has
happened in the past;
the present perfect indicating that
something happenedand
might be continuing to happen, the past
perfect indicating that
something happened prior to something
else happening. (That
sounds worse than it reallyis!) See the section
on Verb Tenses in
theActive
Voicefor further explanation;also review
material
in the Directory of English
Tenses. To have
isalso in
combination with other
modal verbs to express
probabilityand
possibility in the past.
- Asanaffirmative statement, to
havecan
express how certain youare that
something happened (when combined
withanappropriate
modal +
have+a
past participle):
"Georgia must have
leftalready." "Clinton might
have knownabout the gifts."
"They may have
votedalready."
- Asa
negative statement,a
modalis
combined with not +
have+a
past participle to express how
certain youare that
something did not happen: "Clinton might not
have knownabout the gifts." "I
may not have
been thereat the time of the
crime."
- Toaskabout possibility or
probability in the past,a
modalis
combined with the subject +
have+
past participle: "Could Clinton
have knownabout the gifts?"
- For shortanswers,a
modalis
combined with have: "Did
Clinton knowabout
this?" "I don't know. He
may have." "The
evidenceis pretty positive. He
must have."
To have (sometimes
combined with to get)is
used to expressa
logical inference:
- It's been rainingall week; the
basement has
to be flooded by now.
- He hit
his
head on the doorway.
He has got to be over seven feet
tall!
Haveis
often combined withan infinitive to
formanauxiliary
whose meaningis
similar to
"must."
- I have
to havea
car like that!
- She has
to pay her own
tuitionat college.
- He has
to have been the first student to
try that.
Based
on theanalysis
in Grammar
Dimensions: Form, Meaning,and
Use2nd Ed. by Jan
Frodesenand
Janet Eyring. Heinle &
Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples our
own. |
ModalAuxiliaries
Other helping verbs, called
modalauxiliaries or
modals,
suchas
can, could, may,
might, must, ought to, shall, should,
will,and
would, do not change
form for different subjects. For instance, try
substitutingany of these
modalauxiliaries for
canwithany of the
subjects listed
below.
I you (singular) he we you
(plural) they |
can write
well. |
Thereisalsoa
separate
section on the ModalAuxiliaries,
which divides these verbs into their various meanings of
necessity,advice,ability,
expectation, permission, possibility,
etc.,and provides
sample sentences in
various tenses. See the
section on Conditional
Verb Formsfor help with the modalauxiliary
would. The shades of meaningamong modalauxiliariesare multifariousand
complex. Most English-as-a-Second-Language
textbooks will containat least
one chapter on their usage.
For moreadvanced students,
A University
Grammar of English,
by Randolph
Quirkand Sidney
Greenbaum, containsan excellent,
extensiveanalysis
of modalauxiliaries.Theanalysis
of ModalAuxiliariesis
based ona
similaranalysis
in The Scott,
Foresman Handbook for
Writersby Maxine Hairstonand
John J. Ruszkiewicz. 4th ed. HarperCollins: New York.
1996. The description of helping verbs on this
pageis
based on
The Little, Brown Handbookby
H. Ramsay
Fowlerand
Jane E.Aaron, & Kay
Limburg. 6th ed. HarperCollins: New York.
1995. By permission
ofAddison-Wesley
Educational Publishers Inc.
Examples inall casesare our
own.
Uses of Can and
Could
The modalauxiliary
canis
used
- to
expressability (in the sense
of beingable to do something
or knowing how to do something):
He can
speak Spanish
but he can't write it very well.
- to expression
permission (in the sense of
beingallowed or permitted
to do something):
Can I talk
to my friends in the library waiting room? (Note
that
canis
less formal than
may.Also, some writers
will object to the use of canin
this context.)
- to express
theoretical
possibility:
Americanautomobile
makers can
make better cars
if they think there'sa profit in
it.
The modalauxiliary
couldis
used
- to
expressanability in the
past:
I
couldalways
beat youat
tennis when we were kids.
- to express past or future
permission:
Could
I bury my cat in your back
yard?
- to express present
possibility:
We couldalways
spend theafternoon just
sittingaround talking.
- to express possibility
orability in contingent
circumstances:
If he
studied harder, he could pass this
course.
In expressingability,
can and
couldfrequentlyalso imply
willingness: Can you help me with my
homework? |
Can versus
May
Whether theauxiliary
verb cancan be used to express
permission or not —
"Can I leave
the room now?" ["I don't know if you can, but you may."] — depends on the level
of formality of your text or
situation.As Theodore Bernstein
puts it in The Careful
Writer,"a writer
whoisattentive to the
proprieties will preserve the traditional distinction:
canforability or power to do
something, mayfor
permission to do
it. The
questionisat what
level can you safely ignore the
"proprieties." Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary, tenth edition,
says the battleis
overand
can
can be used in
virtuallyany situation to express
orask for
permission.
Mostauthorities, however,
recommenda
stricteradherence to the
distinction,at least
in formal situations. Authority: The Careful Writer by Theodore
Bernstein. The Free Press: New York. 1998. p. 87.
|
Uses of May and
Might
Two of the more troublesome
modalauxiliariesare
may and
might. When used in the context of
granting or seeking
permission,
mightis the
past tense of
may.
Mightis
considerably more tentative than
may.
- May I
leave class
early?
- If I've
finishedall my
workand I'm
really quiet, might I
leave early?
In
the context of expressing possibility, may and
mightare
interchangeable
presentand future
formsand
might + have+
past participleis
the past form:
- She might be
myadvisor
next semester.
- She may
be myadvisor
next semester.
- She might haveadvised
me not to take biology.
Avoid confusing the sense of
possibility in maywith the
implication of
might,thata
hypothetical situation has
not in fact occurred. For
instance, let's say
there's beena helicopter
crashat
theairport. In
his
initial report,
beforeall the factsare gathered,a
newscaster could say
that the pilot
"mayhave
been injured."After we
discover that the
pilotis in
factall right, the
newscaster can
now say that
the pilot "mighthave been injured"
because
itisa
hypothetical situation that
has not
occurred.Another example:a
body had been
identifiedafter much work
bya detective. It
was reported that "without
this painstaking work, the body
mayhave
remained unidentified." Since
the body was, in fact,
identified, mightis
clearly called for.
|
Uses of Willand
Would
In certain
contexts, willand
wouldare virtually
interchangeable, but
thereare differences.
Notice that the contracted form
'llis very frequently
used for will. Willcan
be used to express willingness:
- I'll wash the dishes if you dry.
- We're going to the movies. Will
you join us?
It canalso express intention
(especially in the first
person):
- I'll do my
exercises later
on.
and
prediction:
- specific: The meeting will be
over soon.
- timeless: Humidity will
ruin my hairdo.
- habitual:
The river will overflow its banks every spring.
Wouldcanalso be used to
express willingness:
- Would you please
take off your hat?
It canalso express
insistence (rather rare,and
witha strong stress on the
word "would"):
- Now you've ruined everything.
You wouldact that
way.
and
characteristicactivity:
- customary:After work, he would
walk to
his home in West
Hartford.
- typical
(casual):
She would cause the whole family to be late,
every time.
Ina
main clause,
wouldcan expressa
hypothetical meaning:
- My cocker spaniel would
weigha ton if I let her
eat what
she wants.
Finally,
wouldcan expressa
sense of probability:
- I heara
whistle. That
would be the five o'clock train.
|
Uses of Used to
Theauxiliary
verb construction used tois
used to expressanaction that
took place in the past,
perhaps customarily, but now thataction no longer
customarily takes
place:
- We used to take
long vacation trips with the whole
family.
The spelling of
this
verbisa
problem for some people because
the "-ed" ending quite naturally disappears
in speaking: "We yoostoo
take long trips." But it
ought not to disappear
in writing. Thereare exceptions,
though. When theauxiliaryis
combined withanotherauxiliary,
did,the past
tenseis carried by the
newauxiliary and
the "-ed" endingis
dropped. This will often
happen in the
interrogative:
- Didn't you use to go jogging every morning
before breakfast?
- It didn't use to be that
way.
Used
tocanalso be used to convey
the sense of beingaccustomed to or
familiar
with something:
- The tire factory down the road
really stinks, but we're used
to it by now.
- I like these old sneakers; I'm used to them.
Used
tois best reserved for
colloquial usage;
it has no place
in formal oracademic
text. |
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