Auxiliary verbs

BE

‘To be’ means to exist. ‘Be’ can be used in many ways.

·    To form continuous tenses – present, past, future – be takes the form of am, is, are, was, were, will be –

o   I am going to the park.

o   This machine is not working.

o   We were waiting for your call.

o   She will be moving to Nevada next month

Note that in all the sentences, the main verb is the action verb – going, working, waiting, moving. The forms of ‘be’ give the support to indicate correct tense.

·    To introduce a person

o   Moni is a doctor.

o   They are famous players.

o   Tom was an IT professional before he became a teacher.

The present participle of be is being and the past participle is been. These are used as following -

·    Perfect tenses

o   I have been trying to reach her since morning.

·    Main verb (been)

o   I had been away for over 6 months.

o   Looks like someone had been here, when we were away.

·    Passive voice

o   She was being taken to the hospital in a car.

·    Here are some more examples of usage of ‘be’

o   For the time being, let’s only focus on one aspect.

o   It has to be done in a different way.

o   Human beings are very selfish, that’s why they are cutting down trees to build more enterprises.

HAVE

Have means to own something. For example, I have a washing machine means I own one. The past tense of has/have is had. Have is also commonly used as a replacement for eat or drink. For example, I have had my dinner in place of I have eaten my dinner.

‘Have’ as an auxiliary verb supports the main verb and indicates the tense and voice of the sentence.

·    I have taken all the documents from them.

·   We had gone to the bank today.

·   Tom could have come here for group study.

In all the above examples, have/had/has is used as an auxiliary verb. Remember whenever have/has/had is seen with another action verb, this means have is an auxiliary verb in that sentence.

‘Have/has/had to’ indicates obligation. He has to take a train to come here.

DO

Do, when used as an auxiliary
verb, is accompanied a main action verb. Do can be used to

·    Add emphasis to a statement. For example, I do have some cookies.

·   Form negatives and interrogatives – He did not (didn’t) complete the assignment. Did he not (Didn’t he) complete the assignment?

·   To avoid repetition – Do you know him? Yes, I do (in place of saying yes, I know him.

More examples –

·    Do you have a pen? – note that here the main verb is ‘have’ (which means to own) and the auxiliary verb is do.

·    I don’t like her attitude. – Like is the main verb.

·    Sam is doing his homework. (Note that in this sentence, ‘do’ is the main action verb and ‘be’ in the form of ‘is’ depicts the helping verb.)

·    I have done all the exercises. – here ‘have’ is the auxiliary verb and ‘done’ is the main verb.

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