auxiliary verbs

The need for auxiliary verbs

In English sentences, a lot ofimportant meanings areexpressed by the verb phrase –for example questioning, negation, time, completion, continuation, repetition, willingness, possibility, obligation. But English verbs donot have many different forms: the maximum (except for be) isfive (e.g. see, sees, seeing, saw, seen). So to express all thesemeanings, ‘auxiliary’ (or‘helping’) verbs are added toother verbs. There are twogroups.

be, do and have

Be is added to other verbs tomake progressive and passiveforms.

Is it raining?
She was imprisoned for threeyears.

Do is used to make questions, negatives and emphatic forms ofnon-auxiliary verbs.

Do you smoke?
It didn’t matter.
Do come in.

Have is used to make perfectforms.

What have you done?
I realised that I hadn’t turnedthe lights off.

See the Index for details ofentries on these forms and theiruses, and on non-auxiliary usesof be, do and have.

modal auxiliary verbs

The verbs will, shall, would, should, can, could, may, might, must and ought are usuallycalled ‘modal auxiliary verbs’. They are used with other verbsto add various meanings, mostlyto do with certainty orobligation.

She may be on holiday.
You must write to Uncle Arthur.

For details and theentries for each verb.

other verb + verb structures

Other verbs (e.g. seem) whichare used in verb + verbstructures are not usually called‘auxiliary verbs’. One importantdifference is grammatical. Inauxiliary verb structures, questions and negatives aremade without do; in other verb+ verb structures the auxiliarydo has to be added to the firstverb. Compare:–She ought to understand.Ought she to understand?–She seems to understand.Does she seem to understand?–He is swimming.He is not swimming–He likes swimming.He doesn’t like swimming.
 ellipsis (5): after auxiliary verbs

auxiliary instead of completeverb phrase

We can avoid repetition by usingan auxiliary verb instead of acomplete verb phrase, if themeaning is clear. The auxiliaryverb usually has a ‘strong’ pronunciation , andcontractions are notnormally used except innegatives.

Get up. ~ I am /æm/. (= I amgetting up.)
He said he’d write, but hehasn’t. (= … hasn’t written.)
I’ll come and see you when Ican. (= … can come and see you.)
Shall I tell him what I think? ~ Iwouldn’t if I were you.

Do can be used before ellipsis ifthere is no other auxiliary torepeat.

I may come to London. I’ll phoneyou if I do.
He said he would arrive beforeseven, and he did.

Other words, as well as the restof the verb phrase, can be leftout after the auxiliary.

I can’t see you today, but I cantomorrow. (= … I can see you…)

I’ve forgotten the address. ~ Ihave too.

You’re not trying very hard. ~ Iam.

You wouldn’t have won if Ihadn’t helped you. ~ Yes, Iwould.

This also happens after non-auxiliary be and have.

I’m tired. ~ I am too.

Who’s the driver? ~ I am.

Who has a dictionary? ~ I have.

short answers etc: Yes, I have.

Ellipsis is used regularly in shortanswers , replyquestions andquestion tags .

Have you finished? ~ Yes, Ihave.

I can whistle through my fingers.~ Can you, dear?

You don’t want to buy a car, doyou?

so am I etc

Ellipsis also happens after so , neither and nor . Note the word order.

I’ve forgotten the address. ~ Sohave I.

She doesn’t like olives, andneither do I.

ellipsis before complete form

Ellipsis normally happens whenan expression is used for asecond time, after the completeform has already been usedonce (see above examples). However, it can sometimeshappen the other way round. This is common in sentencesbeginning with if.

If you can, send me a postcardwhen you arrive.
If you could, I’d like you to helpme this evening.
If you prefer, we can gotomorrow instead.

more than one auxiliary

When there is more than oneauxiliary, ellipsis usuallyhappens after the first.

You wouldn’t have enjoyed thefilm. ~ Yes, I would. (= … I wouldhave enjoyed the film.)

However, more auxiliaries canbe included. The first is stressed.

Could you have been dreaming?~ I suppose I could / COULD have/ COULD have been.

We often include a secondauxiliary verb if it has notappeared before in the sameform.

I think Mary should be told. ~She has been. (More naturalthan … She has.)

And we normally include asecond auxiliary verb after achange of modal auxiliary.

Mary should be told. ~ She mustbe. (More natural than … Shemust.)
emphasis

emotive and contrasting emphasis

We often emphasise(‘strengthen’) a particular wordor expression. There are twomain reasons for this. We maywish to show that we feelstrongly about what we aresaying (‘emotive emphasis’).

You do look nice today!
Your hair looks so good like that.

Or we may wish to show acontrast between, for example, true and false, or present andpast, or a rule and an exception(‘contrastive emphasis’).

Why weren’t you at themeeting? ~ I was at themeeting.

I don’t do much sport now, but Idid play football when I wasyounger.
I don’t see my family much, but Ido visit my mother occasionally.

We can also use emphasis toshow that something expectedactually happened.

I thought I’d pass the exam, andI did pass.

pronunciation: stress

In speech, we can give wordsextra stress – make them sound‘stronger’ – by pronouncingthem louder and with a higherintonation . We mayalso make the vowel longer, andpause before a stressed word. Stress is reflected in printing byusing italics or bold type, and inwriting by using CAPITAL LETTERSor by underlining.

This is the last opportunity.
He lived in France, not Spain.
Mary, I’m IN LOVE! Please don’ttell anybody!

Changes in stress can affect themeaning of a sentence. Compare:

Jane phoned me yesterday. (Notsomebody else.)
Jane phoned me yesterday. (Shedidn’t come to see me.)
Jane phoned me yesterday. (Shedidn’t phone you.)
Jane phoned me yesterday. (Nottoday.)

We often stress auxiliary verbs. This can make the wholesentence sound more emphatic, or can emphasise a contrast . Most auxiliaryverbs change theirpronunciation when they arestressed  .

You have grown!
I am telling the truth – you mustbelieve me!

In emphatic sentences withoutauxiliary verbs we add do tocarry stress.

Do sit down.
She does like you.
If he does decide to come, letme know, will you?

With stressed auxiliary verbs, word order can change  . Compare:

You have certainly grown.
You certainly have grown!

vocabulary: special words

Words such as so, such, reallyand just can show emphasis.

Thank you so much. It was sucha lovely party. I really enjoyed it.
I just LOVE the way she talks. (Note: love is stressed, not just.)

Swearwords  are oftenused for emphasis in an informalstyle.

That’s a bloody good idea.

Question words can beemphasised by adding ever , on earth or the hell (veryinformal).

Why ever did he marry her?
What on earth is she doing here?
Where the hell have you been?

structures

If we can move words to anunusual position, this usuallygives them more importance. Words are often ‘fronted’ for thisreason .

That film – what did you think ofit?
Asleep, then, were you?
I knew he was going to causetrouble, and cause trouble hedid!

‘Cleft’ structures with it, whatetc can be used to focus onparticular parts of a sentenceand give them extra importance .

It was John who paid for thedrinks.
What I need is a good rest.

Do can be used to emphasise anaffirmative verb (see above).

She does seem to be trying.
Do come in.

Myself, yourself etc can be usedto emphasise nouns .

I got a letter from the ManagingDirector himself.

Indeed can be used toemphasise very with anadjective or adverb .

I was very surprised indeed.

Very can emphasisesuperlatives, next, last, first andsame .

I’d like a bottle of your very bestwine.
The letter arrived on the verynext day.
We were born in the very samestreet in the very same year.

Repetition can be used foremphasis .

She looks much, much olderthan she used to.



substitution with do

In British English, a main verbthat is left out after an auxiliarycan be replaced by do. For details  .

Do you think he’ll phone? ~ Hemight do. (AmE … He might.)