HELPING AND MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS

      Helping verbs or auxiliary verbs such as will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, ought to, should, would, used to, need are used in conjunction with main verbs to express shades of time and mood. The combination of helping verbs with main verbs creates what are called verb phrases or verb strings. In the following sentence, "will have been" are helping or auxiliary verbs and "studying" is the main verb; the whole verb string is underlined.

    There are a total of 27 helping verbs in the English Language and we can further break them down into 3 categories ie Primary, Modal and Semi-Modal:

Primary Helping Verbs (14 verbs)

• be, being, been, am, are, is, was, were (main)
• have, had, has (main)
• do, does, did (main)
• Notice that verbs in the above three families may also stand alone and be the main verb of a sentence. e.g. She is in the shop (there is no other verbs in this sentence except “is” so it can act as main verb as well).

Modal Helping Verbs (10 verb)

• should, could, would
• may, might, must
• will, can, shall
• ought to

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 e.g. I may eat later, You should get it repaired, They might not come. (notice that “may, should, might” in these sentence have altered the meaning of the main verbs “eat, repaired, come”.

Semi-modal Helping Verbs (3 verbs)

• need, dare, used to

These are often called “semi-modals” because they are partly like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:

Tips on Helping Verbs:

• not every sentence will have a helping verb with the main verb .
• there will always be a helping verb when you see a verb with “ing”
• sometimes a word will separate the helping verb from the main verb, like “not”
• Some sentences have 3 helping verbs to the main verb .
   

Helping Verb Examples

We will now see the examples of helping verbs, which are an important part of the parts of speech of English grammar.

Examples of Primary Helping Verbs

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Are you sick and tired of headaches?"

"Do study for your exams."

Examples of Modal Helping Verbs

"If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen." ~ Ronald Reagan

"Shall I call a doctor for you?"

"Do wildflowers grow in your back yard?"

"You and me could spend the afternoon just sitting around talking."

"She might be my adviser next semester."

     Before I end this write up on helping verbs, we will just sum it up. There are two types of helping verbs. The primary verbs can stand alone in the sentence, but the modal verbs do require another verb. Most of the times the main verb and the helping verb stand next to one another. However, in case of a question, they may be separated. They can also be separated if it is a negative sentence. A sentence can have more than 1 helping verb. There can be as many as three helping verbs in a single sentence

Abbreviated Forms Exercise: Complete the sentences with an appropriate form of do, be orhave. If more than one answer is possible, give them both.

1. I started collecting stamps when I was seven years old, and I still __________ .

2. The chemical itself isn’t harmful, but it can be converted to a form which __________.

3. I haven’t got any ideas at the moment, but when I __________, I’ll let you know.

4. I always hope that she’ll remember my birthday, but she never __________.

5. She had nothing to say. No one at the meeting __________.

6. I didn’t report Liam to the police, but I’m not prepared to say who __________.

7. I thought Kate had the keys, but she says she __________ .

8. She decided that before she went to university she would spend a year travelling

through Asia, just as her brother __________ .

9. “We’re late.” He looked at his watch. “You’re right. We __________.”

10. “Will you make some coffee?” “I already __________.”

Abbreviated Forms Exercise: Complete the sentences with should, will or would as

appropriate. If necessary, write be after the modal, or (be) if it sis possible either to include itor to leave it out.

1. I haven’t yet managed to beat Richard at squash, and I don’t suppose I ever

__________.

2. Ken was waiting to leave when I got there, as I thought he __________.

3. I practised quite often, although not as often as I __________.

4. If he is elected, and I sincerely hope he __________, he will have to move to Brussels.

5. “Don and Helen are very happy with their new flat.” “They __________ ; it’s a beautiful

place to live.”

6. “Will you be going shopping today?” “I __________ later.”

7. She was very pleased to get the necklace back. I knew she __________.

8. If Trencham’s won’t do the work, it is hard to think of another company that

__________.
Reference

   ·       www.englishclub.com/.../verbs-what_classification-.htm

·       www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/verb/1help.htm

     ·       www.examples-help.org.uk/parts-of.../helping-verbs.htm