Auxiliary verbs

AUXILIARY VERBS
 
An auxiliary is a helping verb. It is a verb which is used with another verb to help make tenses other than simple present and simple past.
There are two major divisions of  auxiliaries, they are
1 Plain auxiliaries and
2 Modal auxiliaries
 
Plain Auxiliary  
These auxiliaries are also known as helping words. They merely help to express statements of facts.
There are 11 primary Auxiliaries, they are
 
1 Be form        : Am, Is, Are, Was and Were
2 Do form        : Do, Does and Did
3 Have form    : Have, Has and Had
 
Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, add functional or grammatical meaning to the clauses in which they appear. They perform their functions in several different ways:
•By expressing tense ( providing a time reference, i.e. past, present, or future)
•Grammatical aspect (expresses how verb relates to the flow of time)
•Modality (quantifies verbs)
•Voice (describes the relationship between the action expressed by the verb and the participants identified by the verb’s subject, object, etc.)
•Adds emphasis to a sentence
 
A main verb, also known as a base verb, indicates the kind of action or condition taking place. An auxiliary or helping verb accompanies the main verb and conveys other nuances that help the reader gain specific insight into the event that is taking place.
 
Read the following sentences and explanations to gain greater insight into how auxiliary verbs work.
1.John caught his thumb in the  door as the juice spilled from his cup onto his shirt.
2.John is always spilling things.
3.Since John is also accident prone, he should have been drinking the juice from a mug with a lid, which would not have spilled on his shirt.
 
In sentence one, caught and spilled, single-word verbs, describe quick, one-time actions of both John and his messy juice. This sentence does not contain an auxiliary verb.
 
in sentence two, Since John often has unfortunate accidents, is spilling communicates the frequency of his clumsy actions.
 
In sentence three, the auxiliary verbs that make up should have been drinking and would have stained express time relationships as well as an evaluation of John’s actions.
 
Let us learn the useages of three forms of auxiliaries in detail.
 
BE FORM:
 “Be” or “to be” is an important verb that has a multitude of uses in English. It can be used as an action verb that stands alone in all its tenses including be, to be, been, am, are, is, was, were, wasn’t, was not aren’t, are not, weren’t and were not.
 
When used as an auxiliary verb, be is always paired with another verb to create a complete verb phrase. It can be singular or plural, present or past. Negative sentences are formed by adding the word “not”.
•He is messy.  Is = action verb
•Although he is always complaining about his accidents, Ravi fails to pay attention.  is = auxiliary verb
•Raja is going to be doing extra laundry for the rest of his life.  to be = auxiliary verb
 
DO FORM:
 “Do” can be used as an action verb that stands alone in all its tenses, including to do, do, does, done, did and didn’t, doesn’t or did not .
 
When used as an auxiliary verb, do is always paired up with another verb to create a complete verb phrase. In some cases, it is used to add emphasis: “I did put the garbage out!” Do is often used to form questions and negated clauses. It is also used in elliptical sentences, where the main verb is understood and is omitted as a result. For example: “He plays piano well, doesn’t he?” or “They all had dinner, but I didn’t.”
•Because he spills things so often, Ravi does more laundry than most people.  Does = action verb
•Ram didn’t put his coffee in a cup with a lid.  Didn’t = auxiliary verb
•Raja doesn’t always spill things, but it happens a lot.  Doesn’t = auxiliary verb
 
HAVE FORM:
 “Have” is a very important verb that can stand alone in all its tenses, including has, have, having, had, and hadn’t or had not. It is usually used to denote ownership, and it can also be used to discuss ability or describe appearance. “Have” is also a very popular substitute for the verbs “eat” and “drink.” For example: “Let’s have dinner.”
 
When used as an auxiliary verb, have is always teamed up with another verb to create a complete verb phrase, making it easy to differentiate between uses. You can see the difference in the sentences below:
•Ravi has a large coffee stain on his shirt. → Has = action verb
•Ram has bought a new shirt to replace the one that was ruined earlier. → Has = auxiliary verb; bought is a past participle that competes the verb phrase.