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Auxiliary verbs play a crucial role in the English language. They help form the mood, tense, and voice of other verbs in a sentence. Common examples include “be,” “have,” and “do.” These verbs are essential for creating grammatically correct sentences.
In this reference, you’ll explore the definition and examples of auxiliary verbs. You’ll also find a list of auxiliary verbs and an informative infographic that can enhance your grammar skills.
Auxiliary Verbs
What Is an Auxiliary Verb?
An auxiliary verb (or a helping verb) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it appears. It helps express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, and more. An auxiliary verb supports another verb by adding important grammatical information.
Auxiliary Verbs Examples
Certain auxiliaries have contracted forms, like ‘d for had/would and ‘ll for will/shall.
- Forms of the verb do (do, does, did)
- Forms of the verb have
- Forms of the verb will
Auxiliary Verbs List
DO
Forms of the verb do (do, does, did) help form questions, negation, and emphasis.
Examples:
- Simple Present Tense: He does not play volleyball.
- Simple Past Tense: He did not play volleyball.
- Simple Present Tense: Does he play volleyball?
- Simple Past Tense: Did he play volleyball?
HAVE
Forms of the verb have show perfect aspect or passive voice.
Examples:
- Present Perfect Simple: He has played volleyball.
- Past Perfect Simple: He had played volleyball.
- Present Perfect Progressive: He has been playing volleyball.
- Past Perfect Progressive: He had been playing volleyball.
- Passive Voice: The house has/had been built.
TO BE
Used for compound tenses, progressive aspect, and passive voice. Note that “be” is an irregular verb.
Examples:
- They are teachers.
- This was a very interesting experience to them.
- Present Progressive: He is watching TV.
- Past Progressive: He was watching TV.
- Present Perfect Progressive: He has been watching TV.
- Past Perfect Progressive: He had been watching TV.
- Passive Voice: A letter will be written.
WILL
Forms of the verb will are used to form future tenses.
Examples:
- He will not play volleyball.
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