What is Primary Auxiliary verb? How it works in different ways?# Primary Auxiliary Verb Examples

 

What is Auxiliary verb?

An auxiliary verb is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it takes place so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a participle which respectively provide the main semantic content of the clause.

Auxiliary verbs are sometimes called a Helping Verbs. This is because they may be said to help the main verb which comes after them.

For Example;

The man is sleeping.

 In the given sentence auxiliary verb –‘is’; which helps the main verb “sleeping”

 

Auxiliary verbs in several different ways:

Indeed 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.

I. By expressing tense—it provides a time reference that is past, present, future.

II. Grammatical aspect which expresses how verb relates to the flow of time.

III. Modality means quantifies verbs

IV. Voice which describes the relationship between the action expressed by the verb and the participants identified by the verb’s subject, object etc.

 

 Primary Auxiliary Verb/Main Auxiliary verb

The main auxiliary verbs are to be, to have and to do. They come into view in the following forms.

 Following are Primary Auxiliary Verb Examples

1. To be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been, will be.

i. used in progressive sentences.

1. I am watching cartoon.

2. She is making kite for her project.

3. They have been playing all the day.

ii. Used in passive sentences

1. The bell was rung by the peon.

2. Actor was seen by fans at the airport.

3. The mouse was killed by the cat.

 

2. To have: has, have, had, having, will have.

i. Used in a prefect tense

1. I have done my task.

2. They have left the house.

3. We have learnt many new things.

 

3. To do: does, do, did, will do, does.

i. Used in negative sentences:

1. I do not know him

2. She does not tell me.

3. They did not go to the park yet.

II. Used in question:- This is also known as ‘Dummy DO’

This subclass contains only the verb ‘DO’ it is used to form questions:

1. Do you want coffee?

2. Didn’t he know how to play football?

3. Do we need to come with you?

 

  Coming to the next point, another kind of auxiliary verb called modal auxiliary verb or modal verb. The modal auxiliary verb are can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will and would. And truly, these modal auxiliary verbs never change their forms.

How to identify an auxiliary verb?

You almost certainly know that every sentence has at least one verb in it. There are main two types of verb. One is main action verb and another is linking verb. Both action verbs and linking verbs can accompany auxiliary verbs including the three main ones: do, be and have.

 Furthermore, to know more about verbs just click in the following link to clarify your doubts.

 Every now and then actions or conditions occur only one time and then they are over. Likewise some linking verbs stand alone and not functioning as an auxiliary verb.

Now look at the following sentence to clarify this:

Sammy jumped from the window and now he is injured badly.

In the above sentence ‘is’ is a linking verb. Because it stands alone, it is not an auxiliary verb.

 At other times, an action or conditions is ongoing, happening unsurprisingly or occurring in relationship to another event or set of events. In such cases single-word verbs like ‘is’ not accurately capable of describing what happened, so phrases that include auxiliary verbs are used instead. These can be made up of anywhere from two to four words.

A main verb, also known as a base verb, shows the kind of action or condition taking place. An auxiliary or helping verb accompanies the main verb and conveys other shades that help the person who reads gain particular insight into the event that is taking place.

However, a significant difference between auxiliary verbs and main verbs is that auxiliary never occur alone.

For instance, we cannot remove the main verb from a sentence, leaving only the auxiliary.

Study the following examples:

1. I would like a new house.

In the above sentence we cannot remove main verb ‘like’. Whereas if we remove ‘like’ the sentence will be meaningless.–“I would a new house”

Though, Auxiliaries always occur with a main verb. On the other hand, main verbs can occur without auxiliary. Observe the following sentence

1. I like my new shoes.

2. She sings like a bird.

Both above sentences only main verb present.

In some sentences, you can see an auxiliary does occur alone. Specially, this happens in case of responses of questions. Just look at the following examples;

1. Can you dance?

Ans: Yes I can.

Here the auxiliary can does not really occur without main verb, since the main verb- sing. ‘Is’ in the question. The response is understood to mean.

 

Hope this above information will surely help you while studying about Auxiliary verbs. If you want to learn extra secrets regarding English grammar, just follow my blog and comment in comment box to encourage me for more illustrations concerning Education.