Understanding & Recognising
helping & main verbs in sentences
I.
What are helping verbs & Main
verbs?
When the verb phrase contains more than one verb, the first one is always a helping verb. See the following
sentences.
1.
I
do not like to watch movies.
2.
They
are playing a friendly match.
3.
Work
is being done by him.
4.
He
has been waiting for me for two hours.
In the above sentences, the verb phrases are:
do not like to watch
are playing
is being done
has been waiting
So, the
helping verbs are: do, are, is, has
All helping
verbs are the FINITE FORM of the
verb
List of HELPING OR AUXILIARY VERBS
A.
(i)
Be-type Verbs:
Present Form: is/am/are
Past Form: was/were
(ii)
Have-type Verbs:
Present Form: has/have
Past Form: had
(iii)
Do-type Verbs:
Present Form: do/does
Past Form: did
B.
Modal Auxiliary Verbs:
Can, could, may, might,
will, shall, would, should, ought (to), must, used (to), dare, need,
II.
What is the function of helping verbs?
They tell us
about the ‘tense’ of the sentence.
Bu modal verbs/modal auxiliary verbs show the
likelihood, ability, permission and obligation, necessity, lack of necessity,
etc.
III.
What is the Main Verb?
The main
verb is the non-finite form of the verb in a sentence.
It tells us
about the action being done by the subject.
See the following sentences again.
1.
I
do not like to watch movies.
2.
They
are playing a friendly match.
3.
Work
is being done by him.
4.
He
has been waiting for me for two hours
In the above sentences, the
non-finite form of the verb is:
like, playing, being done, been playing
Exercise 1.
Underline the auxiliary/ modal
auxiliary verbs in the following sentences.
1.
We
are all working together to flourish this institution.
2.
They
call him Ronie.
3.
Have
you not phoned to your father yet?
4.
What
are you doing here?
5.
Who
is knocking at the door?
6.
May
I have your pen, please?
7.
You
should do hard work if you want to succeed with high score of marks.
8.
Difficult
work always attracts me.
9.
She
has been doing this job for the last four months.
10.
Slow
and steady wins the race.
Exercise 2.
Underline the auxiliary/modal
auxiliary verbs in the following sentences.
1.
Rohit
does not obey his elders.
2.
Would
you like to have a cup of tea?
3.
My
way of life is different from that of yours.
4.
She does her every work in a systematic way.
5.
The
storm came before time.
6.
Julie
had not applied for the posts published in the newspapers.
7.
The
boy who is sitting on the chair in the lawn is my cousin.
8.
Those
who live in glass houses should not throw stone at others.
9.
Hard
work never goes waste.
10.
I
had already eaten my food when you reached home.
Read the following facts about
sentences.
1.
Some
sentences show ‘action.’
2.
Some
sentences show ‘possession.’
3.
Some
sentences show (i) state on mind (ii) relationship with others (iii) negative
& positive points about any person, place, thing or idea (iv) occupations
a.
The first category of sentences may
take both helping verbs or the main verb
(i)
He
goes to school daily.
(ii)
He
does not go to school daily.
(iii)
She
went to Chandigarh yesterday.
(iv)
I am (helping
verb) doing (main verb)
my work. Do (helping
verb) not disturb (main verb) me.
b.
The second category shows possession
by the following verbs.
Has, have & had
Here these verbs are not helping verbs because they come in the sentences
without any non-finite form of the verb. This is the reason why they are called
PRIMARY VERBS.
1.
I
have a big house to live in.
2.
She
has a car and an active.
3.
They have many trees in their
fields.
4.
We have three bed-room set in our
house.
5.
His
father had an old car, but
now he has sold it.
In the above sentences, the
underlined verbs are verbs showing possession.
c.
In the third category, the following verbs
come alone and they are also called PRIMARY VERBS.
Is, am, are, was ,were
(i)
Showing state of mind
o
I
am very happy today.
o
She is very depressed.
(ii)
Showing relationship with others
·
She
is my cousin.
·
He
is my brother.
(iii)
negative & positive points about
any person, place, thing or idea
·
He
is very intelligent.
·
This
idea is useless.
·
Your
brother is very stubborn.
·
He
was a very mean fellow.
·
She is very rash in taking
decisions.
(iv)
Showing occupations
·
His
father is a businessman.
·
My
mother is a teacher.
·
His
grandfather was an engineer.
