What is a verb?
A verb is an action. Verbs include words such as “go”, “do”, “eat”, “drink”. They tell us what actions we do.
Now let us look at these two sentences to understand what a helping verb is and what a main verb is.
‘Do you…?’
“Do you…?”. Do you, what?
The sentence by itself has no meaning. ‘Do’ here however is a verb. Now let’s look at this sentence.
“… you drive?”
This sentence is not correct either. The grammar is wrong. However it does have some meaning. We know the sentence is about whether you can drive or not. It is more useful than the first sentence and has some meaning.
The correct form of this sentence would be: ‘Do you drive?’
‘Drive’ is a verb.
‘Do’ is a verb.
Which of these is more important?
Drive, because ‘Do you…?’ by itself has no real meaning and we don’t learn anything.
‘Drive’ is the more important verb and is called ‘the main verb’.
‘Do’ is only there to help the main verb and is called an ‘auxiliary verb’.
The three auxiliary verbs are:
- BE
- DO
- HAVE
Each of this has words derived from them or different forms. So ‘BE’ can be in a sentence as ‘was’, ‘were’ or ‘am’, ‘is’, ‘are’ or also ‘been’ or ‘being’.
So for example.
- I was in the shop.
- You were in the shop.
- I am in the shop now.
- You are in the shop now.
- He is in the shop now.
- He has been in the shop.
- Being in the shop all day is boring.
All of these words in bold are different forms of the original auxiliary verb, ‘BE’.
The same with ‘DO’. The different forms of ‘DO’ are ‘did’, ‘done’, ‘do’ and does’.
Examples:
- I did the homework yesterday.
- I have done the homework.
- I do homework every day.
- He does his homework every day.
‘HAVE’ – The different forms of have are ‘had’, ‘have’ and ‘has’.
Examples:
- I had a dictionary yesterday.
- I have a dictionary.
- He has a dictionary.
In addition to the auxiliary verbs there are the ‘modal auxiliary verbs’ which are:
- can
- could
- might
- may
- will
- would
- shall
- should
- must
- ought to
Unlike the ‘auxiliary verbs’ (be, do and have) the modal auxiliary verbs which are usually just called ‘modal verbs’ do not change and stay the same.
Here are examples for each of these modal verbs, with the main verbs in bold..
- I can help you.
- I could see him in the park yesterday.
- I might go tomorrow, I’m not sure.
- I may come with you, I will let you know later.
- I will speak to the teacher this afternoon.
- Would you open the window please?
- I think you should do more homework.
- I must speak to my manager.
- I think you ought to eat more fruits.
1. CAN
‘Can’ can be used for ability or requests or even probability.
Ability: ‘I can speak English’.
Requests: ‘Can you open the window please.’
Probability: ‘It can be expensive sometimes,’
(This is for general cases and not for specific situations, where we usually use ‘could’ e.g. ‘That bag you want to buy could be quite expensive!’
2. COULD
‘Could’ can be used for ability or requests or probability.
Ability: ‘I could help you if want me to.’
Ability for the past: ‘I could swim well when I was younger, not any more though.’
Requests: ‘Could you close the door please.’
Probability: ‘It could be David at the door, not sure.’
Probability in the past: ‘Peter could have taken the book, he was here yesterday.’
Could for probability in the past has the structure of: could + have + past participle. This is the case for all
modal verbs used for probability in the past.
‘She could have eaten the cake, she is quite greedy sometimes.’
‘He could have written this notice, I don’t think anyone else would.’
Modals in general in the past always use the ‘modal verb’ + have + past participle
3. MAY
‘May’ is used for probability and permission.
Probability: ‘He may come, I don’t know.
Probability in the past: “Susana may have spoken to him.’
Permission: ‘May I have a look at your book please?’
4. MIGHT
‘Might’ is used for probability.
‘He might come tonight.’
5. MUST
‘Must’ is used for obligation or probability (deduction) when you are sure of something.
Examples.
Obligation: You must do your homework!
Probability: ‘ David must be the manager, he is the only one in a suit!’
Probability for the past: ‘Karen must have helped him with the homework, it’s very good!’
6. SHOULD
‘Should’ is used for recommendation.
Examples.
‘You should exercise more, it’s good for your health’.
For the past.
‘You should have come to the dinner last night, the food was great!’
7. OUGHT TO
‘Ought to’ is also used for a recommendation, but can be slightly old-fashioned at times. It has an implication of a moral obligation.
Examples.
‘You ought to be more careful when driving.’
For the past.
‘You ought to have helped him with his work.’
Modals in the past always use the ‘modal verb’ + have + past participle as mentioned above.
8. WILL
‘Will’ is used for the future and also capability.
Examples
Future: ‘I will come tonight.’
capability: ‘This room will host 50 people.’
9. WOULD
‘Would’ is used to show a desire, request, an action done regularly in the past, or in the conditional.
Examples
Desire: ‘I would like a coffee please, not a tea.’
Request: ‘Would you help me carry this chair upstairs?’
Action done regularly in the past: ‘When we were young we would play with our toys every day.’
*Sometimes ‘would’ in these types of sentences is similar to ‘used to’.
Conditional: ‘If I were you, I would speak to him again.’
10. SHALL
‘Shall’ in modern English is generally slightly-old fashioned if used for the future but it is used more for suggestions. It is also used for rules.
Examples
Suggestion: ‘Shall we go to the cinema tonight?’
Future: ‘I shall help him with his shopping’ (sounds slightly overly formal).
Rule: ‘As part of this contract, the restaurant shall provide the school with lunch meals every day.’
