Auxiliary Verbs
The word auxiliary means ‘a helper’ and so auxiliary verbs are verbs that help other verbs to accomplish their task. The main auxiliary verbs are to be, to have, to do.
Would the sentences above be correct in Standard English without the auxiliary verbs? Let’s see:
I assisting her
He pass his examination
You want some food?
These are in correct Creole, for in Creole we often omit the auxiliary verb. However, they are incorrect in English. In English we must use the Auxiliary Verb, in the following manner:
I am assisting her
He has passed his examination
Do you want some food?
Modal Auxiliaries
There are other auxiliary verbs which are called modal auxiliaries. These are pieces of verbs, like can, could, will, would, may, must, would, ought to and used to. They are used along with main verbs in sentences such as these:
You may leave now,
You can see the stars from here,
They must work much harder,
She ought to win that race,
The student is used to doing exams,
Will you go with me?
Important Rule: In the case of full auxiliary verbs, the auxiliary verb changes while the verb it is helping does not. For instance:
I am assisting her,
you are assisting her,
he is assisting her,
in the past the medication was assisting her,
her friends were assisting her,
I have calculated the amount I need
She has calculated the amount she needs
I do want that suit,
does he eat salt fish?
The modal auxiliaries, however, do not change, except that ‘would’ is the past tense of the (FutureTense) ‘will’, and ‘could’ the past tense of the (Present Tense) ‘can’:
I must go
He must go
We must go
They ought to pass
She ought to pass
The teenagers will enjoy tonight’s party
He would not go to see his mother last night
The house can withstand any hurricanes which may strike this year.
That house fell down because it could not withstand hurricane Ivan.
Exercise: Write out the following sentences filling in an appropriate auxilliary verb or modal auxilliary word before the main verb:
1)I ___ rejoicing today
2)I am so happy that I ______made a new friend
3)My friend _____ playing chess at ths moment
4)He ______not smoke cigarrettes, but in the past he ______drink alcohol.
5)Asafa, the greatest sprinter in today’s world, ______won another trophy.
6)We ______watched Asafa on Television many times.
For further information about how Auxiliary Verbs are used, see the modules on the Progressive Tenses and the Perfect Tenses.
END