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You may have heard of helping verbs, which are also referred to as modal and auxiliary verbs. In this discussion, we'll review what a helping verb is and how it works with another verb.
What Is a Helping Verb?
A helping verb is a verb that combines with a main verb to form a verb phrase. Sometimes it is also called a verb marker, because it indicates that a verb is to follow.
In a sentence with one main verb in the simple present tense, it's typically easy to identify the verb by looking for the action word. For example:
Walks is the action being performed by Jim, so that's the main verb. But what if we want to express a different time (tense) of Jim's activity? We need another verb to provide that information. In our example with Jim, let's tell the reader more about his action by placing it in the present progressive tense to convey that he's doing it right now:
You see we now have two verbs. The main verb is walking. The word is has been added to "help" further describe the main verb. In this case, the helping verb (is) tells of the tense of the action (present progressive). Together, the helping verb and the main verb add clarity and context. If we say only Jim walks, that action can apply to any place and any time. By saying Jim is walking, we know his action is happening in this moment.
With that in mind, let's change our helping verb for what we want the main verb to communicate. We'll use a Type 1 conditional sentence with a possible condition and a probable result:
| If he sees an ice cream truck at the end of the street, Jim will walk quickly. |
The main verb is still walk, but our helping verb is now will to let the reader know the time of the action is in the future.
Three Common Helping Verbs
Once you understand the principle of helping verbs, finding and using them gets much easier. You can also begin to recognize many of their common forms, which can change depending on whether they are indicating a past, present, or future action. They can be singular or plural as well.
Here are some helping-verb varieties you probably use every day:
To be: is, am, are, was, were, will be
To have: have, has, had, will have
To do: do, does, did, will do |
Examples
We were shopping at the mall yesterday.
Joan had been unaware of that until you informed her.
Chris will do what is required to make the delivery on time. |
Let's look at a few more examples:
The dog was eating the food in the bowl.
Janine has visited her mother.
If you're wondering, Robert did rehearse for several weeks before opening night. |
Other helping verbs you might see paired with main verbs include would, should, could, shall, may, might, and can.
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