HELPING VERBS

(Aka auxiliary verbs)

You already know…

Every complete sentence contains a

verb.

AND We usually think of a verb as being one word:

run

work thought

eating

try

For example: The dogs eat biscuits.

EAT is the verb

My friend works at the mall. What’s the verb?

BUT, did you know…? Sometimes a verb is made up of more

than one word. Sometimes a MAIN verb needs a

HELPING verb (aka auxiliary verb).

A HELPING VERB helps the main verb

Here’s the point:The main verb expresses the action or being of the sentence.

A helping verb gives more information about the verb.

My dogs eat biscuits.

My dogs can eat biscuits. My dogs do eat biscuits. My dogs must eat biscuits. My dogs will eat biscuits. My dogs did eat biscuits. My dogs may eat biscuits. My dogs don’t eat biscuits. My dogs can’t eat biscuits.

The MAIN VERB IS _______

The HELPING VERBS are:

What does each HELPING VERB do? My dogs can eat biscuits. My dogs do eat biscuits. My dogs must eat biscuits. My dogs will eat biscuits. My dogs did eat biscuits. My dogs may eat biscuits. My dogs don’t eat biscuits. My dogs can’t eat biscuits.

Sometimeswe can just put a helping verb in front of the main verb without changing anything else. My dogs eat biscuits. My dogs ** eat biscuits. My dogs CAN eat biscuits.

BUT Some helping verbs make us

change the main verb.

My dogs eat biscuits. My dogs ARE eatING biscuits. My dogs HAVE eatEN biscuits.

The main verb changes!

Keep calmand deal with it.

Just remember that when you see a verb, it may have a helping verb with it.

This can help you understand why some verbs change in past tense but some do not.