Main Verbs and Helping verbs (Axilliary)

Main Verbs and Helping verbs (Axilliary)

 A sentence can have both main verb and helping verb (auxiliary verb).

Main verb: A verb which has major meaning in terms of action are called main verb, i.e. write, buy, eat etc.

Helping verb: A verb which supports the main verb to form the structure of sentence (according to a specific tense) and give us information about the time of action expressed by main verb, is called helping verb or auxiliary verb, i.e. is, am, have, was, had, is, will etc.

Main verb has real meaning and tells more about action while helping verb has no (or little) meaning if it is alone but it adds time information about action if used with main verb to specify the tense or time of the main verb. The examples below will help in better understanding.

   She is eating an apple. (“eat” is main verb while “is” is helping verb)
   She was eating an apple. (“eat” is main verb while “was” is helping verb)

The main verbs in these sentences “eat” convey the information about the action which is done on an apple, while the helping verbs in these sentences "is, and was" tells us the about the time of action by referring to specific tense. In first sentence with helping verb "is" action (eating an apple) is being done right now in the present time while in the second sentence with hepling verb "was" action (eating an apple) was being done in past.

It means the MAIN VERB CONVEYS the meaning of action with a little information about its time, but the HELPING VERB (also called auxilliary Verb) tell us more about the time of action. Helping verbs and main verbs together make a structure of sentence of a specific tense (action and its time)

Use of helping verbs.

There are three primary helping verbs, be, do, and have, which are majorly used in tenses.
Be (am, is, are). Forms of “be” are used for continuous tenses.

Example. She is laughing. (Present Continuous tense)

Have (have, has, had). Forms of “have” are used in perfect tense.

Example.
He has completed his work. (Present prefect tense)
He had bought a car. (Past perfect tense)

Do(do, does, did). Forms of “do” are used in indefinite(simple) tenses i.e. present simple tense or past simple tense.

Example.
They do not play chess. (Present simple tense)
I did not see him. (Past simple)

Modal Verbs (Modal auxiliaries)

Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as ability, possibility, intention or necessity.
Examples.

    Can, could (ability)
    May might (possibility)
    Will, shall, would (intention)
    Should (necessity)
    Must (necessity)
    Ought to

Modal verbs can be used before main verb as helping verbs.
Examples
I can play violin.
It may rain today.
You must learn the test-taking strategies.
I will call you.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Transitive Verbs.
A verb which needs to have object in sentence is called transitive verb.
Transitive verbs should have an object in sentence because without subject it does not covey complete meaning.
Example.
He bought  ______.

There should be some object in this sentence for verb “buy”. Without an object the verb “bought” does not give complete meaning. To make it more meaningful we use some object for verb “bought” i.e book or computer or car.
He bought a book.
or
He bought a computer.
or
He bought a  computer.

More examples.
John is eating a mango.
He has completedhis work.
I caught a bird in bushes.
She wrote a story.

Intransitive sentence.
A verb which does not need to have object in sentence is called intransitive.
Intransitive verb can give complete meaning with an object in sentence for it.
Example.
He slept.
She is laughing.
It has rained.
He is running.
They arrived.

Verb

Verb

 Verb is a word which shows action or state of something.
Examples. Write, run, eat, drink, catch, clean, speak, laugh, weep, are some verbs
He is writing a letter.

 In the above example, the verb “write” tells us about the action (writing) of the subject (he). A verb has its subject in sentence and verb tells us what its subject does, did or will do.

 Verbs describe action or state. Most verbs describe action, such verbs are called “dynamic verb”, for example write, eat, run, speak. Some verbs describe state of something, such verbs are called “stative verb” and are not usually used in continuous tense for example be, impress, please, surprise, belong to, consist of, resemble, seem

Examples.
            He works in a factory(action)
            I boughta computer. (action)
            John seems happy. (state)
            He resembles his brother (state)

Some verbs can be used as dynamic verb as well as stative verb.
Example.
           She looks very beautiful. (look as stative verb)
           She looked at black board. (look as dynamic verb)

 Forms of verb according to tense or time of action.

Verb has three forms according to tense.

 Base form           2. Past Simple    4. Past participle

For example, go—went—gone. “Go” is base form, “went” is past simple form, and “gone” is past participle form. These three form may also be named as 1st form, 2nd form and 3rd form of verb, which are denoted by V1, V2 and V3 respectively. “ing” is added to base form verb to make present participle which can be used with auxiliary verb “to be” in continuous tense, for example, go—going, eat—eating, laugh—laughing.

  Formation of past simple and past participle

On the basis formation of past simple and past participle, verb is divided into

    •Regular verbs
    •Irregular verbs


Regular Verbs.
Some verbs form their past simple and past participle form by adding “-ed” to their base form, such verbs are called regular verbs, for example laugh—laughed—laughed, look—looked—looked.
Some examples
Verb
  
Base form or V1
   
Past simple or V2
   
Past participle or V3
   
Present participle
To advise    advise     advised     advised     Advising
To allow     allow     allowed     allowed     Allowing
To enjoy     enjoy     enjoyed     enjoyed     Enjoying
To rain         rain     rained     rained     Raining
To smile     smile     smiled     smiled     Smiling

Irregular Verbs.

Some verbs form their past simple and participle in different ways for example, buy—bought—bought, eat—ate—eaten, such verbs are called irregular verbs.

Some examples
Verb
Base form or V1
   
Past simple or V2
   
Past participle or V3
   
Present participle
To know     know     knew     known     Knowing
To go     go     went     gone     Going
To drink     drink     drank     drunk     Drinking
To hold     hold     held     held     Holding
To write     wriite     wrote     written     Writing

Some verbs remain same in past simple and past participle.

Some example
Verb
   
Base form or V1
   
Past simple or V2
   
Past participle or V3
   
Present participle
To cut          cut     cut     cut     Cutting
To shut         shut     shut     shut     Shutting
To spread     spread     spread     spread     Spreading
To put         put     put     put     Putting
To read     read     read     read     reading

Main Verbs and Auxiliary or Helping verbs

A sentence can have both main verb and helping verb (auxiliary verb).

Main verb: A verb which has major meaning in terms of action are called main verb, i.e. write, buy, eat etc.

Helping verb: A verb which supports the main verb to form the structure of sentence, according a specific tense, is called helping verb or auxiliary verb, i.e. is, am, have, was, had, is, will etc.