Auxiliary Verbs
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he most common auxiliary verbs are "be," "do," and "have", and you may also use
these verbs on their own. Other common auxiliaries are "can," "could," "may,"
"might," "must," "ought," "should," "will," and "would." A verb like these is called a
modal auxiliary and expresses necessity, obligation, or possibility. Modal auxiliary
verbs like ‘can’ and ‘should’ usually occur with main verbs e.g. ‘can pay’, ‘should
pay’. They add meanings like possibility and obligation to the main verb.
The Use of Tenses
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The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated, but the structure of English
tenses is actually very simple. The basic structure for a positive sentence is:
Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
The basic structure is
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- positive: subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
- negative: subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
? question: auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
Other Auxiliaries
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A. There are various modal auxiliary verbs, many falling into pairs, e.g. can/could,
may/might, shall/should, will/would, must, ought to and dare.
B. The meanings they express are complex and depend upon the context of their use.
For example, ‘I can/could go on Saturday’ (strong/weak possibility),
C. The meanings expressed by some modal auxiliary verbs are similar to those
both modal auxiliary verb and an appropriate adverb are used together in a sentence,
e.g. ‘You could maybe help me to paint the guest room this weekend?’