Chapter 01-10: Auxiliaries – ALIC – Analyzing Language in Context

chapter 1: auxiliaries

Auxiliary verbs do not have most of the characteristics of true verbs. Instead, as part of the Main Verb Phrase Formula, auxiliary verbs work with a main verb to enhance and supplement grammatical meaning. We will discuss the Main Verb Phrase Formula in more detail in Chapter 2. The important thing to remember is that if a verb is functioning as an auxiliary, it is not the main verb of a clause.

Auxiliary Verb Forms

Auxiliaries are structure-class words, so should not be confused with form-class words. Auxiliary Verbs combine with present and past participles to create the Perfect, Progressive (Continuous), and Perfect Progressive Aspect MVPs. These aspects provide additional information about the duration, completion, or repetition of an action.

Perfect Aspect: The perfect aspect in English is used to describe completed actions or states. It is formed by combining a form of the auxiliary verb “have” with the past participle of the main verb. The perfect tense allows speakers to express the relationship between two time periods, emphasizing the completion or result of an action rather than the action itself.

Present perfect: “I have lived in Seattle for 10 years.”
Past perfect: “He had finished his homework before dinner.”

Progressive (Continuous) Aspect: The progressive aspect, also known as the continuous aspect, expresses ongoing or incomplete actions. It is formed by combining a form of the auxiliary verb “to be” with the present participle (-Ing form) of the main verb.

Present progressive: I am writing.
Past progressive: She was singing.

Perfect Progressive Aspect

The perfect progressive aspect (also called the perfect continuous aspect) combines elements of the perfect and progressive aspects. It is used to describe actions that were ongoing for a period of time but are now complete or actions that continue to a specific point in time. The Perfect Progressive Aspect is formed by a form of the auxiliary verb have (had, have, or will have) in the first position. The word “been” is in the second position, and the present participle of the main verb (ending in -ing) is in the third position.

Present Perfect Progressive: “I have been studying for three hours.”
Past Perfect Progressive: “She had been working at the company for five years before she left.”

Modal Auxiliaries

Modal Auxiliary Verbs are a subset of auxiliary verbs that express modality, such as possibility, ability, necessity, and permission. They are used alongside the main verb to modify its meaning and provide additional context. Modal auxiliaries are by adding the Modal Auxiliary to the Base Infinitive of the Main Verb.

“I can swim.” or “She may arrive soon.”
“They should have called.” or “We could have won.”

Remember, if a modal auxiliary is in the first position, the Main Verb Phrase (MVP) is identified as in the present tense.

The nine modals always precede the main verb as well as any other auxiliaries in the Main Verb Phrase. Modals include

● can

● could

● will

● would

● shall

● should

● may

● might

● must

Modal auxiliaries do not have many of the characteristics of true verbs. They cannot take tense inflectional morphemes; therefore, all modal auxiliaries in this textbook should be identified as present tense only. Other verb characteristics that modal auxiliaries do not meet are that they cannot be made into commands or negatives.

Have Auxiliary and Be Auxiliary

HAVE and BE are the most common auxiliaries, and they will each inflect on the verb that follows them in the Main Verb Phrase. They can be difficult to analyze because both HAVE and BE can also serve as Main Verbs, which would identify them in those contexts as form-class words.

Be sure that you are able to distinguish between HAVE or BE as an auxiliary and HAVE or BE as a main verb.

The auxiliary HAVE signals the Perfect Main Verb Phrase Form by inflecting the past participle [-en or -ed] on the verb that follows it:

Present-Perfect

A bright green bird has nested there.
The judges have voted.

Past-Perfect

A bright green bird had nested there.
The judges had voted.

Caution: HAVE can act as a main verb as well as an auxiliary:

I have chicken pox.
She has all the latest gadgets.
I had my favorite meal for my birthday.
The Smiths had a baby.

If you analyze sentences like these, you must identify HAVE as a main verb (form-class word), not as an auxiliary. HAVE is only an auxiliary when it precedes another verb (or a BE auxiliary) to create the Perfect Form.

The auxiliary BE signals the Progressive Main Verb Phrase Form by inflecting the present participle [-ing] on the verb that follows it:

Present-Progressive

Harvey is cooking squash.

Past-Progressive

Harvey was cooking squash.

The auxiliary BE can also signal the Passive Main Verb Phrase Form by inflecting the past participle [-en or -ed] on the verb that follows it:

Present Passive

The National Anthem is sung by the whole crowd.

Past Passive

The National Anthem was sung by the whole crowd.

Caution: BE can act as a main verb as well as an auxiliary:

Keoni is a student.
The lawyers were all in court.

If you analyze sentences like these, you must identify BE as a main verb (form-class word), not as an auxiliary. BE is only an auxiliary when it precedes a another verb to create either the Progressive Form or the Passive Form.

Do Auxiliary

DO gets a separate category because DO acts like a modal in that it does not inflect on the main verb, but DO can also serve as a Main Verb.

The auxiliary DO occurs in a number of grammatical processes, including:

Creating Questions:

He leaves tomorrow.
Does he leave tomorrow?

Forming Negatives:

He wants curry for dinner.
He doesn’t want curry for dinner.

Placing Emphasis:

This tastes delicious.
This does taste delicious!

Substitution:

We want chicken curry more than they want chicken curry.
We want chicken curry more than they do.

Caution: Do can also act as a main verb:

Shawna did her own make-up.
That meal did me a world of good.
You will do as you’re told.

If you analyze sentences like these, you must identify DO as a main verb (form-class word), not an auxiliary.

TRY THESE SIMPLE PRACTICE EXERCISES

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