the order of the subject and auxiliary verbs. In other verb + verb structures, the
auxiliary do has to be added.
3. Usage of Auxiliary
Knowing correct auxiliary verb usage is key to tense usage. Every tense takes an auxiliary form of the verb. Here is a quick overview of auxiliary verb
usage:
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Also, there are several usages of auxiliary, among them: a
To make question and negative forms, used DoDoesDid
e.g. What time does he get up? He
didn’t finish his homework last week.
b To form present continuous tense using IsAmAre and present future
adding Going to after to be e.g. They are working hard at the moment.
She is going to study medicine at university. c
To form past continuous tense using WasWere e.g. I was watching TV when you arrived.
d To form present perfect and present perfect continuous using Have
Has e.g. How long have you lived here?
e To form past perfect and past perfect continuous using Had
e.g. He had eaten by the time I arrived. f
To form simple future tense using WillWill not Won’t e.g.
He won’t understand. Besides the explanations that stated above, auxiliary actually can be used in
several forms explained more below:
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a. Passive voice
The auxiliary verb be is used with a past participle to form the passive voice
; for example, the clause “the door was opened” implies that someone or something opened it, without stating who or what it was. Because
many past participles are also stative adjectives, the passive voice can sometimes be ambiguous; for example, “at 8:25, the window was closed”
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http:esl.about.comodgrammarintermediateaa_auxiliary.html
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can be a passive- voice sentence meaning, “at 8:25, someone closed the
window.
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”
b. Progressive aspect
The auxiliary verb be is used with a present participle to form the progressive aspect
; for example, “I am riding my bicycle” describes what the subject is doing at the given in this case present time without
indicating completion, whereas “I ride my bicycle” is a temporally broader statement referring to something that occurs habitually in the past, present,
and future.
c. Perfect aspect
The auxiliary verb have is used with a past participle to indicate perfect aspect: a current state experienced by the subject as a result of a past action
or state. For example, in “I have visited Paris” the current state is one of having a Paris visit in one‟s past, while the past action is visiting Paris. The
past action may be ongoing, as in “I have been studying all night.”
d. Modality
Modality means the attitude of the speaker to the action or state being expressed, in terms of either degree of probability “The sun must be down
already”, “The sun should be down already”, “The sun may be down already”, “The sun might be down already”, ability “I can speak French”,
or permission or obligation You must go now”, “You should go now”,
“You may go now. See modal verb and English modal verb.
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e. Dummy
Do, does, or did plays a dummy place-filling role in transforming simple one-
word verbs into questions or negatives: “I go” → “Do I go?”, “I do not go”; “He goes” → “Does he go?”, “He does not go”; “I went” →
“Did I go?”, “I did not go.”
f. Emphasis
The auxiliaries do, does, and did are also used for emphasis in positive declarative statements in which the verb otherwise contains only one word:
“I do like this shirt”, “He does like this shirt”, “I did like that shirt.”
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C. Modal Auxiliary
1. Definition of Modal Auxiliary
Hopkins and Cullen define “modal auxiliaries as auxiliary verbs that give
information about ability, possibility, or necessity. The modals such as can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, ought to, and need are followed by the
infinitive without to and their form does not change. For example, He could speak French and Italian not He could speaks.
”
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In addition, Betty Schrampfer suggest that:
“Modal Auxiliaries generally express a speaker’s attitudes, or “moods”. For example, modal can express that a speaker feels something necessary,
advisable, permissible, possible, or probable; and in addition, they can convey the strength of these attitudes.
”
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Michael Swan mention in his book that,
“These are the verbs can, could, may, might, must, will, would, shall, should, ought to, and need. They are different from the other three
auxiliary verbs in two ways. Firstly, they have special grammatical features for instance, they have no infinitive, and the third person
singular has no-s. Second, most modal verbs have not only a grammatical
function, but also a „dictionary meaning’: for instance, must can mean „be obliged to’. do, be, and have do not really have “meanings” of this kind
when they are used as auxiliary verbs. ”
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Diana Hopkins and Pauline Cullen, Cambridge Grammar for IELTS, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 108.
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Betty Schramfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar 2
nd
Edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents, 1989, p. 68.
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Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, … p. 91.
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