What are some sentences with helping (auxiliary) verbs? Here are a few examples, with the helping verb underlined:
She should study.
She has studied.
She is studying.
In these sentences, the main verb is a form of study, and the helping verb is helping to give us additional information that we can't get from just the main verb. (See Unit 2 to remind yourself about main verbs.)
There aren't that many helping verbs; the basic ones are listed in Quick tip 31.1.
Quick tip 31.1
The basic helping verbs of English are:
a. can may shall will must
could might should would
b. have has had
c. am are is
was were
be been being
Now take another look at sentences 1–3, which have both a helping verb and a main verb. Which comes first? You can see that the main verb always comes after the helping verb.
Quick tip 31.2
If a sentence has both a main verb and a helping verb, the main verb is always last.
Does every sentence of English have a helping verb? Here are examples of sentences that do not have a helping verb. Each only has a main verb, which is underlined.
4. She studies every day.
5. She studied every day.
6. He leaves at 9 in the morning.
7. He left at 9 in the morning.