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You’ve probably noticed that some of the verbs I’ve identified throughout this chapter are single words and others are made up of several words. The extra words are called helping verbs. They don’t carry out the trash or dust the living room, but they do help the main verb express meaning, usually changing the time, or tense, of the action. (For more on tense, see Chapter 6.)

Timing is everything: Creating a time frame with helping verbs

Helping verbs often signal when the action or state of being is occurring. Here are some sentences with helping verbs that create a time line:

Alice will sing five arias from that opera tomorrow evening.

(Sing is the main verb, and will is a helping verb. Will places the action at some point in the future.)

Gwen had moved the vase, but the baseball hit it anyway.

(Moved is the main verb, and had is a helping verb. Hit is a main verb without any helping verbs. Had places the action of moving sometime in the past.)

Bob and Ellen are admiring Lola’s new tattoo.

(Admiring is the main verb, and are is a helping verb. Are places the action in the present.)

Don’t ask! Questions and negative statements

To make your life more complicated, English often throws in a helping verb or two in order to form questions and negative statements. Usually the helping verb and the main verb are separated in this sort of sentence. In questions, the subject (the person or thing performing the action) comes between the helper and the main verb. Not, by the way, is NOT part of the verb. It’s an adverb. (Check Chapter 10 for more about adverbs.) In negative statements, not shows up between the helper and the main verb. In Chapter 6, I explain more about forming questions and negative statements in various verb tenses. For now, check out these examples of questions and negative statements with helping verbs:

Does the ring in Lulu’s bellybutton rust when she showers?

(Does is a helping verb, and rust is the main verb.)

Do Larry and Ella need a good divorce lawyer?

(Do is the helping verb, and need is the main verb.)

Did Zoe play the same song for eight hours?

(Did is the helping verb, and play is the main verb.)

Did the grammarians complain about that question?

(Did is the helping verb, and complain is the main verb.)

Will George remember all the old familiar places?

(Will is the helping verb, and remember is the main verb.)

Larry does not drive a sports car because he wants to project a wholesome image.

(Does is the helping verb, and drive is the main verb.)

The killer bees do not chase Roger because they are afraid of him.

(Do is the helping verb, and chase is the main verb.)

I will not learn anything else about verbs ever again.

(Will is the helping verb, and learn is the main verb.)

You’ve probably figured out that the main verbs in these example questions and negative statements are action verbs, with the helpers do, does, did, or will. You can’t go wrong with did and will, because those helpers are the same for singular and plural subjects. Does and do, unfortunately, change according to the subject of the sentence. Does matches all singular subjects (when only one person is performing the action) and do works best in plural sentences, when more than one person is performing the action. Do is also the helper you want when the subject is I or you. (For more on matching singular and plural subjects and verbs, turn to Chapter 7.)

Questions or negative statements formed with the verb to be don’t need do or does. In these examples, the verb is italicized:

Is grammar a popular subject?

Am I a good grammarian?

Were the grammarians analyzing that sentence?

Change this statement into a question:

Ella meets Larry’s parents today.

Answer: Does Ella meet Larry’s parents today? To form the question, add the helping verb does.

Now change this statement into a negative (opposite).

George gave me help during the grammar test.

Answer: George did not give me help during the grammar test. You form the negative with the helping verb did.

Adding shades of meaning with helping verbs

Helping verbs also change the meaning of a sentence by adding a sense of duty, probability, willingness, and so forth. Concentrate on the italicized verbs in these examples. All are add-ons, or helping verbs. The main verbs appear in bold type. Notice how the meaning changes:

Rita may attend the party. Her boss might be there.

(The helping verbs may and might expresses possibility: Rita will go if she’s in a good mood and stay home if she isn’t. Same thing for the boss. May takes on another meaning, too. The same helping verb can express permission: Rita’s father checked out the party and okayed it.)

Rita should attend every official event. She must go.

(The helping verbs should and must mean that attending is a duty or obligation. Even if Rita wants to sit on her sofa and knit socks, she has to attend.)

Rita would stay home if she could do so. She can sleep during the show, though.

(Two helpers appear in the first sentence. The helping verb would shows willingness or preference. The helping verb could makes a statement about ability. In the second sentence, can also refers to ability.)

Find the helping verbs in this sentence. Decide how the helping verb affects the meaning.

Would you consider a campaign for president if Lamar must step down?

Answer: Would is a helping verb that adds a sense of possibility to the main verb, consider. Must is a helping verb the implies an obligation. It is attached to the main verb step.

Some grammarians are very strict about the difference between some pairs of helpers – can/may, can/could and may/might. They see can as ability only, and may as permission. Similarly, a number of grammarians allow can and may for present actions only, with might and could reserved for past tense. These days, most people interchange all these helpers and end up with fine sentences. Don’t worry too much about these pairs.

Distinguishing between helping verbs and main verbs isn’t particularly important, as long as you get the whole thing when you’re identifying the verb in a sentence. If you find only part of the verb, you may confuse action verbs with linking verbs. You want to keep these two types of verbs straight when you choose an ending for your sentence, as I explain in “Completing linking-verb sentences correctly” in the previous section.

To decide whether you have an action verb or a linking verb, look at the main verb, not at the helping verbs. If the main verb expresses action, the whole verb is action, even if one of the helpers is a form of to be. For example:

is going has been painted should be strangled

are all action verbs, not linking verbs, because going, painted, and strangled express action.

SHE DONE HIM WRONG

The word done is never a verb all by itself. A true party animal, this verb form insists on being accompanied by helping verbs. In grammarspeak, which you do NOT have to learn, done is a past participle of the verb to do. Naked, shivering, totally alone participles, such as done, never function as verbs. Here are some examples:

WRONG: He done all he could, but the sky fell anyway.

RIGHT: He had done all he could, but the sky fell anyway.

ALSO RIGHT: He did all he could, but the sky fell anyway.

WRONG: She done him wrong.

RIGHT, BUT A BAD SENTENCE: She has done him wrong.

ALSO RIGHT, ALSO A BAD SENTENCE: She did him wrong.

BETTER SENTENCE: What she has done to him is wrong.

ANOTHER OKAY: What she did to him is wrong.

You may blame the fact that so many people create sentences like the first example (He done all he could) on one of the many joys of English grammar. Some verb forms can stand alone or pair with a helping verb. Consider the verb to walk:

I walked twenty miles.

I have walked twenty miles.

These sentences both contain the word walked. It’s a verb in the first example and part of a verb in the second example. Bottom line: Don’t use done by itself as a verb. It’s a combination form only!