Helping and Modal Auxiliary Verbs
Helping verbs or auxiliary
verbs such as will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, ought to,
should, would, used to, need are used in conjunction with main verbs
to express shades of time and mood. The combination of helping verbs with main
verbs creates what are called verb phrases or verb strings. In
the following sentence, "will have been" are helping or auxiliary
verbs and "studying" is the main verb; the whole verb string is
underlined:
- As of next August, I will have been studying chemistry for ten years.
Students should remember that
adverbs and contracted forms are not, technically, part of the verb. In the
sentence, "He has already started." the adverb already
modifies the verb, but it is not really part of the verb. The same is true of
the 'nt in "He hasn't started yet" (the adverb not,
represented by the contracted n't, is not part of the verb, has
started).
Shall, will and forms of have,
do and be combine with main verbs to indicate time and voice. As
auxiliaries, the verbs be, have and do can change form to
indicate changes in subject and time.
- I shall go now.
- He had won the election.
- They did write that novel together.
- I am going now.
- He was winning the election.
- They have been writing that novel for a long time.
Uses of Shall and Will and Should
In England, shall is used to
express the simple future for first person I and we, as in
"Shall we meet by the river?" Will would be used in the simple
future for all other persons. Using will in the first person would
express determination on the part of the speaker, as in "We will finish
this project by tonight, by golly!" Using shall in second and third
persons would indicate some kind of promise about the subject, as in "This
shall be revealed to you in good time." This usage is certainly acceptable
in the U.S., although shall is used far less frequently. The distinction
between the two is often obscured by the contraction 'll, which is the
same for both verbs.
In the United States, we seldom use shall
for anything other than polite questions (suggesting an element of permission)
in the first-person:
- "Shall we go now?"
- "Shall I call a doctor for you?"
(In the
second sentence, many writers would use should instead, although should
is somewhat more tentative than shall.) In the U.S., to express the
future tense, the verb will is used in all other cases.
Shall
is often used in formal situations (legal or legalistic documents, minutes to
meetings, etc.) to express obligation, even with third-person and
second-person constructions:
- The board of directors shall be responsible for payment to stockholders.
- The college president shall report financial shortfalls to the executive director each semester."
Should
is usually replaced, nowadays, by would. It is still used, however, to
mean "ought to" as in
- You really shouldn't do that.
- If you think that was amazing, you should have seen it last night.
In British
English and very formal American English, one is apt to hear or read should
with the first-person pronouns in expressions of liking such as "I should
prefer iced tea" and in tentative expressions of opinion such as
- I should imagine they'll vote Conservative.
- I should have thought so.
Uses of Do, Does and Did
In the simple present tense, do
will function as an auxiliary to express the negative and to ask questions.
(Does, however, is substituted for third-person, singular subjects in
the present tense. The past tense did works with all persons, singular
and plural.)
- I don't study at night.
- She doesn't work here anymore.
- Do you attend this school?
- Does he work here?
These verbs
also work as "short answers," with the main verb omitted.
- Does
she work here? No, she doesn't
work here.
With
"yes-no" questions, the form of do goes in front of the
subject and the main verb comes after the subject:
- Did your grandmother know Truman?
- Do wildflowers grow in your back yard?
Forms of do
are useful in expressing similarity and differences in conjunction with so
and neither.
- My wife hates spinach and so does my son.
- My wife doesn't like spinach; neither do I.
Do is
also helpful because it means you don't have to repeat the verb:
- Larry excelled in language studies; so did his brother.
- Raoul studies as hard as his sister does.
The
so-called emphatic do has many uses in English.
- To add emphasis to an entire sentence: "He does like spinach. He really does!"
- To add emphasis to an imperative: "Do come in." (actually softens the command)
- To add emphasis to a frequency adverb: "He never did understand his father." "She always does manage to hurt her mother's feelings."
- To contradict a negative statement: "You didn't do your homework, did you?" "Oh, but I did finish it."
- To ask a clarifying question about a previous negative statement: "Ridwell didn't take the tools." "Then who did take the tools?"
- To indicate a strong concession: "Although the Clintons denied any wrong-doing, they did return some of the gifts."
In the
absence of other modal auxiliaries, a form of do is used in question and
negative constructions known as the get passive:
- Did Rinaldo get selected by the committee?
- The audience didn't get riled up by the politician.
Uses of Have, Has and Had
Forms of the verb to have are
used to create tenses known as the present perfect and past perfect.
The perfect tenses indicate that something has happened in the past; the
present perfect indicating that something happened and might be continuing to
happen, the past perfect indicating that something happened prior to something
else happening. (That sounds worse than it really is!) See the section on Verb Tenses in the
Active Voice for further explanation; also review material in the Directory
of English Tenses.
To have is
also in combination with other modal verbs to express probability and
possibility in the past.
- As an affirmative statement, to have can express how certain you are that something happened (when combined with an appropriate modal + have + a past participle): "Georgia must have left already." "Clinton might have known about the gifts." "They may have voted already."
- As a negative statement, a modal is combined with not + have + a past participle to express how certain you are that something did not happen: "Clinton might not have known about the gifts." "I may not have been there at the time of the crime."
- To ask about possibility or probability in the past, a modal is combined with the subject + have + past participle: "Could Clinton have known about the gifts?"
- For short answers, a modal is combined with have: "Did Clinton know about this?" "I don't know. He may have." "The evidence is pretty positive. He must have."
To have
(sometimes combined with to get) is used to express a logical inference:
- It's been raining all week; the basement has to be flooded by now.
- He hit his head on the doorway. He has got to be over seven feet tall!
Have
is often combined with an infinitive to form an auxiliary whose meaning is
similar to "must."
- I have to have a car like that!
- She has to pay her own tuition at college.
- He has to have been the first student to try that.
Modal Auxiliaries
Other helping verbs, called modal
auxiliaries or modals, such as can, could, may, might, must,
ought to, shall, should, will, and would, do not change form for
different subjects. For instance, try substituting any of these modal auxiliaries
for can with any of the subjects listed below.
There is also a separate section on the Modal
Auxiliaries, which divides these verbs into their various meanings of necessity,
advice, ability, expectation, permission, possibility, etc., and provides
sample sentences in various tenses. See the section on Conditional
Verb Forms for help with the modal auxiliary would. The shades
of meaning among modal auxiliaries are multifarious and complex. Most
English-as-a-Second-Language textbooks will contain at least one chapter on
their usage. For more advanced students, A University Grammar of English,
by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum, contains an excellent, extensive
analysis of modal auxiliaries.
Uses of Can and Could
The modal auxiliary can is used
- to
express ability (in the sense of being able to do something or knowing how
to do something):
He can speak Spanish but he can't write it very well. - to
expression permission (in the sense of being allowed or permitted to do
something):
Can I talk to my friends in the library waiting room? (Note that can is less formal than may. Also, some writers will object to the use of can in this context.) - to express theoretical possibility: American automobile makers can make better cars if they think there's a profit in it.
The modal auxiliary could is used
- to express an ability in the past: I could always beat you at tennis when we were kids.
- to express past or future permission: Could I bury my cat in your back yard?
- to express present possibility: We could always spend the afternoon just sitting around talking.
- to express possibility or ability in contingent circumstances: If he studied harder, he could pass this course.
Can versus May
Whether the auxiliary verb can
can be used to express permission or not — "Can I leave the room
now?" ["I don't know if you can, but you may."] — depends on the
level of formality of your text or situation. As Theodore Bernstein puts it in The
Careful Writer, "a writer who is attentive to the proprieties will
preserve the traditional distinction: can for ability or power to do
something, may for permission to do it.
The question is at what level can
you safely ignore the "proprieties." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary,
tenth edition, says the battle is over and can can be used in virtually
any situation to express or ask for permission. Most authorities, however,
recommend a stricter adherence to the distinction, at least in formal
situations.
Uses of May and Might
Two of the more troublesome modal
auxiliaries are may and might. When used in the context of
granting or seeking permission, might is the past tense of may. Might
is considerably more tentative than may.
- May I leave class early?
- If I've finished all my work and I'm really quiet, might I leave early?
In the
context of expressing possibility, may and might are
interchangeable present and future forms and might + have + past
participle is the past form:
- She might be my advisor next semester.
- She may be my advisor next semester.
- She might have advised me not to take biology.
Avoid confusing the sense of
possibility in may with the implication of might, that a
hypothetical situation has not in fact occurred. For instance, let's say
there's been a helicopter crash at the airport. In his initial report, before
all the facts are gathered, a newscaster could say that the pilot "may
have been injured." After we discover that the pilot is in fact all right,
the newscaster can now say that the pilot "might have been
injured" because it is a hypothetical situation that has not occurred.
Another example: a body had been identified after much work by a detective. It
was reported that "without this painstaking work, the body may have
remained unidentified." Since the body was, in fact, identified, might
is clearly called for.
Uses of Will and Would
In certain contexts, will and
would are virtually interchangeable, but there are differences. Notice
that the contracted form 'll is very frequently used for will.
Will
can be used to express willingness:
- I'll wash the dishes if you dry.
- We're going to the movies. Will you join us?
It can also
express intention (especially in the first person):
- I'll do my exercises later on.
and
prediction:
- specific: The meeting will be over soon.
- timeless: Humidity will ruin my hairdo.
- habitual: The river will overflow its banks every spring.
Would
can also be used to express willingness:
- Would you please take off your hat?
It can also
express insistence (rather rare, and with a strong stress on the word
"would"):
- Now you've ruined everything. You would act that way.
and
characteristic activity:
- customary: After work, he would walk to his home in West Hartford.
- typical (casual): She would cause the whole family to be late, every time.
In a main
clause, would can express a hypothetical meaning:
- My cocker spaniel would weigh a ton if I let her eat what she wants.
Finally, would
can express a sense of probability:
- I hear a whistle. That would be the five o'clock train.
Uses of Used to
The auxiliary verb construction used
to is used to express an action that took place in the past, perhaps
customarily, but now that action no longer customarily takes place:
- We used to take long vacation trips with the whole family.
The spelling
of this verb is a problem for some people because the "-ed" ending
quite naturally disappears in speaking: "We yoostoo take long trips."
But it ought not to disappear in writing. There are exceptions, though. When
the auxiliary is combined with another auxiliary, did, the past tense is
carried by the new auxiliary and the "-ed" ending is dropped. This
will often happen in the interrogative:
- Didn't you use to go jogging every morning before breakfast?
- It didn't use to be that way.
Used to can also be used to
convey the sense of being accustomed to or familiar with something:
- The tire factory down the road really stinks, but we're used to it by now.
- I like these old sneakers; I'm used to them.
Used to is best reserved for
colloquial usage; it has no place in formal or academic text.
