{"id":4707,"date":"2021-05-14T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=4707"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:30:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T14:30:01","slug":"helping-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/verbs\/helping-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Verbs: Examples of Helping Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have heard of helping verbs, which are also referred to as modal and auxiliary verbs. In this discussion, we’ll review what a helping verb is and how it works with another verb.<\/p>\n

What Is a Helping Verb?<\/h2>\n

A helping verb is a verb that combines with a main verb to form a verb phrase. Sometimes it is also called a\u00a0verb marker<\/em>, because it indicates that a verb is to follow.<\/p>\n

In a sentence with one main verb in the simple present tense, it’s typically easy to identify the verb by looking for the action word. For example:<\/p>\n

Jim walks<\/u> quickly.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Walks<\/em> is the action being performed by Jim, so that’s the main verb. But what if we want to express a different time (tense) of Jim’s activity? We need another verb to provide that information. In our example with Jim, let’s tell the reader more about his action by placing it in the present progressive tense<\/a> to convey that he’s doing it right now:<\/p>\n

Jim is<\/u><\/strong> walking<\/u> quickly.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You see we now have two verbs. The main verb is walking<\/em>. The word is<\/em> has been added to “help” further describe the main verb. In this case, the helping verb (is<\/em>) tells of the tense of the action (present progressive). Together, the helping verb and the main verb add clarity and context. If we say only Jim walks,<\/em> that action can apply to any place and any time. By saying Jim is walking,<\/em> we know his action is happening in this moment.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, let’s change our helping verb for what we want the main verb to communicate. We’ll use a Type 1 conditional sentence<\/a> with a possible condition and a probable result:<\/p>\n

If he sees an ice cream truck at the end of the street, Jim will<\/span> walk<\/span> quickly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The main verb is still\u00a0walk,\u00a0<\/em>but our helping verb is now\u00a0will\u00a0<\/em>to let the reader know the time of the action is in the future<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three Common Helping Verbs<\/h2>\n

Once you understand the principle of helping verbs, finding and using them gets much easier. You can also begin to recognize many of their common forms, which can change depending on whether they are indicating a past, present, or future action. They can be singular or plural as well.<\/p>\n

Here are some helping-verb varieties you probably use every day:<\/p>\n

To be:<\/strong> is<\/em>, am<\/em>, are<\/em>, was<\/em>, were<\/em>, will be<\/em><\/p>\n

To have:<\/strong> have<\/em>, has<\/em>, had<\/em>, will have<\/em><\/p>\n

To do: <\/strong>do<\/em>, does<\/em>, did<\/em>, will do<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We were<\/u><\/strong> shopping<\/u> at the mall yesterday.<\/p>\n

Joan had<\/u><\/strong> been<\/u> unaware of that until you informed her.<\/p>\n

Chris will<\/u><\/strong> do<\/u> what is required to make the delivery on time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s look at a few more examples:<\/p>\n

The dog was<\/u><\/strong> eating<\/u> the food in the bowl.<\/p>\n

Janine has<\/u><\/strong> visited<\/u> her mother.<\/p>\n

If you’re wondering, Robert did<\/u><\/strong> rehearse<\/u> for several weeks before opening night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other helping verbs you might see paired with main verbs include would, should, could, shall, may, might,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0can.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Identify the helping verbs in the following sentences.<\/p>\n

1. Christy will be dancing at the wedding.<\/p>\n

2. Did you bake that cake on the counter?<\/p>\n

3. You have slept longer than usual today.<\/p>\n

4. I am flying to Cleveland next month.<\/p>\n

5. Bruce was seen by a specialist at the clinic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. Christy will<\/strong> be<\/strong> dancing at the wedding.<\/p>\n

2. Did <\/strong>you bake that cake on the counter?<\/p>\n

3. You have <\/strong>slept longer than usual today.<\/p>\n

4. I am <\/strong>flying to Cleveland next month.<\/p>\n

5. Bruce was<\/strong> seen by a specialist at the clinic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Master Your Grammar One Tip at a Time<\/h2>\n

No one becomes an expert overnight. Getting good at grammar is a journey through the rules and techniques that make communication accurate, clear, and eloquent. Visit us again soon for more articles. You can also ask a question or suggest a grammar topic in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may have heard of helping verbs, which are also referred to as modal and auxiliary verbs. In this discussion, we’ll review what a helping verb is and how it works with another verb. What Is a Helping Verb? A helping verb is a verb that combines with a main verb to form a verb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4707"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7224,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4707\/revisions\/7224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}