Word List in Developmental Order
Simple Present
am, are, is, do, does, have, has, can
Simple Past and Future
was, were, did, had, could, might, will, would, should, may
Contractions
aren’t, isn’t, don’t, doesn’t, haven’t, hasn’t, can’t, wasn’t, weren’t, didn’t, hadn’t, couldn’t, won’t, wouldn’t
Two Word Combinations
will be, have been, has been, had been, should be, will have, might have, has eaten, have finished, etc.
Three (Or More) Word Combinations
will have finished, should have been, should not be, must have been eating, etc.
Basic Picture Activities
Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.
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(1) using “is” pix Doc PDF; (2) using “are” pix Doc PDF; (3) id and using “is” and “are” 1 Doc PDF; (4) id and using “is” and “are” 2 Doc PDF; (5) using “has” Doc PDF; (6) using “have” Doc PDF; (7) id and using “has” and “have” 1 Doc PDF; (8) id and using “has” and “have” 2 Doc
Other Basic Worksheets and Activities
Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.
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(1) “Is” sentence fill in the blank Doc PDF; (2) Basic Helping Verb Fill In the Blanks Doc PDF; (3) Fix It! Basic Helping Verbs Doc PDF; (4) Basic Sentence Search Doc PDF; (5) Helping Verb Puzzle Doc PDF; (6) Sentence Drop 1 Doc PDF; (7) has have contrast cards Doc PDF; (8) is are contrast cards Doc PDF; (9) helping verb matching – has/have Doc PDF; (10) helping verb matching – is/are Doc PDF
Expanded Verb Tense Activities
Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.
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(1) Sentence Search 2 DocPDF; (2) Sentence Search 3 DocPDF; (3)Sentence Drop 2 Doc PDF; (4)Hidden Word Picture Doc PDF; (5) ZigZags/Blurt Activities Doc PDF; (6) Fill in the Blank/Misc. Activities Doc PDF; (7) Sentence Maze Doc PDF; (8) Bullseye 1 Doc PDF; (9) Bullseye 2 Doc PDF; (10) Bullseye 3 Doc PDF; (11) Scripts/DrillDoc PDF; (12) What’s Next? Doc PDF
Background Information
Helping verbs are used to show tense or mood. In more complex sentences, they are used to show the perfect verb tenses, continuous/progressive/perfect verb tenses, and passive voice. Helping verbs are always followed by a second verb, though not always immediately. Helping verbs (also called auxiliaries) can be used before the word not. Main verbs can not. The auxiliary system in English is notorious for it’s complexity. There are about 24 billion billion logically possible combinations of auxiliaries, of which only about a hundred are grammatical (Pinker, 1995).
Because tense and mood can often be eliminated without sacrificing a sentence’s entire meaning, children that have difficulty with length and complexity of sentences do often eliminate these nonessential words. For example, “I talking.” can typically be understood as “I am talking.” Just as children with phonological processing disorders frequently simplify sound production, these same children frequently simplify morphology by omitting morphological markers, and syntax by omitting functional words. Among the most frequently omitted category of functional words are helping verbs.
Research suggests that children with specific language impairment do, in fact, have greater difficulty with functional words, such as auxiliary verbs, than MLU matched normally developing children (Leonard, 2000). These show up frequently on tests of language, including the CASL, CELF, OWLS, and SPELT tests. Helping verb difficulty coexists with many commonly deficient language skills, including subject verb agreement, negation, verb tense, phrases, clauses, questions, contractions, and suffixes.
Goal Ideas
Jefferson will comprehend age appropriate helping verbs, such as am, are, is, etc., in sentences.
Robert will produce age appropriate helping verbs in sentences.
Ulysses will produce and comprehend sentences with two word auxiliary verb combinations, such as will be, has been, will have, etc.
Methods of Elicitation
Functional Activity Ideas
Helping Verbs List and Examples
If you’re studying English as a second language, then you know that verbs are an important part of speech. There are many different types of verbs, but one type that you might not be familiar with is the helping verb. In this blog post, we’ll provide a helping verbs list and examples to help you better understand how they’re used. Keep reading to learn more!
Definition of Helping Verbs
A helping verb is a verb that helps to form the tense of another verb. In other words, it doesn’t indicate an action or occurrence but instead helps to show when the action took place or will take place. There are three main types of helping verbs:
- Auxiliary verbs – These verbs help to form compound tenses, such as the past perfect and future perfect. Some common auxiliary verbs are “will,” “have,” and “been.”
- Modal verbs – These verbs express levels of ability, doubt or certainty, and opinion. Some common modal verbs are “can,” “may,” and “must.”
- Persistent helping verbs – These verbs are always used with another verb, and they include “do,” “does,” “did,” and “be.”
Helping Verbs List
Below is a helping verbs list of some of the most common verbs in English. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, but it should give you a good idea of the different types of helping verbs that are out there.
Below is the list of helping verbs:
- am, is, are
- have, has, had
- was, were
- shall, will
- do, does, did
- may, must, might, can
- be, been, being
- should, would, could
Auxiliary Verbs:
will, have, been, am, is, are, was, were
Modal Verbs:
can, may, must, ought to, should
Persistent Helping Verbs:
do, does, did, be
Helping Verb Examples
Now that you know about helping verbs, let’s take a look at some examples of how they’re used.
- I will have been working on this project for six months by the time it’s due.
- He has been doing well in his English class.
- She can’t have finished her work yet – it’s only been an hour!
- You should have called me earlier.
- I do my best to avoid conflict.
- He does seem like a friendly person.
- I am writing a letter.
- He has been working on the project for two weeks.
- They were playing games all night.
- I will call you later.
- You should do your homework.
- Do you think he might come?
- The cat can jump high.
- She has been teaching English for ten years.
As you can see, helping verbs are used to form tenses and to modify the main verb. They’re an important part of speech, so it’s important to understand how they work!
About The Author
A list of helping verbs will help you identify helping or auxiliary verbs in English sentences and improve your writing skills.
By learning the following helping verbs, you will quickly identify helping or auxiliary verbs in English sentences.
- am, is, are
- was, were
- be, being, been
- do, did, does
- have, has, had
- may, might, must
- can, could
- shall, should
- will, would
Helping Verbs Explained
Every sentence must have a verb and a subject in order to express a complete thought.
Sometimes, the verb of a sentence is one word. Other times the verb of a sentence is made up of a main verb and one or more helping or auxiliary verbs.
In these combinations, the last word of the group is usually called the notional verb because it gives the main idea or notion and the helping words added to it are called auxiliary or helping verbs.
These verbs which have very important auxiliary uses are have, be and do.
1. The Auxiliary Verb “HAVE”
“Have” is added to the past participle of the notional verb to form the perfect tenses.
- I have found the solution to our problem.
- The church service will have finished by the time we arrived from the airport.
2. The Auxiliary Verb “BE”
“Be” has two common auxiliary uses.
First, be is added to the present participle of the notional verb to make the progressive form.
- David is playing the piano.
- The cricket team has been worrying about the weather.
Second, be combines with the past participle of the notional verb in order to form the passive voice.
- I was told about the accident.
- The lock has been damaged by the thieves.
3. The Auxiliary Verb “DO”
“Do” combines with the simple infinitive of the notional verb to make the emphatic form in present and past tense.
- I do not like the music.
- Yes I did lock the house.
Though we use these forms to add weight and emphasis to a statement, the most common usage is asking and answering questions.
- Do you like swimming?
- Did you hear the terrible music?
These helping or auxiliary verbs can be used as notional verbs. “Have” when it means “possess,” “be” to show existence and used as a linking verb and “do” when it means accomplished.
- I have the plans for the new building. (possession)
- There is a mouse in the cupboard. (Existence)
- The photograph is perfect. (Linking)
- The athlete did the run in the allotted time. (Accomplished)
4. The Auxiliary Verbs “SHALL” and “WILL”
Shall and will are used with the simple infinitive of the notional verb in order to give us one form of the future tense.
- I shall disappear tomorrow.
- I will return next week.
5. The Auxiliary Verbs “MAY, MIGHT, MUST, CAN, COULD, WOULD and SHOULD”
These helping or auxiliary verbs are called modal auxiliaries because they indicate the mood of the speaker and his attitude toward the statement that is being made.
These auxiliaries combine with the infinitive and with the present perfect form.
- I must disappear tomorrow.
- You may have hurt him.
- The thief should be imprisoned soon.
- You might have been hurt.
Knowing the list of helping verbs (see above) will assist you in quickly identifying verb phrases in sentences.
Resources For A List of Helping Verbs
English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy
Plain English Handbook by J. Martyn Walsh and Anna Kathleen Walsh
The Only Grammar Book by Susan Thurman
Mastering English Grammar by S.H. Burton
Please Note…
This page contains just one section of the FREE 47-page Giant Verb List PDF found here. The PDF version contains the Giant Verb List, the Giant Irregular Verb List, a Helping Verbs List, and a Linking Verbs List. Also, if you teach beginning writers or struggling writers, be sure to check out Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay on the homepage. I hope you find the verb list to be a valuable resource and tweet it, Pin-It, and tell others about it!
Two Version of the Same List:
1. The Venn Diagram (above)
2. The Two-Column Memorization List (below)
The Two-Column Memorization List
The following two-column list is divided up in order to help with easy memorization. Also, notice that the first eight words on both lists are the same exact words.
| Helping Verbs (Also called auxiliary verbs) |
Linking Verbs (Also called state of being verbs) |
|---|---|
 The Simplest Fact in all of Grammar: There are just 23 helping verbs. Memorize them. ** Please see the irregular verb section in the FREE 47-page Giant Verb List PDF in order to understand the verb column system I use for making sense of verb suffixes, verb inflections, and verb tenses. |
 Most lists of linking verbs contain around 20 words. However, some lists contain a variety of common verb phrases (helping verb + verb). Here are a few common linking-verb verb phrases: 22. can be 23. could be 24. had been 25. has been 26. have been 27. may be 28. might be 29. might have been 30. should be 31. will be AND MORE! |
Overlap between Helping Verbs and Linking Verbs
Can you tell how a word functions in a sentence just by looking at it? No. Let’s take a look at two sentences:
1. The damaged board fell from the fence. (board = noun)
2. We board the plane at 2:20 PM. (board = verb)
Not only do these two words have different meanings, but they also function as different parts of speech. This concept is very important to understand when learning linking verbs and helping verbs. Let’s take a look at three sentences:
1. Sue is happy. (is = linking verb)
2. Sue is riding her bike. (is = helping verb)
3. Sue is happy when she is riding her bike. (1st is = linking verb; 2nd is = helping verb)
As the Venn diagram visually illustrates and the Two-Column List clearly indicates, the first eight words on each list are the same words—the eight forms of BE or to be. Although these eight words look alike in a sentence, they do not function the same way. Put simply, when the words are used differently, they are different words.
Helping Verbs: IS, AM, ARE, WAS, WERE, BE, BEEN, BEING
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Linking Verbs: IS, AM, ARE, WAS, WERE, BE, BEEN, BEING
You will notice that all of the linking verbs are on the Giant Verb List or the Giant Irregular Verb List PDF. Why? Because linking verbs are main verbs. In contrast, none of the helping verbs are on the Giant Verb List or the Giant Irregular Verb List. Why? Because helping verbs are not main verbs. Once again, if the word is used as a helping verb, it is a helping verb (i.e., it is not a main verb, and it is not on the lists). However, if the word is used as a linking verb, it is a linking verb (i.e., it is a main verb, and it is on the lists). As I always say, it doesn’t matter how the word looks; it matters how the word acts.
Helping Verbs: HAVE, HAS, HAD
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Irregular Verbs: HAVE, HAS, HAD
Another confusing area of overlap is with HAVE, HAS, HAD. As the helping verb list indicates, HAVE, HAS, HAD are all helping verbs. However, HAVE is also an irregular verb (i.e., irregular main verb) with both HAS and HAD serving as inflections. Let’s take a look at three sentences:
1. Sue has a bike. (has = main verb)
2. Sue has been riding her bike. (has = helping verb)
3. Sue has a bike and has been riding it all day. (1st has = main verb; 2nd has = helping verb)
Two Sentences with a One-Letter Difference
Let’s take a look at one final example. Surprisingly, everything in these two sentences is the same except for one letter. However, as you can see, that one letter changes the way that one word acts, which changes everything.
| 1. — Helping Verb = has — Main Verb = broken — Complete Verb or Verb Phrase = has broken |
2. — Linking Verb = was — Main Verb = was — (Note: It’s the same was!) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The window has broken. | 2. The window was broken. | |||||||
| The | window | has | broken. | The | window | was | broken. | |
| article | noun | helping verb | main verb (past participle) |
article | noun | main verb (linking verb) |
adjective (predicate adjective) |
In today’s session, we are going to look at the list of 24 helping verbs, out of which 23 are commonly used.
Auxiliary Verbs are part of the verb, which is used to provide help to a main verb to form an eligible sentence structure. You can learn that the ‘Be’ verbs and models are generally considered as the Auxiliary Verbs.
Helping verbs have no meaning on their own but are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence.
Why do we need Helping Verbs in English?
Let’s know what is the purpose behind using helping verbs in English sentences. The helping verb is that they support the main verb and also conjugate it to create a verb tense.
- The first example goes like this when you use “To be” with the main verb it will create the progressive tenses in the passive voice.
- I am going to the market today. (progressive)
- The novel was written. (passive)
- The next example explains “To have” with the main verb that creates the perfect tenses.
- He has owned three bikes prior to purchasing a truck.
- She has eaten too much cake today.
Note: ‘Do’, ‘Did’ and ‘Does’ also work as auxiliaries in negative sentences and also in various interrogative forms of sentences.
So we will continue the earlier session list of helping verbs to help you learn it in a better way.
Examples of Helping Verbs with Sentences
Let’s check out the concise list of Helping Verbs with various examples that go with it.
| Do | Does | Did | Has |
| Have | Had | Is | Am |
| Are | Was | Were | Be |
| Being | Been | May | Must |
| Might | Should | Could | Would |
| Shall | Will | Can | Ought |
- She is playing volleyball.
- He is sleeping.
- They were seen.
- Do you want to go?
- He was skating in the playground.
- Mohana was drastically hit by the bike.
- We have been taking dancing lessons for five months now.
- We have lived in five different countries.
- I will definitely call you tomorrow.
- We can easily adopt a Panda.
- I may go to a new movie tonight.
- We should adopt a Panda.
- You should listen.
- We did adopt a Panda.
- Is he bringing his friend?
- We might adopt a Panda.
- We will adopt a Panda.
- He will be presenting at 3:00 p.m.
- Will you be going to work today?
- We are following your brother.
- He will be presenting at 3:00 p.m.
- I may go to a new movie tonight.
- Kate has taken the car.
- We are going to make a trip to South Africa really soon.
- You might have wasted a lot of planned tips but now it’s alright.
- Your Emilia was planning to go on a trip to South America.
- Do you want to go home?
- Albert is writing a very long message to his parents.
- She is busy doing her work for fixing a date for them.
- We have been planning it for so long.
- His mother did not know anything about the work.
- Ritika always planned it another way.
- Now, Alberto is convincing her to go with him.
- But Monika is not ready to listen to his bluffs.
- We have tried it many times.
- It hasn’t arrived yet.
- Have they brought the umbrella?
- We have been waiting for hours!
- He will have finished by 3:00 p.m.
Now your job is to highlight the helping verbs in the above sentences.
Here are some last points that you should always consider before using helping verbs.
- It should be noted that not every English sentence needs a helping verb.
- Whenever you see any verb that ends with “ing”, it means a helping verb usually accompanies it.
Conclusion:
These lessons would prove to be very helpful as they make you understand the role of helping verb (auxiliary verb and modal verb). It shows the use of helping verb in English Language and its importance and how the helping verbs are used with proper consistency. You would be now familiar with the way sentences work. We just practiced a different set of helping verbs with appropriate pronunciation and speaking skills.