Is the word are a helping verb

Helping verbs are used in a verb phrase (that is, with a second verb) to show tense or form a question or a negative.

Helping verbs are always followed by a second verb, and they show the perfect verb tenses, continuous/progressive verb tenses, and passive voice.

To show tense

The sentence pattern will be:

1. Subject (noun, pronoun, or noun phrase)
2. Helping verb
3. Verb
4. The rest of the sentence (adj, adv, noun, prepositional phrase, etc.)

To form a question

The sentence structure will be:

1. Helping verb
2. Subject (noun, pronoun, or noun phrase)
3. Verb
4. The rest of the sentence (adj, adv, noun, prepositional phrase, etc.)

Categories

There are three categories for helping verbs: “Do/be/have”, one-word modals, and two-word modals.

Do/Be/Have

These help other verbs make questions, negatives, and some verb tenses. Remember: Do, be, and have are helping verbs only when they are used with a second verb.

Do is a helping verb when it is used to indicate questions, negatives, and emphasis.

Be is a helping verb when it is used to form the continuous/progressive tense or to show passive voice.

HAVE is a helping verb when it is used to show the perfect verb tenses, or used to form a question.

These sentences are in question form. Do/Does/Did are used as helping verbs with Have to form these questions.

• Do you have a car?
• Does he have a car?
• Did he have a car before?

Emphasis with Do

To respond to a statement like, “You don’t want to go to the park,” you may want to reply with great emphasis. Situations like that are perfect for using Do/Does/Did to indicate you really mean something.

In these sentences, Do/Does/Did are used with the verb Want.

• I do want to go to the park.
• He does want to go to the park.
• They really did want to go to the park.

Negatives with Do

Do/Does/Did are used as helping verbs and the word Not to form a negative. In these sentences, they again are used with Want.

• I do not want to go to the zoo.
• He does not want to go to the zoo.
• They did not want to go to the zoo.

Continuous tense with Be

These sentences use Am/Was/Will Be (forms of the verb Be) to form the continuous verb tense with the verb Helping.

• I am helping Diane right now.
• I was helping Diane when George paged me.
• I will be helping Diane when George comes home.

Passive voice with Be

These sentences use Is/Was/Will Be with the verb Canceled to show passive voice.

• The picnic is being canceled because of rain.
• The picnic was canceled because of rain.
• The picnic will be canceled because of rain.

Perfect tense with Have

These sentences use Have/Had with the verb Studied to show the perfect tense.

• I have studied French for two years.
• I had studied French for two years before I went to Paris.
• I will have studied French for three years in August.

Questions with Have

Have is used with the verb Seen to make a question.

• Have you seen that new movie yet?

Modals

Modals are a special kind of helping verb, used to show possibility, probability, and necessity. They:

• Do not show tense
• Do not follow subject/verb agreement
• Do not add an “-s” in the third person singular (he, she, it)
• Are not conjugated

Like other helping verbs, modals are always followed by a second verb. But the second verb follows a different conjugation pattern if a modal is present. The second verb can never add “-s,” “-es,” “-ed,” or “-ing.” It also cannot be in the infinitive form (“to …”) or in the gerund form (“…-ing”).

When using modals, the sentence structure will be:

1. Subject (noun, pronoun, or noun phrase)
2. Modal (should, would, could, may, might, etc.)
3. Verb
4. The rest of the sentence (adj, adv, noun, prepositional phrase, etc.)

The Modal page of this guide includes more information on modals, including sentence examples.

Auxiliary (or Helping) verbs are used together with a main verb to show the verb’s tense or to form a negative or question. The most common auxiliary verbs are have, be, and do.

1. Does Sam write all his own reports?
2. The secretaries haven’t written all the letters yet.
3. Terry is writing an e-mail to a client at the moment.

Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, add functional or grammatical meaning to the clauses in which they appear. They perform their functions in several different ways:

• By expressing tense ( providing a time reference, i.e. past, present, or future)
• Grammatical aspect (expresses how verb relates to the flow of time)
• Modality (quantifies verbs)
• Voice (describes the relationship between the action expressed by the verb and the participants identified by the verb’s subject, object, etc.)
• Adds emphasis to a sentence

Auxiliary verbs almost always appear together with a main verb, and though there are only a few of them, they are among the most frequently occurring verbs in the English language.

How to Identify an Auxiliary Verb

You probably know that every sentence has at least one verb in it. There are two main types of verbs. Action verbs are used to depict activities that are doable, and linking verbs are used to describe conditions. Both action verbs and linking verbs can accompany auxiliary verbs including the three main ones: do, be, and have.

Sometimes actions or conditions occur only one time and then they’re over. It’s at times like these that some of the same verbs that are used as auxiliary verbs are instead used as action or linking verbs. In this example, we see the word “is”. This is one of the most common auxiliary verbs, but because it stands alone here, it is not functioning as an auxiliary verb.

Jerry slammed the car door on his thumb. He is in horrible pain.

“Is” is a linking verb in this sentence. Because it stands alone, it is not an auxiliary verb.

At other times, an action or condition is ongoing, happening predictably, or occurring in relationship to another event or set of events. In these cases, single-word verbs like is are not accurately capable of describing what happened, so phrases that include auxiliary verbs are used instead. These can be made up of anywhere from two to four words.

A main verb, also known as a base verb, indicates the kind of action or condition taking place. An auxiliary or helping verb accompanies the main verb and conveys other nuances that help the reader gain specific insight into the event that is taking place.

Read the following sentences and explanations to gain greater insight into how auxiliary verbs work.

1. Jerry caught his thumb in the car door as coffee spilled from his cup onto his favorite shirt.
2. Jerry is always spilling things.
3. Since Jerry is also accident prone, he should have been drinking coffee from a mug with a lid, which would not have spilled on his favorite shirt.

In sentence one, caught and spilled, single-word verbs, describe quick, one-time actions of both Jerry and his messy coffee. This sentence does not contain an auxiliary verb.

Since Jerry often has unfortunate accidents, is spilling communicates the frequency of his clumsy actions in sentence two. In sentence three, the auxiliary verbs that make up should have been drinking and would have stained express time relationships as well as an evaluation of Jerry’s actions.

Three Common Auxiliary Verbs

There are just three common auxiliary verbs:

• Have
• Do
• Be

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at how these common verbs work, plus you’ll see some examples.

Have

“Have” is a very important verb that can stand alone in all its tenses, including has, have, having, had, and hadn’t or had not. It is usually used to denote ownership, and it can also be used to discuss ability or describe appearance. “Have” is also a very popular substitute for the verbs “eat” and “drink.” For example: “Let’s have dinner.”

When used as an auxiliary verb, have is always teamed up with another verb to create a complete verb phrase, making it easy to differentiate between uses. You can see the difference in the sentences below:

• Jerry has a large coffee stain on his shirt. → Has = action verb
• Jerry has bought a new shirt to replace the one that was ruined earlier. → Has = auxiliary verb; bought is a past participle that competes the verb phrase.
• Jerry should have been more careful! → Have = auxiliary verb; phrase “should have been” expresses time and evaluates Jerry’s actions.

Do

“Do” can be used as an action verb that stands alone in all its tenses, including to do, do, does, done, did and didn’t, doesn’t or did not .

When used as an auxiliary verb, do is always paired up with another verb to create a complete verb phrase. In some cases, it is used to add emphasis: “I did put the garbage out!” Do is often used to form questions and negated clauses. It is also used in elliptical sentences, where the main verb is understood and is omitted as a result. For example: “He plays piano well, doesn’t he?” or “They all had dinner, but I didn’t.”

• Because he spills things so often, Jerry does more laundry than most people.  Does = action verb
• Jerry didn’t put his coffee in a cup with a lid.  Didn’t = auxiliary verb
• Jerry doesn’t always spill things, but it happens a lot.  Doesn’t = auxiliary verb

Be

“Be” or “to be” is an important verb that has a multitude of uses in English. It can be used as an action verb that stands alone in all its tenses including be, to be, been, am, are, is, was, were, wasn’t, was not aren’t, are not, weren’t and were not.

When used as an auxiliary verb, be is always paired with another verb to create a complete verb phrase. It can be singular or plural, present or past. Negative sentences are formed by adding the word “not”.

• Jerry is messy.  Is = action verb
• Although he is always complaining about his accidents, Jerry fails to pay attention.  is = auxiliary verb
• Jerry is going to be doing extra laundry for the rest of his life.  to be = auxiliary verb

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

In addition to the three main auxiliary verbs, have, do, and be, there are additional auxiliary verbs. These are called modal auxiliary verbs, and they never change form. A complete list of modal auxiliary verbs follows:

• Can
• Could
• May
• Might
• Must
• Ought to
• Shall
• Should
• Will
• Would

Auxiliary Verb Examples

Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs and verb phrases. In the examples below, the verb phrase is italicized and the auxiliary verb is in bold.

1. Jessica is taking John to the airport.
2. If he doesn’t arrive on time, he’ll have to take a later flight.
3. Unfortunately, our dinner has been eaten by the dog.
4. I have purchased a new pair of shoes to replace the ones that were lost in my luggage.
5. We hope you don’t have an accident on your way to school.
6. She was baking a pie for dessert.
7. Dad has been working hard all day.
8. The bed was made as soon as I got up.
9. Sarah doesn’t ski or roller skate.
10. Did Matthew bring coffee?

Auxiliary Verb Exercises

Fill in the blank with the correct auxiliary verb from the choices presented:

1. What ________________ the kids doing when you last saw them? (was, were, are, did, been)
2. Carla ________________ always wanted to try skydiving. (was, doesn’t, has, is, have)
3. Where __________________ you go on your summer vacation? (were, been, are, did, does)
4. Why do you think she __________ call you like she said she would? (didn’t, is, hasn’t, has been, have)
5. Mary _____________ going to be upset when she hears what happened. (will, don’t, is, didn’t, has)
6. Jeremy _____________ want to go to the movies; he wants to stay home instead. (doesn’t, isn’t, wasn’t, hasn’t, was not)
7. I _________________ appreciate his jokes. They weren’t funny. (did, have, been, didn’t, haven’t)
8. I really like fish but I _______________ care for meat. (weren’t, been, don’t, is, was)
9. Where _____________ you going when I saw you last night? (were, was, is, do, did)
10. Tara ________________ called yet; she’s late as usual. (are, were, has, hasn’t, wouldn’t)

Answers: 1 – were, 2 – has, 3 – did, 4 – didn’t, 5 – is, 6 – doesn’t, 7 – didn’t, 8 – don’t, 9 – were, 10 – hasn’t

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 phrase. Sometimes it is also called a verb marker, because it indicates that a verb is to follow.

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:

Jim walks quickly.

Walks 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 to convey that he’s doing it right now:

Jim is walking quickly.

You see we now have two verbs. The main verb is walking. The word is has been added to “help” further describe the main verb. In this case, the helping verb (is) 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, that action can apply to any place and any time. By saying Jim is walking, we know his action is happening in this moment.

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 with a possible condition and a probable result:

If he sees an ice cream truck at the end of the street, Jim will walk quickly.

The main verb is still walk, but our helping verb is now will to let the reader know the time of the action is in the future.

Three Common Helping Verbs

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.

Here are some helping-verb varieties you probably use every day:

To be: is, am, are, was, were, will be

To have: have, has, had, will have

To do: do, does, did, will do

Examples
We were shopping at the mall yesterday.

Joan had been unaware of that until you informed her.

Chris will do what is required to make the delivery on time.

Let’s look at a few more examples:

The dog was eating the food in the bowl.

Janine has visited her mother.

If you’re wondering, Robert did rehearse for several weeks before opening night.

Other helping verbs you might see paired with main verbs include would, should, could, shall, may, might, and can.

Pop Quiz

Identify the helping verbs in the following sentences.

1. Christy will be dancing at the wedding.
2. Did you bake that cake on the counter?
3. You have slept longer than usual today.
4. I am flying to Cleveland next month.
5. Bruce was seen by a specialist at the clinic.

Pop Quiz Answers

1. Christy will be dancing at the wedding.
2. Did you bake that cake on the counter?
3. You have slept longer than usual today.
4. I am flying to Cleveland next month.
5. Bruce was seen by a specialist at the clinic.

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Helping verbs (auxiliary verbs) do just what their name implies. They help the main verb in the sentence by telling more about the verb’s tense, mood, and voice. 

Main Verbs, Helping Verbs, & Verb Phrases

There are many, many verbs that can function as main verbs (walk, run, think, say, sleep, seem etc.), but there are only a handful of verbs that can function as helping verbs.

When we put one or more helping/auxiliary verb with a main verb, we get what is called a verb phrase. 

(Every sentence needs to have at least one main verb, but not every sentence needs a helping/auxiliary verb.)

Before we move on, I need to tell you something important. Are you ready? Good! The verbs on that list above can function as helping verbs. That wording is very important because some of those words can also function as main verbs. Let’s look at an example using the word was.

Sometimes, the helping and main verbs are separated by other words. This often happens when we ask questions. With questions, the auxiliary verb tends to come at the beginning of the sentence, and the main verb comes later.

Words like never, not, and the contraction n’t are not part of the verb. They are adverbs.

Psst! Have you ever heard of modal verbs? Modals are a type of helping verb that show the speaker’s attitude about what they are communicating. 

Verb Phrases Act as Verbs

This seems obvious, right? They are made up of verbs, so what else would they be acting as?

The point here is that they are made up of multiple words and all of the words come together to act as one part of speech, a verb. 

The cheesecake might be exploding.

Might be exploding is telling us what the cheesecake is doing. It’s acting as a single unit: a verb.

Did you call Owen?

Did call is asking what you did. It’s acting as a single unit: a verb.

Owen has become a great cook.

Has become is telling us Owen’s state of being. It’s acting as a single unit: a verb.

Sentence diagrams can help us see that verb phrases function as verbs. Sentence diagrams are pictures of sentences that show us how parts of a sentence are related. They make the relationships between words, phrases, and clauses visual.

Verb phrases are diagrammed in the verb slot of the sentence diagram. They go on a horizontal line right after the subject. All of the words in the verb phrase go in the same slot because all of the words are coming together to function as the verb!

Remember that verb phrases are made up of at least one helping verb and a main verb.

Let’s look at an example sentence diagram with an actual sentence. 

Must and have are helping verbs, and jumped is a main verb. These three verbs together form a verb phrase. 

Don’t Get Tricked

There you have it! Now you’re a pro at identifying and understanding helping verbs!