Is the word did a verb

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The verb do in English has a huge meaning. If you know how do and does differ from each other when did is used, why sometimes we translate the verb do, and sometimes not, then you may well communicate with foreigners and express simple thoughts competently.

If not, then rather read the article, today we expose all the secrets of the cunning verb do and its comrades!

DOES or DO: the rule of smart choice

In English, the verbs do and does are found literally at every step. Let’s see when do / does are used and how they differ from each other at all. Both do and does translate to «to do». Moreover, does is just another form of the verb do.

The use of do / does depends on who or what it is about.

If we are talking about the third person singular (he / she / it — he / she / it), then the ending -es is added to do, as to any other verb. Thus, when speaking of someone / something in the third person, we use does. In all other persons do is used.

Mary does this work with no enthusiasm.
Mary does this job without the slightest enthusiasm.

The subject can not always be expressed by a pronoun or one noun. And then it becomes difficult to understand what to choose, do or does:

Mike and Jim usually do their homework in the afternoon.
Mike and Jim usually do their homework during the day.

In the place of the subject — Mike and Jim. There are two of them. If we replace the names with pronouns, then we choose they — they. Third person, plural. In this case, do is used.

Do / does: use as a semantic
and auxiliary verb

Do can act as a semantic or auxiliary verb.

What does it mean? Most verbs in the English language are semantic — they have meaning, have a translation, denote some kind of action (or state). Actually, this is the most common predicate, expressed by a verb.

For example:
Nancy bakes a cake every Sunday.
Nancy bakes a cake every Sunday.

Without translating the verb bake — bake — we cannot convey the meaning of the whole sentence.

And there are auxiliary verbs. They serve only for the formation of one or another grammatical form and do not have their own translation in the sentence. This is an important part of the sentence, without which it will «fall apart», but at the same time this separate semantic verb will practically not affect the overall translation.

For example, the auxiliary verb be (to be) in a sentence:
The cake is baked by Nancy.
The cake is baked by Nancy.

Be (is) is needed here only to form the form of the passive voice: is baked. The translation will sound “baked”, but not “to be baked”.

So the verb do can be both semantic and auxiliary. Being semantic, it has the translation «to do».

As an auxiliary, it helps to build a sentence in accordance with the rules of grammar and does not have its own translation.

Do as an auxiliary verb is needed to ask a question or formulate a negation in Present Simple. When it comes to he / she / it (3rd person singular), does is used. How this happens, we will now see.

Do / does question

When forming an interrogative sentence, we put do or does in the first place in the sentence:

Do you understand me?
You understand me?

Does John understand anything?
Does John understand anything?

Neither do nor does are translated in this case. Their task is to work as bricks in the construction of the proposal. They do not have their own translation.

Please note that if in a negative or interrogative sentence we are talking about the third person singular (he / she / it), we use does (do + es) and we will not add any ending to the semantic verb — one indicator of the third person is completely enough.

Does John understand anything? (Does John understand anything?)
Does Margaret live in the city? (Does Margaret live in the city?)

Special question with do / does

For questions that begin with what, where, when, why, etc. (such a question is called a special question), Present Simple also uses the auxiliary verb do / does. And it is put right after the question word:

How often do you eat ice cream?
How often do you eat ice cream?

Where does Jack go every summer?
Where does Jack go every summer?

Exception: If we ask a question for a subject and use interrogative words who? (who) and what? (what), we do not need the auxiliary verb do / does, and the semantic verb will always be in the third person singular, i.e. ending with — (e) s:

Who eat fish?
Who eats fish?

What usually falls from the sky in winter?
What usually falls from the sky in winter?

Please note that in such a question, with who and what, the verb does can be encountered, BUT only if it is a semantic verb, and not an auxiliary verb.

Who does housework at your place?
Who is your housekeeper?

In this case, does is no different from any other action verb — eat, dance, play, etc.

Negation with do / does

When forming a negation, we add a negative particle not to do / does:

I do not want to listen to Jack.
I don’t want to listen to Jack.

He does not want to confirm our meeting.
He doesn’t want to confirm our meeting.

As we can see, in the negation, do, as in the question, is not translated in any way.

Do + not or does + not is placed between the subject and the predicate:

Julia and I don’t trust him.
Julia and I don’t trust him.

You can use the abbreviated form: Do not = don’t

Does not = doesn’t

I don’t understand you. (I do not understand you.)
He doesn’t speak Spanish. (He doesn’t speak Spanish.)

Remember that when does is used in negation, the action verb is used without the ending — (e) s:

Jack doesn’t cucumbers.
Jack doesn’t like cucumbers.

The verb did. When is it put, what does it mean, and why is it needed in a sentence

Do is an irregular verb. Like any irregular verb, it has three forms that you need to know by heart:

Do — did — done

Source: https://puzzle-english.com/directory/dodiddoes

Alexander Kahn Cultural Observer

Image copyright Getty Images

BBC television showed the film «Ambassadors of Jazz» — about how jazz and jazz musicians were used in the Cold War between Soviet and American propaganda. Correspondent РRussian service Bi-bi-si on cultural issues, Alexander Kan recalls how it was from the “other side”.

The Achilles Heel of American Propaganda

At the very beginning of the 1950s, when it became clear that the Soviet Union possessed not only an atomic, but also a hydrogen bomb, and that a “hot war” between ideological antagonists would bring death to all of humanity, a cold war came to the fore — the struggle for a dominant position in world public opinion.

It is for this purpose — to win over the views of people around the world — in 1953, by decree of President Eisenhower, the United States Information Agency (USIA) was established.

“In many countries of the world, people have not yet decided on whose side they stand in the struggle between freedom and slavery. These countries are of key importance, because if they are lost to us, strategic regions and irreplaceable resources will go with them, ”the USIA’s mission statement said. A part of the USIA was the Voice of America radio station, broadcasting on short wave in different languages ​​of the world.

There was, however, one aspect of American life that the USIA and Voice of America preferred to keep silent about — racial segregation. But on the other hand, Soviet propaganda paid close attention to him. And with enthusiasm she told about it not only to the citizens of the USSR, but all over the world.

Back in 1932, Soviet animation director Ivan Ivanov-Vano made an animated film about the oppression of blacks in America, Black and White, based on lyrics by Vladimir Mayakovsky, accompanied by the famous spiritual Motherless Child performed by the African American communist singer Paul Robson.

Image copyright Lev Porter / TASS Image caption American communist singer Paul Robson was favored by the Soviet authorities. The picture shows a performance at the Moscow Sports Palace on April 16, 1958.

At the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, Soviet propaganda revelations of the hypocrisy of American claims of freedom against a backdrop of racial inequality and discrimination only intensified. Moreover, the American realities have thrown up enough reasons for this.

The story of the 1955 lynching of a 14-year-old black teenager Emmeret Till for allowing himself to speak freely with a white woman in Mississippi, and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers, spread throughout the world and was pedaled in every possible way aimed at the outside world Soviet propaganda.

The truth of the story was undeniable, and it caused colossal damage to the international image of the United States. The racial problem has become the Achilles heel of American diplomacy and American propaganda.

Jazz Hour and Willis Conover

On January 6, 1955, the Voice of America in English launched the first edition of the new program Jazz Hour.

Jazz, then still practically banned in the countries of the Soviet bloc («Today you play jazz, and tomorrow you will sell your homeland!» x years), in the bowels of the State Department was perceived as one of the most effective ideological and cultural tools in the dissemination of American values ​​and American culture.

From the very first edition of the program, 35-year-old Willis Conover became the host of the Hour of Jazz. In his past life, he was neither a specialist nor a great connoisseur of jazz, but, like all young people of his generation, he listened with pleasure to the then most popular music in America.

In 1942 he was drafted into the army and in the army club near Washington he began to actively sort through and put on the turntable one after another the jazz records available in the club’s library. One of the waitresses was so impressed with the young soldier’s enthusiasm that she introduced him to her husband, the manager of a local radio station.

At the end of the service, Conover received a place as a DJ for a jazz program, the only one at that time in the American capital.

When the Voice of America leadership decided to air a jazz program, Conover was the natural choice to host it. Like all the hosts of the Voice of America programs in English, Conover spoke deliberately slowly, articulating every word very clearly, realizing that it would be difficult for listeners in different countries of the world to understand him otherwise.

Conover’s charm, his enchanting, enveloping baritone and his ability to unobtrusively introduce the listener to the best examples of truly American music won in the end. Millions of jazz lovers around the world joined their radios every evening and, thanks to Willis Conover, got acquainted with new recordings and listened to old jazz classics. He often invited jazz stars to his studio to talk about their work and their music.

And although Conover did not touch on political topics in his program, the idea of ​​freedom — as the main meaning and main content of jazz music and the main idea of ​​American life — ran through all his programs.

“Jazz guarantees absolute freedom to all musicians. Freedom through understanding and cooperation. This is also the main idea of ​​America, ”he said.

Louis Armstrong — forerunner of the Jazz Ambassadors program

On May 23, 1956, the great trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong and his All Stars played in front of an audience of 100 in the city of Accra, the capital of the then British Gold Coast colony, which is about to become independent Ghana in six months.

Armstrong performed for the first time in Africa and was amazed how the fame of him and the music he plays — American music, but with its roots going here, to Africa — reached a distant continent.

In Washington, Satchmo’s performance — as in America they affectionately called the good-natured and charming singer and musician, who by that time had already become the favorite of the whole country — did not go unnoticed.

The most progressive politicians in Washington have begun to realize that jazz can become a powerful weapon in the struggle for the hearts and minds of the newly independent countries of the former colonial empires. And it is possible and necessary to carry it into the world not only on radio waves.

However, for this, for the organization of state-sponsored tours, money was needed — much more serious than those that went to the programs of the Voice of America.

«Liberal anti-communism» of the black congressman

The American Congress, which consisted of fairly conservative people, many of whom also represented the racist-minded South, was by no means ready to allocate money for «frivolous» jazz music, which was performed mostly by people whom they considered second class.

One man was able to break through the ice of resistance — Adam Clayton Powell, the first black congressman in the history of America from the state of New York. He was not only not afraid to raise racial issues in Congress, but also openly challenged the segregation prevailing in the American capital, demonstratively diving into the Congressional basin, on which, as it was then everywhere in America, was adorned with the inscription «For whites only.»

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption New York State’s first black congressman, Adam Clayton Powell, founder of the Jazz Ambassadors program

Like many educated African Americans, Powell was an ardent devotee of jazz and was friends with Duke Ellington. His wife was the popular jazz singer, pianist and actress Hazel Scott, as well as her husband, who actively spoke out on racial issues.

In their person, Powell and Scott combined the power of New York show business and Washington politics.

Powell was the first American politician to recognize the need to actively win over the emerging independent Third World states to America’s side.

Despite the ban of President Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, he, independently securing journalistic accreditation, went to Indonesia in 1955, to the so-called Bandung Conference of 28 Asian and African countries, which laid the foundation for the Non-Aligned Movement. Contrary to the fears of official Washington, he did not criticize there, but defended America.

“Through racial minorities in our country, we can establish strong ties with the countries of Africa and Asia, as opposed to the communist influence,” — this is how he explained the purpose of his trip. He called his policy «liberal anti-communism.»

«Сool war « вa place «was cold«

On his return to Washington, Powell was greeted with a standing ovation in Congress. He felt that he could now realize his long-held dream of using African American music to win the hearts and minds of Third World people to America’s side and improve America’s image around the world.

He managed to convince President Eisenhower and State Department officials of this, and in the end, standing on the steps of Congress, he was able to announce the creation of the Jazz Ambassadors program. Next to him stood, as he said, his «great friend» — the famous jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption “My pipe is my weapon. We will turn the Cold War into a «cool war» — said its first ambassador, Dizzy Gillespie, at the announcement of the «Ambassadors of Jazz» program.

Gillespie, holding his signature curved pipe, proclaimed, “This is my weapon. We will turn the cold war into a cool war. » He used the word “cool”, which by that time meant not only “cool”, but was also the name of the most fashionable jazz style cool jazz and was already in full use in the meaning of “stylish, fashionable, cool”.

“It was a great honor for me to be the first musician to represent the United States with such a cultural mission. I liked the idea, but I was not going to apologize for the racial policy of the United States or to justify it on these trips, ”wrote Gillespie many years later in his autobiography.

Gillespie’s mixed black and white ensemble has visited Turkey, Syria, Iran, Pakistan. In Turkey, they were overtaken by the news of the assault by anti-American Greek students of the US Embassy in Athens. Gillespie was immediately seconded there, made a special speech at the university, and the same students who almost the day before with anger shouted anti-American slogans and threw stones at the embassy building, enthusiastically greeted the American jazzman.

Defiant Armstrong

Encouraged by the success, USIA officials decided to use the main jazz trump card — Louis Armstrong, especially since he already had extremely successful concerts in the future Ghana.

Armstrong was in the mid-1950s, before Elvis Presley, the most popular American in the world. His European tour was such a success that Columbia Records — without any connection to the USIA program — named the live recording from Europe «Ambassador Satch».

The New York Times went even further in its front-page headline: «The United States has a secret sonic weapon, jazz.»

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Louis Armstrong, his wife Lucille and the first prime minister of independent Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. Accra, 1956

Armstrong, however, for all his complacency, was not such an obedient puppet. Even at that very memorable concert in Accra, in the presence of the future first president of independent Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, he sang the classic Fats Waller standard Black and Blue:

Source: https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-52770393

Yes, I do! Yes, I am! Short Answers in English

One of the features of the English language that is not in Russian is short answers to questions… In Russian, of course, there are also short answers, but in English they are built in a completely different way, inherent in the English language, which often confuses beginners.

Complete and short answers to questions in English

Many questions in English can be answered fully or briefly. The full answer uses yes / no + the words spoken in the question, and the short answer replaces those words with an auxiliary or modal verb.

I will give examples:

• Question: Do you pineapple juice? — Do you like pineapple juice?
• Full answer: Yes, I pineapple juice. — Yes, I like pineapple juice.
• Short answer: Yes, I do. — Yes, I like it.
• Possible still completely monosyllabic option: Yes. — Yes.

Note: For obvious reasons, you can only briefly answer questions that imply an affirmative or negative answer. You cannot answer “yes” or “no”, say, to the question “Do you need tea or coffee?”.

There are no difficulties with a complete answer: we answer yes / no and explain what exactly we agree with or not. The only problem is that in colloquial speech people rarely answer in such a detailed way — it sounds somehow unnatural. It is not often that the monosyllables “yes” or “no” are answered — it can sound rude. But the short answer, like its analogue in Russian (see the example above), is very common. If you want your speech to sound more natural, you should definitely learn short answers.

How are short questions built? How to choose between “I do”, “I am”, “I have”, etc.?

The principle is simple: in the answer we use the auxiliary or modal verb that sounded in the question, discarding unnecessary details. Adding “yes” or “no” at the beginning is optional.

We answer using to do in the form that suits the answer. The verb to do in the answer will replace the main verb from the question and related words. Let’s look at some examples.

— Do you know John? — Yes, I do.

— Do you know John? — Yes I know.

Here “I do” means “I know John”.

— Does he dogs? — No, he doesn’t.

— Does she like dogs? — No, they don’t.

“He doesn’t” = “He doesn’t dogs”.

— Did you see that? — Yes, we did.

— Did you see that? — Yes, we did.

We did mean we saw that.

• Questions with the verb to have

We briefly answer questions with to have using to have in the desired form. Do not be confused that questions with to have can be varied: the verb to have can be used as a semantic verb, meaning “to have”:

— Have you got a lighter? — Yes, I Have / No, I haven’t

— Do you have lit up? — Yes, there is / no.

and can be used to plot Perfect times:

— Has she finished reading? — Yes, she has / No, she hasn’t.

«Has she finished reading yet?» — Yes, I finished / did not finish.

— Have you been waiting for me? — Yes, I Have / No, I haven’t.

— You were waiting for me? — Yes, I did / no, I didn’t.

— Had you left before they could see you? — Yes, I HAD / No, I hadn’t.

«Did you leave before she could see you?» — Yes, he left / No, he didn’t.

The simplest is in the short answer either will or won’t (will not / ‘ll not).

— Will you stay with me? — Yes, I will / No, I won’t.

— Will you stay with me? — Yes, I will / No, I will not.

— Will Masha be waiting for him? — Yes, she will / No, she won’t.

— Will Masha wait for him? — Yes, it will / No, it won’t.

Here you need not to get confused and in the answer use the form of the verb to be that fits the answer, that is, if the pronoun we is in the answer, then we choose the form are, if he, we choose is, etc., therefore, in the question and answer sometimes there will be different shapes to be.

— Are are you ready? — Yes, I am. (the same case with different forms to be)

— You are ready? — Yes, I’m ready.

— Am I crazy? — No, I am not!

— I’m crazy? — No, I’m not crazy.

— Is he sure? — Yes, he is.

— He is sure? — No, I’m not sure.

— Are we leaving now? — Yes, we ares.

— Are we leaving now? — Yes, we’re leaving.

— Are they stolen? — Yes, they ares.

— Are they stolen? — Yes, stolen.

• Questions with modal verbs

Modal verbs, unlike to do, to be, to have, do not have different forms for different persons and numbers, so it is even easier with them. In the answer, we use the same modal verb as in the question — that’s all.

— Can you dance tango? — Yes, I can.

— Can you dance tango? — Yes I can.

— Could you hear that noise? — No, couldn’t.

— Did you hear this noise? — No, I haven’t.

— Shouldn’t you be at the class now? — I shouldn’t. It’s sunday!

“Shouldn’t you be in class now? — I shouldn’t, today is Sunday!

Please note that on polite requests to “can”, “could”, “may”, we usually DO NOT answer briefly “Yes, I could”, “Yes, I may” — it would sound strange, maybe even rude. Compare with the Russian version:

— Could

Source: https://langformula.ru/english-grammar/short-answer/

I think “did” work as a normal verb in this situation, but I’m not sure about it. I would like to have your opinion. Thank you!

Answer

To do one’s best is an idiom which means to do something as well as one can, so the sentence may also read:

I did everything I could.

or

I did my best.

In both examples the verb to do has its literal meaning of to carry out an action/actions, so did, in the examples, is just the past form of the verb.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Zoltan King , Answer Author : Victor B.