Main verb : Main verb In a sentence, if there is only 1 verb form, it is a main verb.
Eg:- He went to school.
They are students.
Auxiliary verb. : Auxiliary verb. If there are more than 1 verb form in a sentence, the first form/s is/are auxiliary verb/s. For ex:- I am staying with my son.
He has gone to Singapore. I’ll be going there today.
We should have been writing the exam. They must have been very tired.
Which are the auxiliaries here?
Which are the main verbs in these sentences? : Which are the main verbs in these sentences? 1. She is beautiful.
2. They left early.
3. The teacher stays in a flat.
4. The man has a stick with him.
5. She has a second chance.
6. You are going now.
7. They have gone home.
8. The boy is playing in the garden.
9. She does her work quietly.
10. He doesn’t go there often.
The forms of ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ : The forms of ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ The specialty of these three verb forms are that they can be used both as main and auxiliary.
So how to identify in which way they are used?
It is simple from the description given about the main and auxiliary verbs.
‘Be’ forms : ‘Be’ forms Am, is and are in the present tense
Was and were in the past tense
Look at the sentences give below: They are children. They are playing football.
I am a teacher. I am teaching English.
Can you say which is the main verb and which one is auxiliary?
‘do’ forms : ‘do’ forms Do, does – present tense
Did – past tense
Look at the sentences now: They do a lot of reading. They don’t want to read. Do you want that?
Identify how ‘do’ is used in these.
Make sentences using ‘does’ and ‘did’ in the same way.
‘have’ forms : ‘have’ forms Has and have –present tense
Had – past tense
Now the sentences: She has a kid. She has studied well.
The children had a nice time. They have gone home now.
Make sentences with have and had, one as the main and one as auxiliary.