Helping Verbs The present tense has two helping verbs. These verbs are Do and Does. Their negative forms are don't and doesn't.These helping verbs hide in present tense statements because we don't need them to make affirmative statements. Click on the verb to see the hidden helping verb in each statement below.
• John has does have a headache.
• It rains does rain a lot in Seattle.
• Many people drink do drink a lot of coffee in Seattle.
• Some people feel do feel sad on dark rainy days.
These helping verbs come out of hiding when we need them. When do we need them? Point on the examples.
• for negative verbs ExamplesMolly doesn't live in Seattle.
Most people don't like rainy weather.
• for short statements Example John has a headache. I don't.
Mrs. Tran goes to Doctor Bell. Her children don't.
• for yes/no questions and their short answers ExampleDoes Andrew's back still hurt?
Yes, it does.
Do people in Seattle drink a lot of coffee?
Yes, they do.
Practice: Read each sentence completely. Click on the verb to hide the helping verb. It isn't needed, so give it a rest.
1. Many ESL students do study study at San Jose City College.
2. They do take take ESL and other classes.
3. But Mariam only does take takes ESL classes.
4. She does want wants to improve her English first.
5. Some students do enroll enroll in too many courses.
6. Antonio does havehas four classes and he does workworks.
7. He often does get gets a headache.
8. Sometimes he does feel feels very tired.
Now go back to each sentence above and click on each verb twice. Do you see different patterns? What are they? Try to finish the sentence below and then click the hidden text to see if you're correct.
Present tense verbs only have [ ... ] two forms. • If the subject is I, you, we, or they, the present verb form is [ ... ]no -s ~ as in get.
• If the subject is he, she, or it, the present verb form is [ ... ]+s ~ as in gets.
And which form of the main verb do we use with do or does? Did you guess correctly? Check here. [ ... ]
[no-s, or base form] This is always true.
Now you are ready for some practice. Go to the next page.