1
Choose the verb form that agrees with its subject
Is, has, does, was and the -s form for he, she and it; are, were, have and do for the rest; am for I.
Course · English
Helping Verbs
Most mistakes with English verbs are mistakes with the small word in front of the verb. This course takes those words one rule at a time, runs each rule over one printed chapter of a novel and two modern documents in your browser, and prints every line the rule gets wrong beside the line it gets right.
he, she, it is has does was
I am
you, we, they are have do were
modal + bare verb can go
not after the first helping verb
no helping verb? add do
What this course is about
- Subject
- English
- Lessons
- 6
- Format
- Interactive
Overview
What you will be able to do
By the end you can say what a helping verb does in front of any verb you meet, check a sentence of your own against six rules, and give the share of real text each rule covers.
2
Name the nine modal verbs and the form that follows each
Can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will and would, each followed by a verb with no ending.
3
Tell have the helping verb from have the main verb
A form such as seen after it makes it a helping verb; a noun phrase after it makes it a main verb. The scan sorts the chapter's 37 forms of have 17 helping and 10 main, and misses seven helping verbs; read by hand, 24 are helping verbs.
4
Say what follows be on a real page
The scan finds an -ing form after it 6 times in 137 in the chapter, and a reader finds one more. Most of the time be is the main verb, with a noun phrase, a word for what the subject is like, or a place after it.
5
Put not where the rule puts it, and add do when there is nothing to put it after
After the first helping verb, or after a new do. The chapter shows 29 of 39 where the rule says, and sorts the other ten.
6
Read off which of the twelve boxes writers use
Sorted from the words after each pronoun, the chapter's simple boxes and the phrases with a modal in front carry just over half of what is written. The lab files 3 phrases in 216 as progressive.
Lessons
6 lessons
Agreement and the form with no ending come first, because they are the rules with the highest scores. Then the two words that help another verb only some of the time. The last two put the helping verbs together: where not sits, and which of the twelve boxes get used.
The -s Belongs to He, She and ItOn a noun the -s means more than one; on a verb it means exactly one.Not marked
After a Modal, the Verb Is BareNine words take the tense, and the verb after them takes nothing.Not marked
Have Is Two WordsSometimes it helps another verb, and sometimes it is the verb.Not marked
Be Is Mostly a Main VerbClassrooms teach be as the helping verb of the -ing form. On the page it is rarely that.Not marked
Where Not Goes, and When Do ArrivesNot goes after the first helping verb. If there is none, do arrives to be the helping verb.Not marked
Which of the Twelve Boxes Get UsedThe tense table has twelve boxes. A writer lives in a few of them.Not marked
Recommended background
Tense Tables and Irregular Verbs. A helping verb is only useful if you can name the form that comes after it: the base, the -ing form, the form after have; and those two courses build and list every one. The number work is counting and working out a share.
Practice suggestions
Read the printed chapter before you trust a number. Every figure on these pages is counted on a text you can read under the table, and each row the scan looked at is printed with the reason it was sorted where it was.
Switch the lab to the two modern documents. The chapter is from 1813. A rule that holds in both has no age; a rule that changes between them tells you something about how English moved.
Open the rows the rule does not cover first. They are fewer than the rows it covers, and they are where the lesson is: a rule and its short list of misses beats a long list of cases.
What it does not cover
Choosing a box. This course shows which boxes writers use and how often. It never says which one to use, because that depends on what you mean, and no count of printed words can see what you mean.
Short questions added at the end of a sentence, such as is it not? There are too few in the texts to measure: seven in the novel and nineteen in the play, which makes a list and not a rate.
Sentences with if, and reported speech. Each one pairs a verb in one clause with a verb in another, and the scan reads only a few words at a time. The old wish form (if I were) is named where the chapter prints it and left there.
How the helping verbs sound. They are said quickly and lightly, and that is Listening, not this course.