Auxiliary Verbs Examples

What Are Auxiliary Verbs? (with Examples)

An auxiliary verb (or a helping verb as it's also called) accompanies a main verb to help express its tense, mood, or voice. The most common auxiliary verbs are be, do, and have. You will see these in the following forms:

Be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been
Do: does, do, did
Have: has, have, had, having

Modal auxiliary verbs are also auxiliary verbs. They are can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would. (These never change their forms.)

Examples of Auxiliary Verbs

Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs expressing tense (main verbs in bold): Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs expressing voice: Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs being used to express mood:

Auxiliary Verbs and Verb Phrases

A verb phrase is made up of the auxiliary verb(s) and the main verb. In the examples below, the verb phrase is shaded with main verb in bold: Be aware that any adverbs which appear alongside or inside the verb phrase are not part of the verb phrase. For example:
Click on the auxiliary verbs:



 

CAN AND MAY

Remember, can is used for capability, and may is used for permission.

Younger sister: Can I listen to your CDs when you're out this evening?

Older sister: You can, but don't step foot in my bedroom.

Younger sister: May I listen to your CDs when you're out this evening?

Older sister: No.

Nowadays, can and may are used interchangably. This ruling is only for the grammatically pure!

Read more about can and may.


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See Also

What is tense? What is mood? What is voice? What are adverbs? The difference between can and may Using shall and will Glossary of grammatical terms