auxiliary – English Grammar Profiler

‘Auxiliary’ verbs are used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs. The main ones are forms of BE, DO, HAVE and modal verbs such as can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would.

English grammar tells us that: I haven’t got a clue. I don’t have a clue. are the correct ways to express negative possession.  However, there is the rarer, older British sounding: I haven’t a clue. Notice that a superlative phrase is common to give emphasis: I haven’t the slightest idea how he works. listen Here are the search results from […]

HAVE NOT + noun phrase Read More »

Verb patterns with ‘not to be’ generally fall between A2 and B1.  If they are also negated, non-finite, passive or ellipted they should be at least B2.   A search in the NOW corpus for: not to be * * 1 NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 10259 Not to be confused with the diary of Anne Hathaway  which we stole out of her purse at the Gotham Awards. listen 2 NOT

not to be Read More »

This is an example of modality in a question:

NEED I GO ON?

It could be asked with the meaning: I don’t need to keep talking about this.

NEED I SAY MORE? (modality question) Read More »

Here is another group of A2 English Grammar Profile points that overlap multiple categories.  Many of these could be all merged into one point. Point 3 in the category of QUESTIONS: yes/no AUXILIARY ‘BE’ + subject + the continuous A search in NOW corpus for: _VB _P _VVG 1 ARE YOU GOING 38887 2 ARE

BE | HAVE | DO (auxiliary verbs) Read More »

Here are some examples of adverbs in mid position:

Subject + adverb + main verb:

The students quickly finished their homework. The train slowly pulled into the station.

The dog eagerly ate its food.

Modal verb/auxiliary verb/be + adverb + main verb:

I could easily solve the problem. She has already eaten breakfast.

The book was clearly written.

adverbs in mid position Read More »

Let’s start with A1 grammar to explain how to form modal verb questions when asking for something. Here is an affirmative declarative sentence: I can get some help. To form a yes/no question with a modal auxiliary verb, invert the subject and the modal verb I can → Can I  follow it with the bare

questions with modal verbs Read More »

In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1: If something used to happen or a situation used to exist, it happened regularly or in the past but it does not happen or exist now. In the English Grammar Profile at B1: Point 60 in MODALITY: ‘used to’ to talk about repeated actions or states in the

didn’t use to + INFINITIVE Read More »

How | What + about + NOUN PHRASE ? = A2 suggesting or offering something to someone | B1 ask for someone’s opinion on a particular subject (EVP) In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 67 in the category of CLAUSES/interrogatives is defined as:

questions with a ‘wh-‘ word as the subject, without an auxiliary verb.

WH- questions (no auxiliary) Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 79 in the category of CLAUSES is defined as: auxiliary verb ‘do’ in an affirmative declarative clause, for emphasis and affirmation. *Note that ‘did’ for emphasis is C1. A search in iWeb for: do _VVI 1 DO KNOW 89665 2 DO GET 69098 3 DO THINK 68682 I do think that it is important for people who are being

do + VERB (emphasis) Read More »

Here are two overlapping C2 grammar points in the English Grammar Profile. Point 129 in CLAUSES/coordinated is defined as: combine a negative clause with an inverted clause with ‘nor’, to give focus. Point 25 in CONJUNCTIONS/coordinating is defined as: ‘Neither’ or ‘Nor’ + inverted auxiliary or ‘be’ + subject to add to a previous related

NEGATIVE CLAUSE + nor | neither Read More »

This is another overlapping B2 grammar point found in a few different places in the English Grammar Profile. Point 47 in VERBS is defined as semi-modal auxiliary verbs, ‘dare’ and ‘need’. The two examples are both in the negative. And the comments in the EGP are very interesting for this point: LOW FREQUENCY ITEM. There

dare not Read More »

Here are two student examples of using semi-modal ‘have to’ to express either a strong suggestion or that something isn’t required or necessary. Another thing is  you have to make sure that you have included signal words  to help the reader. PELIC Arabic female level 3 writing class.   I mean  if someone wears something,  you don’t have to wear that  because she or he wears it. TLC male Spain B1 speaking test. Listen to

have got to | have to | don’t have to Read More »

Here are some student writing examples of present continuous highlighted with details: I am typing English words right now. PELIC Chinese female level 2 writing class   However, we also can interpret from the graph that we aren’t preparing for it yet.  PELIC Korean female level 3 writing class   I am always falling over one of his toy cars or trucks. PELIC Arabic male level 3 writing class   There are at least 30 points to do with the present

Present Continuous Read More »

Here is a comprehensive analysis of the most common “BE + NOT” forms in English, essential for expressing negation. The forms are listed in order of their frequency in the iWeb corpus. The top three forms are “is not”, “are not”, and “isn’t”, used in various contexts to deny or contradict assertions, form negative statements, and express doubt or uncertainty. Other forms like “’s not”, “was not”, “wasn’t”, “I’m not”, “aren’t”, and “were not” are also discussed with examples illustrating their usage.

BE + not Read More »