Common errors in the use of primary auxiliary verbs

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY ==***== DAO THI THU HA COMMON ERROS IN THE USE OF PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERBS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREME

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY

==***==

DAO THI THU HA

COMMON ERROS IN THE USE OF PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERBS

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI HONG NHAT, M.A

Hanoi, May 2012

Foreign Languages Faculty

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express great gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyen Thi Hong Nhat, M.A., for her invaluable support and masterful guidance throughout the process

of writing this thesis

My sincere thanks are expressed to all lectures of Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2 for their valuable knowledge, and advice during

my study

I would like to thank to all the first year English major students of Foreign Languages Faculty for their cooperation, which contributes to my successful thesis

My deep love and special gratitude are also my beloved parents for teaching

me, and giving me support, advice, and love that help me to accomplish this thesis

Furthermore, I would like to thank my close friends who never stop encouraging me to finish my thesis

ABSTRACT

It cannot be denied that English is one of the most popular and important languages in the world Since it becomes an international language, English covers most aspects of social life such as education, economy, and technology However, many people agree that English has a very complicated grammatical system and it causes many difficulties for students who learn English as foreign language (EFL), especially Vietnamese students

Inspired from the reality, the study is carried out on fifty first- year English major students of Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2 to investigate the students’ knowledge of primary auxiliary verbs and find out common errors in the use of this kind of verb

Based on results of survey, common errors in the uses of primary auxiliary verbs are analyzed clearly There are seven main types of errors, which the students make on doing exercises Among them, percentage of errors in the use of “have” in structure “have + subject + verb form” is highest; meanwhile the propotion of errors

in the use of “do” to avoid repetition is lowest

With the strong hope that the study will help the students to reduce their errors, the researcher proposed some useful techniques Then, limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study are also mentioned

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title:

COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERBS

( Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English)

I certify that no part of this report has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under instructions of my supervisor

Date submitted: April 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ii

Abstract iii

Statement of authorship iv

Table of contents v

List of tables and figure ix

List of abbreviations x

PART ONE INTRODUCTION Rationale 1

Research objectives 2

Research scope 2

Research tasks 2

Research methods 3

Research significance 3

Research design 4

PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 Literature review in brief 5

I.2 Auxiliary verbs 5

I.2.1 Definition 5

I.2.2 Characteristics 7

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I.2.3 Classification 9

I.3 Primary auxiliary verb 10

I.3.1 Forms and the uses of “Be” 10

I.3.1.1 Forms 10

I.3.1.2 “Be” as an auxiliary verb 11

I.3.1.2.1 “Be” is used in formation of progressive forms 11

I.3.1.2.2 “Be” is used in the formation of passive voice 11

I.3.1.2.3 “Be” is used in the structure “Be + infinitive verb” 12

I.3.1.2.4 “Be” is used in structures “Be about + infinitive verb” 12

I.3.1.3 “Be” as an ordinary verb 13

I.3.2 Forms and the uses of “Have” 13

I.3.2.1 Forms 13

I.3.2.1 “Have” as an auxiliary verb 14

I.3.2.1.1 “Have” is used in formation of perfect tenses 14

I.3.2.1.2 “Have” is used to make questions and negatives 14

I.3.2.1.3 “Have” is used in structure “Have + V_ infinitive” 15

I.3.2.2 “Have” as an ordinary verb 15

I.3.2.2.1 “Have” is used to show possession 15

I.3.2.2.2 “Have” is used to express actions and experiences 16

I.3.2.2.3 “Have” is used in structure “Have + object + verb form” 16

I.3.2.2.4 “Have” in questions and negatives 17

I.3.2.2.5 Double form “have got” 17

I.3.3 Forms and the uses of “Do” 18

I.3.3.1 Forms 18

I.3.3.2 “Do” as an auxiliary verb 18

I.3.3.2.1 “Do” is used in the negative 18

I.3.3.2.2 “Do” is used in interrogative 18

I.3.3.2.3 “Do” is used in emphasis 19

I.3.3.2.4 “Do” is used in imperative 19

I.3.3.2.5 “Do” is used to avoid repetition 20

I.3.3.3 “Do” as an ordinary verb 20

I.3.4 Comparison modal auxiliary verbs with primary auxiliary verbs 20

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, AND SUGGESSTED SOLUTIONS II.1 Methodology 23

II.1.1 Research questions 23

II.1.2 Participants 23

II.1.3 Data collection 24

II.1.3.1 Procedure 24

II.1.3.2 Instrument 25

II.1.4 Data analysis 26

II.2 Results 27

II.3 Discussion 28

II.3.1 Answer to research question 1 28

II.3.2 Answer to research question 2 29

II.3.2.1 Errors in the use of “have” in structure “have + object + verb” 29

II.3.2.2 Errors in the use of “do” in emphasis 30

II.3.2.3 Errors in the use of “be” in passive voice 30

II.3.2.4 Errors in the use of “be” in progressive form 31

II.3.2.5 Errors concerning subject- verb agreement 31

II.3.2.6 Errors of confusion between auxiliaries and ordinaries 32

II.3.2.7 Errors in the use of “do” to avoid repetition 33

II.4 Suggested solutions to the problems 33

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II.4.1 Suggested solutions 33

II.4.2 Suggested exercises 35

II.4.2.1 Suggested sources for primary auxiliary verb exercises 35

II.4.2.2 Suggested types of exercises 35

II.4.2.3 Samples of exercises 36

PART THREE CONCLUSION CONCLUSION 40

REFERENCES APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 2 APPENDIX 3

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Forms of primary auxiliary verb “be” 10

Table 2: Forms of primary auxiliary verb “have” 13

Table 3: Forms of primary auxiliary verb “do” 18

Table 4: Percentage of errors in the use of primary auxiliary verbs 27

Table 5: Marks and level of the students 28

LIST OF FIGURE Figure 1: The performance of the students on primary auxiliary verbs 29

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LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS

 EFL: English as foreign language

 ESL: English as second language

PART ONE INTRODUCTION

 Rationale

Language is not only a very important medium of communication, which helps people to express their ideas and feelings, but it is also used for many other special purposes It is thought that there are more than 6,000 languages in the world and English is one of the most widely spoken languages It cannot be denied that learning English is very crucial because it is considered as an international language and used

in many fields such as in economy, education, science and technology

The English language has an official status even in nations where it is not the primary spoken language In Vietnam, with the development of science, education, knowledge- based economy; more and more people are learning English In addition, English is also taught as a compulsory subject at schools as well as universities However, because of the differences of grammar system between English and learners’ native language, English causes many difficulties for learners Vietnamese learners, who study English as a foreign language, are not the exception and they find that primary auxiliary verb is one difficult category In reality, many students think that primary auxiliary verbs are not very important and they do not pay much

attention to this kind of verb As a result, they make errors when doing exercises on primary auxiliary verbs For example:

With the purpose of helping students to understand more about the uses of

primary auxiliary verbs and proposing some suggestions to reduce errors in the use of primary auxiliary verbs, this thesis is conducted on fifty first- year English majors of Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2

Foreign Languages Faculty

 Research objectives

The study is carried out on the first-year English majors of Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2 The research is aimed at the following objectives:

To investigate the common types of errors in the use of primary auxiliaries made by the first- year students

To find out the causes of those types of errors in the use of primary auxiliaries made by the students

To propose effective ways to help the students to minimize their errors in the use of primary auxiliary verbs

 Research scope

The research scope is on grammar of primary auxiliary verbs and the uses of grammar of the students The common errors in the use of primary auxiliary verbs are also mentioned

The participants of the study are fifty first-year English major students of

Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2

 Research tasks

The study involves fulfilling the following tasks:

To provide general knowledge about primary auxiliary verbs including

definition, classification, features, and the uses of primary auxiliary as ordinary verbs

as well as auxiliary verbs

To find out the main types of errors the students often make when doing

exercises relating primary auxiliaries

To propose some exercises and suggestions for the students to reduce their errors when using primary auxiliaries

Piloting and conducting a survey

Analyzing the results of the survey by classifying the errors, and

Calculating their percentage

 Research significance

Primary auxiliary verbs are one of the important scales which are concerned by researchers Many of them focus their attention on common errors students often make in using of primary auxiliary verbs As Decapua (2008) mentions, there are some difficulties that learners study English as foreign language and as second

language (ESL) make with the auxiliary verb “do” Researcher Damanick (2005) and Ebda Gustining (2009) also provide some common mistakes made by Indonesian students However, in Vietnam, primary auxiliary verbs are not paid much attention

In the context of Foreign Languages Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University

N0.2, the thesis is supposed to investigate common errors in the use of primary

auxiliary verbs by the first-year English majors Therefore, hopefully, the thesis is beneficial to both students and teachers in using primary auxiliary verbs

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On the part of teachers, the thesis helps teachers to anticipate and realize the commons errors that their students often make when doing exercises on primary

auxiliary verbs Hence, they can find out suitable ways to reduce those errors

On the part of students, the thesis provides a general picture about forms, the uses and function of primary auxiliary verbs In addition, the study helps the students

to realize their errors they often make and proposes some helpful ways of reducing these errors in doing exercises on primary auxiliary verbs

“be”, “do” and “have” as both auxiliary and ordinary verbs Chapter two namely

“Methodology, results, discussion and suggested solutions” describes information of the method used in the study including research questions, participants, instrument and procedure of the study In addition, this chapter provides information of the

students’ understanding about primary auxiliary verbs through the marks of test, gives some common errors and discusses how and why the students make those errors

The last part presents the conclusion for the study In this part, the researcher concludes the information of the study Moreover, some limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study are also mentioned

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PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW

I.1 Literature review in brief

Grammar of primary auxiliary verbs is possibly one of the most important basic grammars in English Frank (1972) defines that “Auxiliaries verbs are helping verbs that add structural meaning or a semantic coloring to verbs carrying the full burden of lexical meaning” They are also concerned by many grammarians such as Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartirk, (1985), Kam, & Kam (1992), Thomson, & Martinet (1986), Foley & Hall (2008), and DeCapua, (2008) These researchers focus their attentions on some main aspects that are definition, classification, the use and

functions of primary auxiliary verbs as auxiliary verbs and as ordinary verbs

Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartirk (1985) give a quite understandable

picture of auxiliary verbs They provide information of classification, features of auxiliary verbs, and some characteristics of modal verbs, which make them differ from primary verbs Forms and the uses of primary verbs are also mentioned

Kam & Kam (1992) refers to the classification of auxiliaries that auxiliaries are divided into two main types, primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries They briefly introduce the use of “be” in progressive form and passive voice, the use “have” in perfect verb forms and “do” in command, request, emphatic, in making negative and questions and in forming the negative of command Moreover, these grammarians also provide some characteristics which help us to distinguish primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries

In their book A practical English grammar, Thomson & Martinet (1986) focus

their attention on the use of primary auxiliary verbs as both auxiliary verbs and

ordinary verbs They mention forms of primary auxiliaries, the use of “be” and “have”

in some structures such as “be + infinitive verb”, “be about”, have + object + verb form” and their use when they function as an auxiliary verb

Foley & Hall (2008) in Longman advanced learners’ grammar deal with forms

of “have” as auxiliary verbs in perfect tenses, forms of “be” in continuous tense, passive voice, and forms of “do” in questions and negatives They also compare the use of “have” and “have got”

DeCapua (2008) in Grammar for teachers mentions not only the two categories

of the verbs which are main verbs and auxiliary verbs, the use of primary auxiliaries

as ordinaries and auxiliaries but also some difficulties that ESL/ EFL learners have with the “do” auxiliary According to him, the common problems, which learners confront, relate to the use of “do” in negatives, the use of “no” before the verb,

mistakes of inverting the subject and verb to form questions and errors in forgetting to leave the main verb in its base form

In summary, although many researchers concern the use and function of

primary auxiliary verbs, only DeCapua (2008) focuses his attention on common

errors, which ESL/ EFL learners have with the auxiliary “do” However, there are many errors relating to primary auxiliary verbs not only the auxiliary “do” Therefore,

it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive study on the common errors in the use of primary auxiliary verbs

I.2 Auxiliary verbs

I.2.1 Definition

Auxiliary verbs are defined by many researchers

Swan (1980, p 90) defines auxiliaries as following “Auxiliary or helping verbs are the ones that are used together with others to help them express particular

grammatical functions or meanings”

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According to Frank (1972), auxiliary verbs are helping verbs that add structural meaning or a semantic coloring to verbs carrying the full burden of lexical meaning”

According to Crystal (1997, p.35), they are subordinate to the main lexical verb and help to make distinctions in mood, aspect, phase, voice and negation

I.2.2 Characteristics

Each type of verb has typical characteristics that help them to be different from others and primary auxiliary verb is not exception Seven following characteristics are main ones of primary auxiliary verbs

The first characteristic of auxiliary verbs is that they follow negative and verb contractions In most case, the negative word “not” following an operator can be contracted and attached For example:

- She doesn’t go to school

- She won’t come back home tomorrow

It is also noted that contracted forms are associated with a preceding pronoun not preceding noun For instance:

- There’s a car in the garage

- The car is in the garage

Secondly, auxiliary verbs do not have attached form with _s, _ed, _ing as

ordinary verbs apart from “do”, “be” and “have” For instance, it is impossible to say

that “She musts do it” or “I canning swim” However, _s, _ed, _ing can follow an

ordinary verb to form present, past tense and progressive forms like “She goes to school every day” or “I am going to finish it”

The third feature of auxiliary verbs is that auxiliary verbs admit inversion They can come before the subject in certain types of sentence, most commonly in the

interrogatives and semi- negatives For example:

- She will come

- Will she come?

- At no time was the entrance left unguarded

The next syntactic characteristic of auxiliary verb is that auxiliaries can be used

in forming negation with negative word “not” Contrast some following examples:

- She can do it

- She cannot do it

- She saw the play

- “She saw not the play”

It can be seen that to main verbs as “see” in the fourth example, “did” has to be used in corresponding interrogative as “She didn’t see the play”

In addition, auxiliary verbs can be used in some reduced construction which is usually called as “avoidance of repetition” according to Palmer and Blandford (1939) and “code” according to Firth (1968) This feature is observable in several situations such as in short answers, tag questions For example:

- Do you like listening to music? – Yes, I do

- You live in Hanoi, don’t you?

- I can swim and so can John

The next characteristic of auxiliary verbs is that auxiliary verbs can be used in emphatic positive affirmation According to Palmer (1987, p20- 1), they are used for the emphatic confirmation of a positive statement or the denial of its negative form

We also note that stress must be put on the auxiliary verb not main verb For instance:

- You did see them

Unlike ordinary verbs, auxiliary verbs have no lexical meaning when they

function as an auxiliary verb It can be seen from the following examples:

(1) He works very hard

(2) He is working very hard

(3) He must work very hard

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(4) He must very hard

The verb “work” in the sentences (1), (2), (3) contributes lexical meaning to the sentence and makes them meaningful Although auxiliary verb “must” appears,

however, they only help express particular grammatical functions and meanings for main verbs For instance, in sentence (2), auxiliary verb “be” helps to form present progressive and in sentence (3), “must” only expresses obligation meaning of action

“work” In the sentence (4), readers or listeners cannot understand meaning of the sentence because there is merely auxiliary verb

I.2.3 Classification

Auxiliary verbs in English can be divided into groups; however, the number of groups is based on different grammarians’ viewpoints In this part, the researcher mentions two main ways of classifying auxiliaries

In the first way, Huddleston and Pullum (2002, p 92) states that auxiliary verbs can be divided into two groups, modal auxiliary verbs and non - modal auxiliary verbs The main criterion for this classification is the flectional morphology and

syntax of verbs

Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartirk, (1985), Collins & Hollo (2000) and Borjars & Burridge (2010) provide the second ways of classification based on the function of verbs They agree that auxiliary verbs are divided into two groups

including primary auxiliary verbs (be, do, have) and modal auxiliary verbs (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would and must) In this thesis, the researcher

follows the second way of classification and the function and the use of primary

auxiliaries are concerned However, because of the scope of the study, the research focuses on primary auxiliary verbs

Modal auxiliary

Primary auxiliary Auxiliary

verbs

I.3 Primary auxiliary verb

There are three primary auxiliary verbs, i.e “to be”, “to have” and “to do” These primary auxiliary verbs are used together with a main verb to give the

grammatical information and therefore, they add an extra meaning to a sentence The extra meaning of primary auxiliary verbs alters the basic form of the main verb to have one or more following functions: passive, progressive, interrogative, negative, etc

In this section, the researcher mentions forms and the uses of three primary auxiliary verbs “to be”, “to do”, and “to have” as auxiliary verbs and as ordinary verbs

I.3.1 Forms and the uses of “Be”

Am not/’m not

Is not/’s not Are not/’re not

(Aren’t) Isn’t Aren’t

Past 1st and 3rd person

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I.3.1.2 “Be” as an auxiliary verb

I.3.1.2.1 “Be” is used in formation of progressive forms

“Be” as an auxiliary verb can be used in forming progressive of present

progressive tense, past progressive tense, future progressive tense and present perfect progressive tense

The present progressive tense describes activities or events in progress at a particular time or actions that are going to take place in the future In present

progressive, “be” is an auxiliary verb in structure “be (am, is, are) + V_ing” For example:

- She is working now

- I am going to the zoo

Past progressive tenses are used to show something that happened in the past and continued for a while It is also used when one action in progress is interrupted by another action in the past We usually use “when” or “while” to link these two

sentences For instance:

- At 8 p m last night, it was raining

- I was reading when he arrived

Future progressive tense is used to show action which will be taking place at sometime in the future This is an example for this:

- At 8 p m last night, it was raining

Present perfect continuous tense is used to describe actions that started in the past and continue in the present For example:

- We have been working for you all day

I.3.1.2.2 “Be” is used in the formation of passive voice

In English, the passive voice is used when speaker or writer wants to emphasize

on the thing done rather than doer of it or when the doer is unknown Most passive constructions are formed by auxiliary “be” and a past participle (regular or irregular verbs) For example:

- You are invited to lunch

- This school was built ten years ago

I.3.1.2.3 “Be” is used in the structure “Be + infinitive verb”

“Be + infinitive” structure is used in some following ways

Firstly, “be + infinitive” can be used to convey orders or instructions For

example:

- No one is to leave this building without the permission of police

However, this is a rather impersonal way of giving instructions and is mainly used with the third person When it is used with subject “you”, it often implied that the speaker is passing on instructions issued by someone else An example for this is:

- Stay here, Tom (The speaker is ordering Tom)

- You are to stay here, Tom (The speaker convey others’ idea)

Secondly, it is used to convey a plan It is clear in this example “She is to be married next month”

Besides, “was/ were + infinitive” structure can express an idea of destiny as an example: “He received a blow on the head It didn’t worry him at that time but it was

to be very troublesome later”

I.3.1.2.4 “Be” is used in structures “Be about + infinitive verb”

This structure can be used to express the immediate future plan For example,

“They are about to start”

“Be + about” is often used with “just” For instance:

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They are just about to leave

“Be + about” has the same meaning with structure “be on thee point of” Here

is an example:

She is on the point of doing her homework

I.3.1.3 “Be” as an ordinary verb

Firstly, “be” is normally used to express the existence or information of a

person or a thing Some examples for this are:

- He is a teacher

- Gold is metal

Secondly, “be” is used to show the physical or mental condition For example:

- I am very happy

- She is tall and thin

Moreover, “be” is also used to express age, size, weight and price For instance:

- How old are you? – I am twenty years old

- How tall are you?

- How high are you now?

_s form Has/’s Has not/’s not Hasn’t

I.3.2.1 “Have” as an auxiliary verb

I.3.2.1.1 “Have” is used in formation of perfect tenses

“Have” is used in formation of tenses known as the present perfect, past perfect and future perfect tense The present perfect describes an action which began in the past and has continued to the present or an action that has just been completed For example:

- We have lived in this country for 20 years

- The doctor has just come

The past perfect can be used for action which began in the past and is still continuing

or an action which began before the time of speaking in the past For instance:

- He had left when we arrived

The future perfect is used to refer to an action that will be completed by/ at a certain time in the future Here is an example:

- By Saturday, I will have left Singapore

I.3.2.1.2 “Have” is used to make questions and negatives

Like all auxiliary verbs, “have” can make questions without “do” We can put auxiliary verb “have” before the subject in several structures like questions For

example:

- Have you heard the news?

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The negative form of this expression is also formed without the help of

auxiliary verb “do” Instead, we only add negative word “not” after “have” For

instance:

- I have not seen them

It is also noted that “have” as auxiliary verb does not progressive form It is illustrated

by following example:

- I haven’t seen her anywhere (not I’m not having seen her anywhere)

I.3.2.1.3 “Have” is used in structure “Have + V_ infinitive”

“Have + infinitive verb” construction expresses obligation Its meaning is close

to that of “must” For example:

- I have to come back now

- I must come back now

“Had + infinitive verb” shows obligation in the past and it is considered as the past form of “must” This is an example:

- I had to go to hospital yesterday

The negative and interrogative of these structures are formed by either with or without “do” because “have” can be used like an ordinary verb or like an auxiliary verb For example:

- When do you have to be back?

- When have you to be back?

- I didn’t have to go to hospital yesterday

- I hadn’t to go to hospital yesterday

I.3.2.2 “Have” as an ordinary verb

I.3.2.2.1 “Have” is used to show possession

As an ordinary verb, “have” can be use to show possession For example:

- I have many storybooks

- She has two new pens

Besides, we often use “have” to talk about states such as: relationships, illness, the characteristics of people and thing These are some examples for this:

- Do you have any brothers or sisters?

- He had a bad cold

- My grandmother did not have a very nice personality

It is very important to remember that it is impossible to make progressive form with “have” in this expression For instance:

- She has two brothers (NOT She is having two brothers)

- I have many storybooks (NOT I having many books)

I.3.2.2.2 “Have” is used to express actions and experiences

We often use “have” + object” to talk about actions and experiences especially

in a formal style For instance:

- Let’s have a drink

- I’m going to have a bath

- Have a good time

In these expressions, “have” can be equivalent of “eat”, “drink”, enjoy”,

“experience”, or many other things The exact meaning depends on the noun

following like breakfast, coffee, bath, etc Some examples for this are:

- Have a breakfast/ lunch/ dinner

- Have a drink/ tea/ coffee

- Have a rest/ a sleep/ a dream

- Have a good journey/ trip

- Have a swim/ a walk/ a ride

- Have a baby (= give birth)

- Have difficulty in (= trouble in)

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“Have” is also used with meaning “receive” For example:

- I’ve had a phone call from Sue

When “have” is used to show actions and experiences, “have” can be used with progressive forms These are some examples:

- He is having his dinner

- She is having a bath

I.3.2.2.3 “Have” is used in structure “Have + object + verb form”

“Have + object + present participle” means “cause somebody to do something” This is mostly used in American English, to talk about giving instructions or orders For instance:

- The manager had everybody fill out a form

“Have + object + V_ing” structure has the similar meaning with “cause

somebody to be doing something” An example for this is:

- He had us laughing all through the meal

“Have + object + past participle” means “cause something to be done by

somebody else” The past participle has a passive meaning For example:

- I have my watch repaired

The negative and interrogative of “have” in these structures are formed with

“do” It is obviously seen in these examples:

- Did the manager have everybody fill out a form?

- Do you have your watch repaired?

I.3.2.2.4 “Have” in questions and negatives

In American English and modern British English, questions and negatives are commonly formed with “do” These are two examples:

- Does the house have a garden?

- Her parents didn’t have very much money

I.3.2.2.5 Double form “have got”

In conversation and informal writing, we often use the double form “have got” For instance:

- I’ve got a new boyfriend

- I have a new boyfriend

It can be noted that “have got” has the same meaning with “have” when it is a present tense of “have”, not the present perfect of “got”

Auxiliary verb “do” is not used in questions and negatives Instead, “have” can come before the subject in questions and is followed by “not” in negatives For

example:

- Have you got a headache? (NOT Do you have got a headache?)

- The flat hasn’t got a proper bathroom (NOT The flat doesn’t have got a proper bathroom)

I.3.3 Forms and the uses of “Do”

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I.3.3.2 “Do” as an auxiliary verb

I.3.3.2.1 “Do” is used in the negative

One of the most important grammatical functions of “do” is that it can be combine with the negative word “not” to form the negative of the present and past simple of ordinary verbs This can be clearly shown in the following examples: -

He doesn’t work

- He didn’t work

However, if there is another auxiliary verb in sentences, “do” is not used In this case, the negative is formed by adding “not” after that auxiliary verb For instance:

- She cannot speak English very well

I.3.3.2.2 “Do” is used in interrogative

Interrogative sentences are always begun with auxiliary “do” used as an

operator if there is not another auxiliary For example:

- Do you like playing tennis?

“Do” inversion can be also be used in wh- questions as follows:

- When did you go last night?

- When does she have breakfast?

I.3.3.2.3 “Do” is used in emphasis

“Do” can be used in emphatic positive constructions where the verb is simple present or simple past An example for this is:

- They do want to come

- Michael did say he would here at night, didn’t he?

We can use “do” to add emphasis to an entire sentence, a persuasive imperative or adverbs of frequency For instance:

- He does like spinach He really does!

- Do sit down!

- He never did understand his father

In these cases, “does”, “do” and “did” are strongly stressed in speech This is more emphatic than the normal “He like spinach”, “Sit down” or “He never

understand his father”

I.3.3.2.4 “Do” is used in imperative

The imperative is formed by putting “do” and “don’t” before the verb to

describe advices, requests, etc with positive and negative forms as follows:

“Do + base form”

‘Don’t + base form”

For example:

- Do stop smoking

- Don’t smoke

I.3.3.2.5 “Do” is used to avoid repetition

Auxiliary verb “do” can be used to avoid repetition of the main verbs in some structures such as short answers, question tags, comparison, short agreements and disagreements and so on These are some examples:

- Do you smoke? – Yes, I do/ No, I don’t

- He lives here, doesn’t he?

- He drives faster than I do

- Tom talks too much – Yes, he does

Foreign Languages Faculty

I.3.3.3 “Do” as an ordinary verb

When used as a main verb, ‘do” has the full range of forms, including the _ing participle, “doing” and the _ed participle, “done” For example:

- What have you been doing today?

- I have done much, I’m afraid

Moreover, we use “do” when we do not say exactly what activity we are talking

about These are some examples for this:

- Do something!

- I like doing nothing

“Do” is also used to replace another verb when we talk about work and jobs Some examples are:

- I did French and German at school (= studied)

- I’ve done the shoes (=cleaned)

- The roof was damaged They are doing it now (=repairing)

Finally, “do” is used in the negative form of a command For instance,

- Finish the work (positive command)

- Don’t finish the work (negative command)

I.3.4 Comparison modal auxiliary verbs with primary auxiliary verbs

This part discusses how primary auxiliary verbs are different from modal

auxiliary verbs Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartirk (1985) state that there are four main features which make modal auxiliaries differ from primary auxiliaries, i.e third person form, finite function, co- occurrence, and construction with the bare infinitive

primary auxiliary verbs is that modal auxiliaries do not have third person inflection It

means that they do not have –s form for the third person singular of the present tense,

though they are irregular For example: