How many auxiliary verbs are there in English?

By Jose Carillo

http://josecarilloforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=6778.0
How many auxiliary verbs are there in English?

A South African member of Jose Carillos English Forum who goes by the
username Spelling thought there are only three, namely do, be, and
have, and believing this to be the case, she recently asked for confirmation
if its correct that their different forms are as follows: do, does, and did;
am, is, and are; and have, has, and had.

Heres my reply to Spelling:

Its incorrect to say that there are only three auxiliary verbs in English,
namely do, be, and have as youve listed. The count actually rises to as
many as 23 when we include the so-called modal auxiliaries; however, do,
be, and have indeed hold the distinction of being the three primary
auxiliary verbs in the sense that they are the most commonly used.

Your listing of the different forms of the auxiliary verb dodoes, do,
and didis complete. In the case of have, however, the progressive-
tense form having has to be added to make a total of four: has, have,
had, and having. And for be, you listed only its three present-tense
forms am, is, and are; to these must be added the past-tense forms
was and were, the progressive tense form being, and the past-participle
been, making a total of seven forms.

Before making a complete accounting of the English auxiliary verbs,

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How many auxiliary verbs are there in English? By Jose Carillo

http://josecarilloforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=6778.0
however, lets agree first on a definition of the term auxiliary verb. A simple
but instructive definition is that an auxiliary verbalso loosely called a
helping verb or, more precisely, a verbal auxiliaryis one that enables or
helps a main verb express tense, voice, emphasis, or modality. Another way
of saying this is that an auxiliary verb adds functional or grammatical
content to the information expressed by the main verb.

As examples, in the sentence They did take the loot, the verb did works
as an intensifier for the verb take to emphasize that the action was, in
fact, done; in the sentence He is being fooled, the auxiliary verb being
works with the linking verb is to form the present progressive passive
tense of the main verb fooled; and in the sentence She has taken my
share of the cake, the auxiliary verb has works with the past participle
taken to form the present perfect tense of the verb take.

To these primary auxiliary verbs we now must add the subclass of auxiliary
verbs that, unlike the former, dont inflect or cant change form at all. These
are the so-called modal auxiliaries, or modals for short. The most commonly
used modals are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should,
will, and would; less commonly used are dare, need, and ought.

Functionally, a modal auxiliary or modal works with a main verb to express

conditionality, necessity, obligation, ability, or wishful desire; it is unlike the
typical auxiliary verb, which works with the main verb to denote voice,
tense, or emphasis. In the sentence She can speak French fluently, for
instance, the modal can works to convey the ability of the subject to speak
French fluently. In the sentence She does speak French fluently, in
contrast, the auxiliary verb do acts as an intensifier to emphasize the
subjects ability to, in fact, speak French fluently.

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How many auxiliary verbs are there in English? By Jose Carillo

http://josecarilloforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=6778.0

Keep in mind, though, that the three auxiliary verbs be, do, and have
can also function as main verbs. For instance, in the sentence You be the
one, the verb be works as a main verb to denote asking someone to
assume a certain role; in She does all the work here, the verb does
functions as the main verb to denote performing all the work; and in
They have lots of money, the verb have works as a main verb to denote
possession of lots of money.

This essay first appeared in the weekly column English Plain and Simple by
Jose A. Carillo in the September 20, 2014 issue of The Manila Times,
2014 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

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