English Helping Verbs Course
Lesson 03
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Online Lesson 03
In the previous lessons we went over the basic meanings of the verb BE.
In this lesson we will start going over the verb BE as a helping
verb.
But first, let's make this important point fully clear:
What is a helping verb
(also called an auxiliary verb)?
A helping verb is a verb we use together with another verb (called the main verb of the sentence) to express an action or a state.
Helping verb + Main verb = Complete idea
Here are some examples:
(Helping verbs are red, main verbs are purple)
- We can talk
now.
- She must return
home.
- You should know about it.
Let's see how.
The verb BE as a helping verb
Quick note:
In the simple present tense the verb BE has these three forms:
- I => am
- She, he,
it =>
is
- We, you, they => are
We will use these forms in our examples and exercises.
1. Ongoing (continuing) actions
We use the helping verb BE together with a main verb to show that an action is ongoing. In other words, it shows that the action is in progress.
In this case, the main verb ends in ING. For example, sleep => sleeping
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They are sleeping. Meaning: Their action of sleeping is in progress. |
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It is raining. Meaning: The action of raining is in progress. |
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Kathy is jumping. Meaning: Kathy's jumping is in progress. |
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I am reading. Meaning: My reading is in progress. |
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They are walking to school. Meaning: Their walking is in progress. |
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English Helping Verbs
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Helping Verbs Course:
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