Helping and Main Verbs

The following story will help you learn the 23 helping verbs. The title of the story is Old Mr. Do. Like some stories, this story has a moral. The moral is: "Maybe Mr. Do should have a will". Read on and you will see why!

Old Mr. Do Once upon a time there was a wealthy merchant named Mr. Do. Mr. Do was very old and very rich. His many relatives were dreaming of the day the old man would die. They wondered which one of them would inherit his money. Finally, one day Mr. Do did die. All the relatives searched his house for a will. They didn't find one. They searched his house three times. They still did not find a will. The relatives did not get one dime of Mr. Do's fortune. The moral: Maybe Mr. Do should have a will.

Just remember this sentence and you will know how to set up a chart of the 23 helping verbs! The largest "family" is the "BE" family with eight members. The other five families have three members each. Helping Verbs may be do should have will might being does could had can must been did would has shall am are is was were (main) (main) (main)

Notice that verbs in three of the families may also stand alone or be the main verb of a sentence. For example:  We are teaching you about helping verbs. ("are"-helping verb, "teaching"-main verb)  We are in the ninth grade. ( "are" is the main verb)

Other rules: 1. Not every sentence will have a helping verb with the main verb. 2. When you see an "ing" verb such as "running", be on the lookout for a helping verb also.

3. Sometimes there is another word which separates the helping verb from the main verb. One common example is "not", as in: The boy couldn't find his socks. The helping verb is could and the main verb is find. 4. A sentence may contain up to three helping verbs to the main verb. An example would be: The dog must have been chasing the cat. The helping verbs are: must, have, and been; the main verb is chasing (See Rule #2 above!).