sa2222 wrote:
Hello Mike,
I was looking for an article on helping verbs. I would like to get more insights into the helping verb usage.
Example 1 - Does everyone has/have his or her book?
Everyone is "singular". So it should be "has". I understand that the right answer is "have" here because of the presence of "does".
Example 2 - After suffering $2 billion in losses and 25,000 layoffs, the nation’s semiconductor industry, which makes chips that run everything from computers and spy satellites to dishwashers, (appears to have/ appears that it has) made a long-awaited recovery.
Example 2 - from Off Guide. nation's semiconductor industry - singular, has - singular. I understand that the correct usage is "appears to have" because of the presence of appears which is acting as singular.
I would like to know what is the concept behind -
i). How to identify which verb is main verb and which verb is helping verb? From your post - (will, can, may, should, could, would, etc.) are examples of helping verbs. So, is it correct to say that the verbs that are NOT the action verbs such as appear, go, study, are generally the helping verbs. And the actual action verbs are ALWAYS the main verb. But, example 1 has does and have - what is the rule in that case?
ii). How far away the action verb and helping verb could be placed from each other. In the above two examples the helping verbs are at a distance from main verb - appears to have, does anyone have. How do we identify that there are two verbs in a sentence and one is the main verb and other one is the helping verb? Is it correct to say that if there are two verbs in a sentence - then one would be helping and other main verb. I hope there are not 3 verbs in a sentence
iii). Does the main verb should take the same form as the subject of sentence- singular, plural? Does only the Main verb follows the subject verb agreement? and the helping verb should follow the form - based on some of the rules posted here like third person singular, etc?
Dear
sa2222,
I'm happy to help.
Remember, when there is a series of auxiliary verbs, only the first one reflect verb-number.
He does not have his book.
They do not have their books. In the sentence
Does everyone have his or her book?The initial auxiliary verb is the opening word of the sentence, because the sentence is a question. That is still the verb that reflects verb numbers. Similarly:
Does he have his book?
Do they have their books? In the sentence:
After suffering $2 billion in losses and 25,000 layoffs, the nation’s semiconductor industry, which makes chips that run everything from computers and spy satellites to dishwashers, appears to have made a long-awaited recovery.
The only main verb is the verb "appears". The verb "to have" is in infinitive form, not the form of a full verb, so everything about verb-number & tense is irrelevant for this.
BTW, the construct "appear that it has" is incorrect when a full subject is given. This would only be a correct structure in an "empty it" construction:
It appears that the nation’s semiconductor industry has made a long-awaited recovery.
It is absolutely 100%
WRONG to say that non-action verbs such as "appear", "seem", "become", "grow", etc. are auxiliary verbs. Almost every auxiliary verb you will see on the GMAT is listed in that blog post.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/auxiliary- ... -the-gmat/Notice that any of those non-action verbs can appear with various auxiliary verbs:
might not appear
would have seemed
had not grownHow to identify which is the main verb and which is the auxiliary verb? Well, first of all, keep in mind, you don't necessarily need to know this. As long as you know that the first auxiliary verb reflect number, that's a principal grammar point tested on the GMAT, but identifying the main verb vs. auxiliaries is not a skill tested at all. One thing I would say: don't think about grammar mathematically or mechanically. You have to think about meaning. If you are not thinking about meaning on the GMAT SC, you will miss the forest for the trees. Any parts of the verb that indicate tense or indicate something about whether the action occurs is an auxiliary verb. Imagine you change everything to a factual statement in the present; the only verb you will need to make that statement would be the main verb.
Any verb that is part of an infinitive or a gerund or a participle phrase or inside a subordinate clause is not part of the main verb and should not be included in this distinction at all.
In a well-written sentence, all the parts of a verb are usually close together. The only example of large separation is in parallel structure, when a series of auxiliary verbs may not be repeated.
The professor contends that, using the technology available in the middle of the third millennium BCE, the ancient Egyptians could not have moved the gigantic blocks from quarries on the other side of the Nile and raised them to the necessary heights to build the pyramids.
There, the two verbs in parallel are "
could ... have moved" and "
could ... have raised", but the auxiliary verbs are not repeated in the second branch of parallelism. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/dropping-c ... -the-gmat/If there are two or more verbs in a sentence --- well, many many different things could be happening. It could be an auxiliary verb and a main verb. It could be parallel structure. It could be a verb in a subordinate clause and a verb in the independent clause. Many many different structures are possible.
My friend, you are looking for mathematical rules for grammar. Grammar does not work that way. You need to read. Read challenging material in English. Read and get a sense of sentences in the living language.
Does all this make sense?
Mike