The Helping Verbs

*The auxiliary verbs help the main verb.We also call them the helping verbs.By using helping verbs ,we can negate sentences and form questions.We can't do without helping verbs.The auxiliary verbs (helping verbs) are used as a main verb or as a helping verb in sentences.As a main verb ,they stand alone.But as a helping verb,they are followed by a  verb.The auxiliary verbs are :be,have and do.


1-Verb to "Be"

• present simple(am-is-are)
• Past simple (was-were)
• Past participle (been) 

Ex:I am an English teacher.(main verb)
EX:He is ill.(main verb)
EX:They are absent.(main verb)
EX:She was at school.(main verb)
EX:They were at the supermarket.(main verb)
EX:I am reading Arabic.(helping verb)
EX:He is watching TV.(helping verb)
EX:We are sweeping the floor.(helping verb)
EX:They were playing football.(helping verb)
EX:He was washing the car.(helping verb)

*We negate verb to be by putting "not" to it.And we form questions by inverting the subject and verb to be:
EX:I am not an English teacher.Not(amn't)
EX: Are you an English teacher?
EX:He is not (isn't) ill.
EX:Is he ill?
EX:He was not (wasn't) washing the car.
EX:Was he washing the car?
EX:They were not (weren't) playing football.
EX:Were they playing football?

 

  

2-Verb to "Have"

• Present simple (have-has)
• Past simple (had)
• Past participle (had)

EX:I have a car.(main verb)
-I don't have a car.
-Do you have a car?
EX:He has a pen.(main verb)
-He doesn't have a pen.
-Does he have a pen?
EX:I had a sandwich.(main verb)
-I didn't have a sandwich.
-Did you have a sandwich?
EX:I have bought a car. (helping verb)
-I haven't bought a car.
-Have you bought a car?
EX:I had travelled abroad.(helping verb)
-I hadn't travelled abroad.
-Had you travelled abroad?

*Note:When verb to have is the main verb ,we use "do" as a helping verb in negation and question.We use do or does in present simple and did in past simple.But If it is the helping verb,we use it in negation and question.We only put "not" to it in negation but in question,we invert the subject and the verb to have.

3-Verb to "Do"

• Present simple (do-does)
• Past simple (did)
• Past Participle (done) 

*Verb to "do" is a helping verb for any verb in the present simple even itself.(We use "don't or doesn't" in negation but we use "do or does" before subject in question.

EX:I do my homework every day.(main verb)
-I don't do my homework every day.(don't is a helping verb but do is a main verb).
-Do you do your homework every day?(The first "Do" is a helping verb but the second "do" is a main verb).

EX:The did their homework.(main verb)
-They didn't do their homework.
-Did they do their homework?

EX:She goes to the cinema every Friday.(present simple)
-She doesn't go to the cinema every Friday.
-Does she go to the cinema every Friday? 

EX:We ate fish yesterday.(past simple)
-We didn't eat fish yesterday.
-Did you eat fish yesterday?

*Note:Verb to do must be followed by infinitive.
*Note: Verb to "do" as a helping verb doesn't appear in affirmative sentences but it appears only in negative and question.

*Verb to do appears in affirmative as follows:
1-As a main verb :
EX:I do my homework every day. 

2-To strengthen meaning:( It means actually or already)
EX:I do play chess every day.
EX:He did go home.






 

  

could/should/have+p.p

*Could have +p.p.
-It means that I was able to do something in the past but I didn't do it:(There are a lot of causes that make us forbid doing those things)

EX:I could have driven faster but I drove slowly.It's early.
EX:I could have studied hard but I didn't study.I was very lazy and I don't like learning.
EX:She could have travelled overseas but she preferred staying.She doesn't want to travel.

*Note: Couldn't have +p.p means that you wasn't able to do something either you want to do or not.(It was difficult for any reason).

EX:I couldn't have arrived early to school.The streets were very crowded.Here I wanted to arrive on time but i couldn't.


*Should have +p.p.
-It means that i didn't do something in the past although it was a good idea.(It expresses regretting).

EX:You should have driven slowly.This sentence means that I had an accident because I didn't drive slowly.It was a good idea to drive slowly.Here I regretted not driving slowly.

*Note: Shouldn't have +p.p means that I did something in the past that was a bad idea.

EX:He shouldn't have put salt in the food.That means that the food became too salty because he put salt in the food.His mother put salt before he put.He didn't know that his mother put it.It happened mistakenly but at last regretted doing it.

*Would have+p.p.
-It means that I wanted to do something but I didn't.
EX:I would have gone to the cinema.It means that I didn't go to the cinema because I was very busy.

EX:I would have called you.It means that I didn't call him because the mobile didn't work or I didn't have his number.




 
 










EX:

 

Some and Any

*Some and any go before uncountable nouns or plural countable nouns.
*Some is used in positive sentences but any is used in negative sentences.

EX:There is some water on the table.
EX:There are some apples in the fridge. 
EX:There isn't any water on the table.
EX:There aren't any apples in the fridge.

*We always use any in questions:
EX:Is there any soup in the bowl?
EX:Are there any oranges in the fridge?
EX:Did you buy any vegetables?

*But if we expect the answer is yes,we use some not any:
EX:Did you buy some clothes yesterday?(Here i know that he/she went to buy some clothes) 
 
*We also use some in offers or requests:
EX:Would you like some tea? (offer)
EX:Can you give some water,please? (request) 

*We use any in positive sentences as follows:
EX:Any one can show you the way to the metro.
EX:You may find it at any supermarket. 

*We use any with conditional clauses:
EX:If you saw any one of them,call me.

Suggestion

*There are more than expression to make suggestions:

1-How/What about +v+ing?
EX:How about playing football?
EX:What about going for a walk?

2-Why don't we/you +inf.(For specific suggestion)
EX:Why don't you buy that book?

-We may use "why not' for general suggestion:
EX:Why not spend your holiday in Paris?


3-Let's.
EX:Let's have a snack.

-We use let's not for negative suggestion:
EX:Let's not talk about this.

4-You/we could:
EX:You could sleep early.

5-couldn't or can't you/we+inf.they are strong.
EX:Couldn't you sleep early?
EX:Can't you sleep early?

6-Shall we+inf?
EX:Shall we visit the pyramids tomorrow?

7-I suggest+v+ing.
EX:I suggest playing chess.


*Replies to suggestions: 
1-That's a good idea.
2-Graet idea
3-Why not.
4-I am not very keen on that.
5-I don't think so.
6-I don't feel like it.





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Countable and Uncountable Nouns

*Countable nouns are things which we can count as follows:
-orange       apple       book       door       ball  etc..... . 

-We can add 's' for singular nouns to be a plural noun.
-We can put numbers before countable nouns.
-We can put a/an before singular countable noun.But we can't put a/an before plural nouns.

EX:I ate an apple.
EX:I ate two apples.
EX:I read books. 
EX:I read a books.(false)


*Uncountable nouns are things which we can't count as follows:

-rice        water         juice     sugar       salt        oil      etc... .

-We can't make a plural or change their form.(we can't add 's'.)
-We use a singular verb with them.
-We can't use numbers with uncountable nouns.

EX:I drank tea.Not a tea.
EX:Coffee is my favourite drink.Not coffee are.
EX:He drank two waters.(false)

*Note that we can count uncountable nouns when we put them in containers as follows:

EX:I drank two bottles of water. 
EX:I bought four kilos of meat.
EX:I have three bags of rice.
EX:I bough two cartons of milk.


*There are some nouns that are always uncountable:
-Subjects  :Arabic-English-history-geograpghy-maths.
-Materials :wood-plastic-metal-cloth.
-Liquids    :water-gas-petrol-milk-tea-coffee
-Gases      :air-oxygen-carbon dioxide-nitrogen
-Activities :swimming-football-basketball-tennis 
-Abstract nouns:happiness-love-freedom-peace.

-There are a lot of other nouns which we can't count.You must use a good dictionary to know more .


*There are nouns that can be countable or uncountable.
-hair-paper-light-cheese-coffee-tea ..... etc.

EX:Coffee is my favourite drink.(Unc)
EX:I would like two coffees and two teas.(C)
EX:There is a hair in my food.(C)
EX:She has a long hair.(Unc)
EX:Can you give me some paper?(Unc)
EX:I bought 10 papers(newspapers) yesterday.(C)
EX:This shop has a lot of cheeses.(C)I mean different kinds of cheese.
EX:This room has two lights(bulbs)(C)
EX:The house is full of light.(Unc)

*The nouns that end in (ics) is uncountable:
-gymnastics-athletics-politics....etc.

*Note:You must use a good dictionary to know everything and you must use good books because English is different from other languages.There are some nouns which are countable in English but uncountable in other languages.





  

Pair Nouns and Collective nouns

*Pair Nouns are the things which are made of two parts.The two parts are the same as follows:

glasses     jeans     shorts      scissors      trousers      pyjamas        pants

*A pair noun is always plural so it takes a plural verb:

EX:My jeans are black.Not my jeans is black.

EX:These scissors are sharp.

*A,an and numbers aren't used with pair nouns.But we use a pair of.
EX:I would like to buy a pair of jeans.

*If I want to buy more than one,I use numbers before pairs:
EX:I want to buy three pairs of scissors.
EX:I want to buy three scissors. (incorrect)
EX:My brother bought four pairs of glasses.Not four glasses.

*Note that four glasses is correct when we mean a container of water.
EX:I drank four glasses of water.

*The collective nouns are a group of people ,animals, or things.They take either a singular or a plural verb.They are as follows:

army    club      class       company      family       government        team       staff     etc... .

EX:The government has made a lot of bad decisions.

EX:The government have made a lot of bad decisions.

EX:My family are rich.Or is rich.

EX:This team is co-operative.Or are co-operative.

*There are some nouns which have a plural meaning and take a plural verb:

EX:The police have arrested the thieves.

EX:The cattle are eating on the farm.

EX:People are sad.

Too vs enough

*Too goes before an adjective or adverb,But enough goes after an adjective or adverb:




*Too is used to mean more than sufficient or more /less than necessary.
*enough is used in negative sentences to mean less than sufficient or less than necessary.

EX:Tom's sweater is not big enough.(It means that it doesn't fit me.It is smaller.)
EX:Kevin's sweater is too big.
EX:He drives too quickly.
EX:He doesn't drive slowly enough.

*Enough is used in affirmative to mean sufficient:

 EX:Your jacket is big enough.

*Too many,too much and enough go before a noun:
EX:I bought too many apples.
EX:I drank too much water.
EX:You didn't put enough sugar.
EX:You didn't eat enough bananas. 

*Note that too many is followed by a countable noun, too much is followed by an uncountable noun,and enough is followed by both.

*We can use a prepositional phrase after enough or too:

EX:Your clothes aren't warm enough for winter.
EX:The exam is too difficult for children.
EX:It's too cold to go out.
EX:I didn't bring enough money to buy two CDs.