The English Scholar

In our previous blog lesson , we learned that every complete sentence needs a subject and a verb, and that the simple present tense helps us talk about facts, habits, and schedules. This time, we focus on how to turn those same sentences into negative and question forms. These two are very important because we use them in conversations every day. Understanding Helping Verbs Before we make negatives or questions, we need to understand the helping verb “ do .” A helping verb (sometimes called an auxiliary verb) is a small word that helps the main verb show meaning or time. In the simple present, we use do and does as helpers. Notice that does is only for “he,” “she,” or “ it .” For all others, we use do. How to Make Negatives To make a negative sentence in the simple present, we use this pattern:      Subject + do/does + not + base form of the verb Examples: I do not like cold weather. He does not eat meat. They do not play basketball on Sundays. It does not rain much here....