Subject-Verb Agreement (Auxiliary Verbs and Questions)

Lesson 5 Subject-Verb Agreement (Auxiliary Verbs and Questions)

Shakespeare's_Pizza_at_9th_and_Elm.jpeg

Shakespeare's Pizza, Downtown Columbia, Missouri

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia Links to an external site.)

Essential Question

How do we choose verbs to express tense, express voice, or ask questions?

Grammar in the World

We've talked about subjects and verbs having to agree in number, but they also have to agree in tense. Whether you did something in the past, you're doing it right now, or you will do it in the future, the tense of your verb needs to match when the action did take, is taking, or will take place!

What Do I Know?

What do you already know about how subjects and auxiliary (helping) verbs work together?

In the interactive exercise below, choose the correct auxiliary verb to complete each sentence:

Building Blocks

Grammar is a complex system and structure of language. Mizzou Academy Grammar Lab spotlights one skill (or block) at a time, but it’s often helpful to see how a skill works together with other, related blocks to build the language structure as a whole. You may find the following resource topics helpful as context for this lesson:

Learn About Auxiliary Verbs and Questions

When learning about verbs, we usually start with three main verb tenses:

Simple Present: I eat pizza.

Simple Past: I ate pizza.

Simple Future: I will eat pizza.

As you read and write, you will notice that sometimes you can use a verb to show what you mean, and other times you may need to use two or more verbs to show what you mean.

For instance, look at the sentences about pizza again and notice the verbs in bold:

I eat pizza.

I ate pizza.

I will eat pizza.

In the last sentence, the word will is an auxiliary verb. It is there to help the verb eat. Without it, we would be stuck in the present tense (I eat pizza). When we add the auxiliary verb, we can create a different verb tense.

Auxiliary Verbs

Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs because they work with a main verb to create meaning.

The three most common auxiliary verbs are forms of the verbs be, do, and have.

Look at the following chart to see some examples of how auxiliary verbs work.

Auxiliary Verb	Common Forms	Subject-Verb Agreement - Main Verb	Subject-Verb Agreement - Auxiliary Verb
Be	am is are was were being been will be	I am hungry.	I am going to eat.
		He is a chef.	He is baking dessert.
		They are pizza-lovers.	They are devouring that pizza.
Do	do does did will do	I do pushups for fun.	I do want to be strong.
		He does repair work.	He does help fix things.
		I did my homework.	I did earn a good grade.
Have	have has had having will have	I have money.	I have bought a pizza.
		He has a car.	He has driven to the store.
		I had a plan.	I had decided to recycle my trash.

Auxiliary verbs have the power to change the tense and voice of a sentence. They can also help you form questions and negative statements.

Tense

In the next examples, you can see how adding an auxiliary verb (in bold) to a main verb (in italics) alters the tense of a sentence.

Tense	Example
Simple Past	I ate pizza.
Past Progressive	I was eating pizza.
Past Perfect	I had eaten pizza.
Past Perfect Progressive	I had been eating pizza.
Simple Present	I eat pizza.
Present Progressive	I am eating pizza.
Present Perfect	I have eaten pizza.
Present Perfect Progressive	I have been eating pizza.
Simple Future	I will eat pizza.
Future Progressive	I will be eating pizza.
Future Perfect	I will have eaten pizza.
Future Perfect Progressive	I will have been eating pizza.

Forming Voice

When you communicate, you can choose between using active and passive voice. Active voice is usually considered more powerful, confident, and straightforward. That said, there are lots of times you may want to use passive voice. When you want to be general about the subject in a sentence, or when you want to emphasize the action instead of the doer of the action, passive voice is key.

Active voice means that the subject in the sentence is doing the action of the verb:

Truman (subject) eats (active verb) pizza.

Focuses on the doer of the action, Truman. I want you to know that Truman eats pizza.

Passive voice means that the subject of the verb is receiving the action; it is being acted upon:

The pizza (subject) was eaten (passive verb) by Truman.

Focuses on the object of the action. I want you to know that there is pizza, and it’s being eaten by Truman.

While active voice may or may not use an auxiliary verb, passive voice MUST use a form of the verb “to be” and a past participle.

Here are some common examples of passive voice:

Mistakes were made. (A common phrase putting the emphasis on mistakes, rather than on who might have made those mistakes.)
The president was sworn into office. (It’s not as important to know who performed the ceremony; the focus is on the president.)
I was blown away by the beautiful sunset! (The focus is on my reaction, rather than what caused it.)

We also see passive voice in historical documents, literature, and music:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” - US Declaration of Independence
“She Will Be Loved” - song, Maroon 5
“And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow.” - poem, “Casey at the Bat”
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Here are some more examples using our current topic, pizza:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Truman ate five pizzas.	Five pizzas were eaten by Truman.
Truman visits the restaurant, Shakespeare’s Pizza.	Shakespeare’s Pizza is visited by Truman.
Truman will eat Shakespeare's Pizza this weekend.	Pizza will be eaten by Truman this weekend at Shakespeare's Pizza.

Tip: If a sentence has a form of the verb “to be” with a past participle, then it’s probably passive. However, the verb “to be” is not always passive. These sentences are NOT in passive voice:

The pizza is cooking in the huge oven right now.
The cheese was melting all over my hands.
Truman was hoping for an extra slice.

Forming Questions

Auxiliary verbs change a statement into a question. You can make a question by placing an auxiliary verb at the very beginning of the sentence and using a question mark at the very end.

Auxiliary Verb

Common Forms

Example Statement

Example Question

(Yes or No Answer)

Example Question

(Open-Ended)

are

was

were

being

been

will be

I am eating pepperoni pizza.

Truman is eating veggie pizza.

We were eating leftover pizza.

They will be eating pizza tomorrow.

Are you eating pepperoni pizza?

Is Truman eating veggie pizza?

Were they eating leftover pizza?

Will they be eating pizza tomorrow?

What kind of pizza are you eating?

What is Truman eating now?

What were they eating for supper?

When will they be eating pizza next?

does

did

will do

I do love eating cold pizza!

Truman does like to eat piping hot pizza.

They did ask for extra pepperoni on their pizza.

Do you like to eat your pizza cold?

Does Truman like his pizza piping hot?

Did they ask for extra pepperoni?

How do you like to eat your pizza?

How hot does Truman like his pizza?

What toppings did they ask for?

Have

have

has

had

having

will have

I have eaten plenty of pizza today!

Truman has gobbled enough pizza for a whole month.

We will have eaten seven slices each.

Have you eaten enough pizza?

Has Truman had enough pizza?

Will you have more pizza tomorrow?

How much pizza have you eaten?

When has Truman ever eaten just one slice?

When will you have more pizza?

Notice that the pattern works in the opposite direction, too. If someone asks you a question, you can flip the auxiliary verb to a different spot in the sentence to answer it:

Question: Did you realize this whole grammar lesson is about pizza?

Response: I did realize this whole grammar lesson is about pizza!

Question: Are you getting hungry for pizza, then?

Response: I am getting a little hungry!

Negatives

Just as with forming questions, auxiliary verbs form negative statements and negative responses to questions.

To make a “be” statement negative, add the adverb “not” after or within the auxiliary verb, or add the adjective “no” right after the main verb in a sentence.
To make “do” or “have” statements negative, add the adverb “not” after or within the auxiliary verb

Auxiliary Verb

Common Forms with Their contractions

Example Positive Statement

Example Negative Statement

are

was

were

being

been

will be

I am eating pepperoni pizza.

Truman is eating veggie pizza.

We were eating leftover pizza.

They will be eating pizza tomorrow.

I am (not) eating pepperoni pizza.

I am eating (no) pepperoni pizza

Truman is (not) eating veggie pizza.
Truman is eating (no) veggie pizza.

We were (not) eating leftover pizza.
We were eating (no) leftover pizza.

They will (not) be eating pizza tomorrow.
They will be eating (no) pizza tomorrow.

does

did

will do

I do love to eat my pizza cold!

Truman does like to eat piping hot pizza.

They did ask for extra pepperoni on their pizza.

I do not love to eat my pizza cold!

Truman does not like to eat piping hot pizza.

They did not ask for extra pepperoni on their pizza.

Have

have

has

had

having

will have

I have eaten plenty of pizza today!

Truman has gobbled enough pizza for a whole month.

We will have eaten seven slices each.

I have not eaten plenty of pizza today!

Truman has not gobbled enough pizza for a whole month.

We will not have eaten seven slices each.

Tip: There is a whole other category of auxiliary verb called Modals. Visit Group 1 for practice with these types of verbs.

I can guess what you want for supper tonight.
It would be great to have pizza!
I can’t believe you want pizza again.
Everyone should have it at least once a week!
Well, we might go to Shakespeare’s.
I think we must go right now!

Do I Get It?

Use the interactive exercise below to check your understanding about subject-verb agreement: