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AUXILIARIES
Part One
Auxiliaries help us to express more than we can say by using only the tenses of verbs. They permit us to express subtle or deeper meanings and help us to express uncertainty, obligation, possibility and more.
They are usually called auxiliary verbs, although only the true verbs
‘to be’, ‘to do’ and ‘to have’ meet the definitions of a verb.
The word ‘auxiliary’, like many words used in grammar, is not very well-known or helpful in general English: it doesn’t directly mean ‘help’ in English as it does in Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, French and Italian. In these languages it is more “helpful” to the student because it means ‘help’.
Auxiliary words other than the verbs above are called ‘modal’ auxiliaries. This is a technical word in linguistics. It is popular with teachers of grammar and in textbooks, but it tells the average fluent English speaker nothing. For us it is only a label or title.
In this category are the very powerful auxiliary words which have no independent existence or meaning:
would, could, should, can, must,
may, might, ought to, will and shall.
These are the so – called ‘modal auxiliaries’ sometimes called ‘modal verbs’. They do not change for any reason, not for each person, not for plurals.
Some points about auxiliaries:
Some of these words are interchangeable and in ordinary speech we do not observe strict meanings. For example, a person’s choice of ‘would’ or ‘could’ might depend only on the opinions or feelings of the person at that moment. These words can change places because ‘would’ might indicate good intentions to do something:
‘I would buy that car.’ whereas
‘I could buy that car.’
indicates that the person is able to buy it. Who knows what is in that person’s mind? In strictness, ‘should’ implies a moral obligation and can only be changed with ‘ought to’, while ‘could’ expresses ability or power, usually subject to a condition.
We often say we ‘must’ do something when we really mean we ‘should’. But ‘must’ means a real obligation, as in,
‘You must obey the law.’
If you don’t do something that you in fact ‘must’ do there will be a punishment of some kind.
For example:
‘I must wash my hair tonight.’
is not a real obligation because there will be no punishment if we don't wash our hair. What we mean in fact is:
'I should wash my hair tonight.'
But we often say ‘must’ in this kind of case because we are quite casual about these uses.
Perhaps only lawyers, philosophers and teachers of grammar follow the strict rules. You should (must?) know the equivalent meanings in your own language, but you should also relax a bit.
This is a subject that you will learn by experience and practice. Many native English-speaking people use these words correctly every day without even knowing that they are called ‘auxiliaries’. Note these words in your English reading and listening and consider how they are used.
We say that auxiliaries refer principally to
possibility, obligation or necessity.
This means that there is often a moral option: there is a big difference between what you WOULD do, what you COULD do and what you SHOULD do if, for example, you had a loaded gun in your hand.
For more about this flexibility in the use of auxiliaries please read
Auxiliaries - A Tale for Practice
Auxiliaries are not tenses (although, of course, ‘will’ and ‘shall’ are words of the future tense) and, as I mention above, auxiliaries help us to say things that we cannot express by tenses.
I like to say that the tenses of verbs help us to express things in black and white but the auxiliaries give us colour, shade and depth.
Before looking at the meanings you should note
a fundamental rule of English: the word 'to' can
never follow a modal auxiliary. It always follows
'ought' but if we remember and use 'ought to'
the rule is complete.
EXAMPLES OF MEANINGS
(but remember flexible use)
Would: INTENTION, POSSIBILITY, CONDITION:
I would go to Thailand if I had enough money.
She would help you, I’m sure.
You would like him if you met him.
Could: ABILITY, POWER, CAPACITY but with CONDITION:
I could read this book if I had more light.
You could tell the truth if you wanted to.
He could drive his car if he had the keys.
Should: MORAL OBLIGATION, CONFORMITY:
I should call my mother today.
I should write to my aunt.
He should be more polite.
Can: ABILITY, POWER, CAPACITY with NO CONDITION:
She can tell you the answer.
I can buy us hamburgers.
You can speak Russian.
Must: OBLIGATION:
You must eat food to live.
Children must not play in the street.
May: Two meanings: a) POSSIBILITY:
Equal to 'perhaps' or 'maybe':
I may go to Portofino for the summer.
You may be lucky with that lottery ticket.
She may give you a surprise.
b) PERMISSION:
May I sit here?
May I help you?
May we come into your office?
Note that we usually employ ‘may’ in asking permission for ourselves (in the first person, I or we). ‘May she/they sit here?’ doesn’t sound like modern English although it’s probably correct. We would re-phrase the sentence.
Might: POSSIBILITY
Equal to 'perhaps' or 'maybe':
I might go to Portofino for the summer.
You might be lucky with that lottery ticket.
She might give you a surprise.
In this sense ‘might’ is synonymous with ‘may’.
The idea that ‘might’ can also be used to ask for permission, as many textbooks say, is out of date: You should NOT use ‘might’ as in the following examples unless you are British and over 70 years old.
This use is good English if you’re Sir John Betjeman or Sir John Gielgud, but you’re not.
Might I sit here?
Might I help you?
Might we come into your office? You should not use these.
Ought to: synonymous with ‘should’
MORAL OBLIGATION, CONFORMITY:
Will: word of the future: CERTAINTY
Tomorrow will be the 23rd. (if today is the 22nd, of course)
We will arrive at three o’clock.
I will pay you on Friday. (shows flexibility – it’s not VERY certain)
Shall: word of the future (although not in general use): CERTAINTY
In talking about ‘will’, ‘shall’ and the auxiliary verbs ‘to be’, ‘to do’ and ‘to have’ I am often asked,
“How can I use 'will', 'shall' and the verbs 'to be', 'to have' and
'to do' as auxiliaries?”
The answer is – you don’t have to think about this. You will use these words to say what you mean and they are automatically auxiliaries; you have no choice. The use of 'to do' in its role as a super-auxiliary is explained in
Forming Questions.
Auxiliaries - A Tale for Practice
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