“Helping verbs” = “Auxiliary verbs”

“Auxiliary verbs” = “Helping verbs”

THE AUXILIARY VERBS:

Auxiliary v. Lexical verbs in questions

Auxiliary verbs Lexical verbs
She is walking home. She walks home.
Is she walking home?

Walks she home? WRONG

Present continuous
correct

Subject & auxiliary switch

places Subject & lexical verb can’t change places
Does she walk home?
Must add auxiliary verb “does” in front of
subject

correct

Auxiliary v. Lexical verbs in ‘not’ statements

Auxiliary verb: has Lexical verb: brings

“Not” is added after the “Not” can’t be added after the
auxiliary verb: auxiliary verb:
Harry has brought his owl. Harry brings his owl.
Harry has not brought his owl. Harry brings not his owl. WRONG
Harry does not bring his owl.
(must add “does” & place “not”
between “does” and the lexical verb)

Auxiliary verbs can form a contraction with ‘not’

Lexical verbs cannot form a contraction with ‘not’

do don’t
does doesn’t
did didn’t
has hasn’t

have haven’t
had hadn’t
is isn’t
am —

are aren’t
was wasn’t
were weren’t
should shouldn’t WRONG

Lexical verbs can’t form a contraction with ‘not’

Lexical verbs
took tookn’t WRONG
eat eatn’t WRONG
see seen’t WRONG
Here is Huddleston and Pullum’s definition of the auxiliary verb:
Auxiliary verb. A subclass of verb that prototypically
marks tense, aspect, mood or voice. In English, auxiliaries can invert with
the subject in interrogatives (Can you swim?), and have special primary
negation forms (She hasn ‘t seen it).