BUSY FINGERS SPEAK AND WRITE CONCEPTS

STANDARD PHONICS SEMINAR

THE USE OF DO, DOES AND DID
This topic can not be discussed without the clear understanding of the positions of
speakers in a conversation and then tenses.
POSITIONS OF SPEAKERS IN A CONVERSATION
There three roles that could be played by speakers and perhaps respondents namely;
first, second and third.
To understand this concept, we will be using a simple illustration: If I was on the dining
table and about to eat then Juliet joins me the moment, we begin to dialogue I am
automatically the first speaker if I was the first to initiate a conversation or in other words
if I was interrogating her. Juliet as the respondent now becomes the second speaker.
However, these roles could change the moment I begin to respond to her while she
interrogates me. The pronoun “I" that I have been using instead of my name would be
replaced by “you" when she describes me.
Now that we have understood the concepts of first person and second person we have
to talk about who is regarded as the third person during a conversation. Remember we
used a case of myself and Juliet (I and you) on the dinning table being the first and second
person respectively. The moment Juliet’s brother John joins us, in the conversation, he
becomes their person. We describe John with the pronoun he/him.
Sentence Examples
Here, we would be emphasizing about the original topic again Do, does and did.
Case 1 My conversation with Juliet
• Do you eat hotdogs? (2nd person)
Response from Juliet, yes, I do.
• I do eat hot dog as well. (1st person)
Involving her brother John… (3rd person)
• Does he eat hot dog?
Response from Juliet
• Yes, he does.

FORMS OF TENSES
 Our major focus today would be on two major tenses forms; the present tense and
the past tense.

The Present Tense.

This shows an event that takes place at a point in time not later than the
speaker/doer has rendered the action or statement.
CASE A. Whenever we are describing an event that takes place by the second
person at the present time, we use the verb “do". This could be for both positive
and negative affirmations.
Examples:
(1) I do want to go there. (Positive)
(2) I do not want to go there (Negative)
CASE B. Whenever we are describing an event that takes place by the first person
at the present time, we use the verb “do". This could be for both confirmatory
statements and questions.
Examples
(1) You do love hiking, don’t you?
(2) You do not love hiking?

CASE C. Whenever we are describing an event that takes place by the third person
at the present time, we use the verb “does". This could be for both confirmatory
statements and questions.
Examples
(1) He does love listen to music.
(2) Does he listen to music?
(3) He does not listen to music.

We will observe that the usage of “does”, whether in question from or a

statement form would always be in form of emphasis made by either the first
or second person on behalf of the third person.

The Past Tense

A past tense is a form of expression (statement or question) which shows that
an action has already taken place. In which ever case, (first. second or third
person), it is best to use the verb did during expressions.
 Examples
1. I did the chores a few minutes ago. (First person)
2. You did the chores last night. (Second person)
3. He, did the chores not quite long. (Third person)
Questions forms
1. Did you take it? (Second person)
2. Did he/she take it? (Third person)

OTHER USAGE CRITERIA

Whenever the noun is in plural form be it first second or third, we use only “do" and
“did" hence, “does" only goes with singular noun/pronoun.
Examples
1. We do our chores. (First person plural/ present tense)
2. You do your chores. (Second person singular / present tense)
3. They do their chores. (Third person plural /present tense)
4. We did our chores. (First person plural /past tense)
5. You did your chores. (Second person plural / past tense)
6. They did their chores. (Third person plural/ past tense)

Common errors in usage.

1. I don’t sleep well last night (incorrect)
Ans: I did not sleep well last night.
2. We don’t eat at the party we went. (Incorrect)
Ans: We did not eat at the party we went.
3.He do it to me again (incorrect)
Ans: He did it to me again.

Compiled by Seun Felix (2023).