helping verb

Save This Word!

noun

COMPARE MEANINGS

Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of helping verb

First recorded in 1815–25

Words nearby helping verb

helper, helper T cell, helpful, helping, helping hand, helping verb, helpless, helpline, Helpmann, helpmate, helpmeet

How to use helping verb in a sentence

Do has been called a helping verb; but it needs little observation to discover that it is no more so than a hundred other words.
Lectures on Language|William S. Balch
The difference in time is expressed by a change in the infinitive instead of a change in the form of the helping verb.
Plain English|Marian Wharton
With may and might and can and could, present and past time are expressed by a change in the form of the helping verb.
Plain English|Marian Wharton
Often in using verb phrases, we use phrases in which the same helping verb occurs in both phrases.
Plain English|Marian Wharton

In interrogative sentences, the subject comes after the helping verb or after the interrogative used to introduce the sentence.
Plain English|Marian Wharton