Helping verbs (or auxiliary verbs) have no meaning on their own. Their sole purpose is to help the main verb, which provides the real meaning. We usually use helping verbs to help specify the grammatical structure of the main verbs.

 

A helping verb is always the first word in the verb phrase. There are 16 helping verbs, and they are:

 

be, have, do, can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, ought to, need, dare, and used to

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