Questions tagged [do-support]
Questions about the verb 'to do,' including usage, placement, nuance, and conjugation.
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Can we not use to be + v3 negatively [duplicate]
To be + v3
These clothes are to be washed.
These clothes are not to be washed.
Likewise,
These clothes have to be washed.
Now If I have to say it negatively, how can I?
These clothes have not to ...
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Does imperative 'do' (in 'do'-support) share the same form with infinitive 'do'?
Without do-support, all imperative verbs are in the same form as infinitive verbs.
(1) Shut up. [imperative]
(2) I want you to shut up. [infinitive]
I can't think of any exceptions.
But, with do-...
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Do "did not have" and "had not" have the same meanings?
Do the following sentences have the same meaning?
He did not have even a rupee with him to buy a loaf of bread.
He had not even a rupee with him to buy a loaf of bread.
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Present Simple instead of Present Perfect in colloquial speech
I was recently watching " The Last of Us" series and was pretty perplexed when Ellie asked Joel "You ever play this one?" pointing to the old Mortal Combat arcade. It was so ...
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Is "Exists there an alternative to PHP?" considered "old English"? [closed]
I like this way:
Exists there an alternative to PHP?
But there's also:
Is there an alternative to PHP?
And:
Does it exist an alternative to PHP?
Or maybe:
Does there exist an alternative to PHP?...
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Why is do-support omitted in the negation "and lean not on your own understanding"?
I'm puzzled by the following negation in Proverbs 3:5, New King James Version:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
As far as I know, that should be do not ...
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Is “Do you be?” a grammatical and meaningful sentence in present-day English? [duplicate]
Suppose you were asked the question:
Do you be?
I wonder what you would understand it to mean, and I wonder how you would answer it.
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'Did/does' at head of subordinate phrase
He does have a sense of humour does Mr Marr.
Nigel Williams, 1992
Is this double use of do just doubly emphatic?
Secondly, why can't do be used similarly, for example with a plural proper noun?
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She invited me to go with them, which I'd quite like to (do)
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language , in Chapter 17 Deixis and anaphora, says (Page 1526):
Is [iv] well-formed? How about adding do after to as follows?
She invited me to go with them, ...
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auxiliary do-support: do murder
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 98, reads
Auxiliary do was used more widely in earlier stages of the language,
and in certain genres one comes across archaic uses that go ...
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What topicalizing role does "do" play in "Only now do we have what we need to move forward"?
In the sentence "Only now do we have what we need to move forward", the word do clearly has some emphasizing meaning.
But I would like a more precise understanding. Topicalization and fronting are ...
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What does "Disturb not X" mean?
I already know what the word disturb means, but I do not understand what disturb not means. I’ve seen titles that start with this, like Disturb Not the Dream and Disturb Not the Sleep, etc.
What does ...
user331542
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singular subject but verb changes depending on statement or question [closed]
I'm married to a non-native English speaker so I often get to correct his English. However, I can't always explain WHY one way is correct and the other is not.
I heard him ask a customer, "Where ...
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What Does He Do [closed]
I'm teaching conversational English to ESL students in Korea, but I don't have a strong background in grammar. I can tell them how we say things, but cannot always explain why it is that way. Today, ...
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Where does compulsory "do support" come from?
We are familiar with the concept of "do support", where the verb do is used as an auxiliary verb. It can be found frequently in Shakespeare and before and it is claimed to derive from the ...
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Is there any difference between the following two forms? [duplicate]
I'm reading right now a paper related to the state of Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) and I saw:
BEVs produce no pollutants such as particulates, (...)
What is the ...
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Is "Have you some water?" a grammatically correct sentence? [duplicate]
I believe it same as saying "Do you have some water?"
Is it?
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How do you use "which" when asking a question
I am wondering how to state this question and do not know which one is correct so is #1 correct or #2 correct or are they both grammatically fine?
Ferrous metals contain which element?
Which element ...
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‘Where did you be born’ versus ‘Where were you born?’
I know this is the correct expression:
Where were you born?
At the same time, I wonder whether this alternative is grammatical:
Where did you be born?
Do you think sentence (2) is grammatical?
And ...
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"What doesn't she know how to cook" vs. "What does not she know how to cook" [duplicate]
Which of the following is correct? If A is correct why is B incorrect?
I am stumped, This sentence has popped up in my Hong Kong English class, don't know how to sort it out. Why does the one ...
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What is the difference between "Don't be..." and "Be not..."?
The motivating example is a quote from Jane Austen:
Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter.
Note that she starts with "Be not alarmed".
If this were, instead:
Don't be alarmed, ...
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2
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"go well" vs "went well" in the past tense [closed]
Which of the following is correct?
Did everything go well?
Did everything went well?
Intuitively I think it is 1). But one my colleagues asked me to explain the reasoning, and I am unable ...
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about sentence " I did start it "? [closed]
How did Paula Hawkins say "I did start it" in her novel The Girl on the Train?
I haven’t got much done today. I was supposed to sort out my application for the fabrics course at St. Martins; I did ...
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Why can't "do" be left out of "I do not like apples"?
I like apples
is good grammar
I not like apples
is bad grammar. It must be
I do not like apples.
I'm looking for a concise explanation that I can give to an 11 year old learning English. I'm ...
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What's the difference between "I did eat" and "I ate"? [duplicate]
In short, what is the difference between the following sentences?
I did eat my lunch an hour ago.
I ate my lunch an hour ago.
They both are past tense.
Honestly, I'm confused between them.
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What's the correct one: "one did show up" or "one showed up"? [duplicate]
Is there any difference between these two sentences? Is one of them wrong?
Even if a ship did show up
Even if a ship showed up
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Can I use “do/did” to emphasize the verb “be” in passive clauses like “did be fixed”? [closed]
So, can I use something like this:
This issue did be fixed.
instead of this:
This issue was fixed.
?
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"Anyone Remember?" Or "Does Anyone Remember?", Which is Correct?
Which of these sentences is correct?
Anyone remember global dimming?
Does anyone remember global dimming?
If both are correct, where is each of them used?
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Is it wrong to use "Did you ever" in a sentence?
My German friend thinks that it is wrong to use "Did you ever" in the sentence "Did you ever fly a kite"? She is telling me it is wrong because you must use "Have" with "Ever", which would make the ...
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Not only "do trees provide" shade and beauty, but they also reduce carbon dioxide
Is this sentence:
Not only do trees provide shade and beauty, but they also reduce carbon dioxide.
as same as this one?
Trees not only provide shade and beauty, but also reduce carbon dioxide.
...
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Verb Tense in an email response
When sending an email response, is it grammatically correct to say "I CHECKED your account, and I SEE/CAN SEE that..."
or, should it be "SAW"?
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When can I use "Only do ..." vs. when must I use "Only ..." without the "do"?
I'm writing a scientific paper and my supervisor (who is non-native speaker, whereas I am a native speaker) asked me to change this construct:
Only do males have a y chromosome.
to
Only males ...
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Replacing "do you have" with "have you"
Found a similar question here, but with some minor differences. Is it archaic to use have you in sentences such as this:
John : I think we can see it with a specially crafted telescope.
Mary : ...
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The meaning of word "do" in “Yes, I do watch TV” [duplicate]
Suppose Alice asks Tom “Do you watch TV?”
Tom answers,
“Yes, I watch TV”
But Tom can also answer as follows
“Yes, I do watch TV.”
What is the difference between the two answers and the ...
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“I know“ or “I do know”
I have seen people using
I do know that
instead of
I know that
Is this usage correct?
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What’s the difference: "I didn’t do anything" vs "I haven’t done anything"
Imagine the following scenario:
I looked at a girl and gave her a smile. My friend next to me has put a serious look on his face and is staring at me. I turn to my friend and figured that I'd say one ...
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Syntax of "What proof have we?"
I'm a German and our English teacher always told us not to use the German syntax in English. So here are a few examples to illustrate :
"What means this word?" -> correct : "What does that word mean?"...
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Use of "did" in an affirmative sentence before subject [duplicate]
I wrote the following sentence in an article:
Only in June it created repositories.
The editor corrected me:
Only in June did it create repositories.
What's the explanation for "did" in this ...
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What is the origin of auxiliary verbs?
When and why did we start using auxiliary verbs, particularly "do", to ask questions and make negatives?
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Not until [sentence] do [sentence]
Example: “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau
Can someone explain the structure of the aforementioned sentence?
Can someone name this type of sentence?
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Only...did I... / Only...I [duplicate]
Only after reading it carefully several times did I begin to make sense of the poem.
Only after reading it carefully several times I began making sense of the poem.
I know that the first one is ...
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Asking a "Do you have..." question without do-support
Is the following sentence correct English?
Have you the address?
The address in question is obvious to the person being asked.
It's normal to ask such a question as "Do you have the address?" or ...
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Is "He don't mean it" correct? [duplicate]
When I was reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, on page 89 I found a paragraph as follows:
"Oh, lay off her," Dunlap said to Stevie. Then he turned to me. "He don't mean it," he said.
Can ...
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Do vs. did in "do you want to join us?" [duplicate]
What exactly is the difference in meaning between the questions
Do you want to join us?
and
Did you want to join us?
in the context of a group of people asking asking another person who ...
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Difference between two question formats?
I have seen people using following two formats to form a question:
1) Why do people lie?
2) Why people lie?
The difference is, in the first one, there is an explicit use of do whereas the second ...
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Words like "do/does/did" to emphasize, but for "am/is/are"
So X said to Y:
I did tell you yesterday!
As far as I know, the word did there is to emphasize my point or tell him that I'm so sure I've told him the story yesterday. What I want to ask is, what'...
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Actually work vs Actually does work?
Is there any differences between following two sentences. I have seen both in various places and I can't really find a difference between them.
It actually works.
It actually does work.
Does the ...
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What are usages similar to "Need I say more?"?
I recall hearing usages like
Need I say more?
Need I remind you that ...?
instead of
Do I need to say more?
Do I need to remind you that ...?
Indeed, they sound better, at least to me. I ...
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Comparing negatives: "she seems not to know" vs. "she doesn't seem to know"
What is the difference in style and meaning between the following two:
She seems not to know.
She doesn't seem to know.
Is there a name to this type of construction?
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To use ‘to’ or not is the question ;) [duplicate]
I believe the grammatically correct way is to omit the to before the verb (find in this case). Can someone confirm?
What you have to do instead is find a way to redefine the problem ...
I ask this ...
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