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Grammar Challenge

Agreements with Auxiliary Verbs

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Grammar Challenge bbclearningenglish.com ©BBC Learning English 2007

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Catherine's Grammar Explanation: Agreements with auxiliary verbs

Hello Onur! That's very good. Keith keeps the conversation going by agreeing with everything Joyce

says.

Keith:

Yes, it really does… No Joyce, there isn't…

His agreements are very short, because he uses auxiliary verbs. Let’s look at the first one.

Joyce:

Oxford Street gets so busy these days.

Keith:

Yes, it really does.

Keith agrees by saying yes, with a subject pronoun and an auxiliary verb. The subject is

Oxford Street,

so the pronoun is

it. Joyce's sentence has a main verb, so the auxiliary is does. Listen:

Joyce:

Oxford Street gets so busy these days.

Keith:

Yes, it really does.

Listen to another one.

Joyce:

But all the shops are selling the same stuff!

Keith:

That's true Joyce, they are.

This time the subject is

the shops, so the pronoun is they. And Joyce uses an auxiliary, so Keith uses it

too.

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Grammar Challenge bbclearningenglish.com ©BBC Learning English 2007

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Now to agree with negative sentences, we start with

No, and we use the subject pronoun with a

negative auxiliary. Listen to this one:

Joyce:

There isn't any variety any more!

Keith:

No Joyce, there isn't.

So that’s

yes for positive agreement, no for negative agreement, and you need a subject pronoun and

auxiliary verb

.

Ok, that's all from me. Good luck with your grammar challenge!

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Grammar tables: Agreements with auxiliary verbs

Statement Signal agreement Pronoun Auxiliary

Oxford Street gets so busy these days.

Yes it does.

All the shops are selling the same stuff!

That's true Joyce, they are.

I can't afford to spend all this money.

No Joyce, you can't.

We haven't got much time.

You're right, we haven't