Auxiliary verbs and a trip to Wembley
Hello again, to Naheed and everyone reading! Welcome to the start of another week. And thanks to Naheed for telling her funny stories and putting a smile on my face on a gloomy Monday morning. Smokey says ‘thanks!’ for the fish. She bolted them down in about two seconds flat.
It was very interesting to hear that weddings last for three or four days in Pakistan. Here, a wedding lasts just one day. A lot of my friends who have got married say they wish it could have lasted longer, because they spent months and months planning for their big day, and it was all over before they knew it. Perhaps they should have chosen to follow Pakistani tradition!
First things first. Smokey tells me that she stayed awake long enough to give you some exercises to complete at the weekend, about question tags. I’ve got the answers for you here:
1) Naheed is a talented artist, isn’t she?
2) Naheed draws beautifully, doesn’t she?
3) Today is Saturday, isn’t it?
4) You are good at English, aren’t you?
5) I am quite a grumpy cat, aren’t I?
Naheed, you got the answers perfect for these! By the way Naheed, if you have any questions about language that you’d like me to cover in the second half of your month as student blogger, just let me know. But I think your English is already pretty amazing! Keep it up!
I promised Kailarai that I would write something about auxiliary verbs, so this is what I’m going to focus on in this blog. First, I’m going to write a little bit about auxiliary verbs, Then, in the final two paragraphs of my blog, I’d like you to see whether you can identify the auxiliary verbs I use to talk about my weekend and my trip to the big smoke.
So, what are auxiliary verbs, exactly? Auxiliary verbs are ‘helping’ verbs. They help us create the correct meaning. In English, we only have a small number of verb forms (e.g. visit, visits, visiting, visited). So, if we want to expand on a meaning, we can use auxiliary verbs. There are basically two groups of auxiliary or helping verbs:
1) be, do and have
You can use be to make continuous and passive forms:
Is it snowing?
I was trapped in my home by 50cm of snow.
You can use do to make questions, negative forms and emphatic forms:
Do you like the cold?
It didn’t snow for very long.
Do help yourself to something to eat.
You can use have to make perfect forms:
Where have you been this weekend?
I hadn’t realised I was late.
2) modal auxiliary verbs
You use modal auxiliary verbs with other verbs to expand meanings. Usually modal verbs helps us express certainty or obligation, e.g.
May I borrow £50?
I could lend you some money, but I don’t trust you, so I won’t.
The modal auxiliary verbs are: will, shall, would, should, can, could, may, might, must and ought.
Now let me tell you the answer to my riddle from Friday’s blog. As I mentioned, this weekend my friend and her husband came down to visit. We went for a walk with the dog to the local pub, and then yesterday we went to London. We went to a new venue called Wembley Stadium, in the west of London. They’ve only just finished building it, but it looks really great. It’s huge – it can hold up to 75,000 people. But I’m not really much of a sports fan, so I was there for the music. We saw a British rock band called Muse, supported by an American group called My Chemical Romance. Muse were brilliant – there are only three people in the band, but they create an amazing sound. It was a blast to see the new stadium and to experience such a great concert. Here’s a photo of how the stadium looked:
I think the new Wembley Stadium is a roaring success. A lot of people don’t, though. You see, there were a lot of problems involved in the construction of this stadium. It was completed way over deadline, and way over budget. And of course, people in the UK like to moan. We’re a nation of whingers. Some people say it’s ugly, others that it’s too expensive, and that it should never have been built at all. But I think it makes a dramatic addition to the London skyline. And as a venue for live music, it’s second to none.
See you all next time,
Jo
Vocabulary
gloomy – dark and miserable
If you bolt something down, you eat it very quickly.
Two seconds flat – you can use an expression of time followed by the word ‘flat’ to mean ‘exactly’.
big day – you can use this phrase to talk about an important occasion, such as a wedding, a christening, the day you get your exam results, etc.
A supporting act is the band that comes on before the main band, to get the audience warmed up.
You can have a blast or saying something is a blast – it basically means it’s great.
A roaring success is a big success.
way over – a lot over
whinger – slang for ‘moaner’, pronounced with a ‘j’ sound
Answers to your comments
Melissa – ‘I’ve got that Friday feeling’. You’ll hear people say this quite often in the UK. It means you’re feeling excited because the working week is almost over, and you’re looking forward to the weekend.
Tomo – you’re right, practice makes perfect! Keep trying and you’ll climb to the top of those walls eventually.
Manas – yes, ‘ain’t’ and ‘aren’t’ do mean the same thing. However, ‘ain’t’ is slang. You’ll hear it when people speak, mostly. ‘aren’t’ is more correct, because it’s simply a contraction of ‘are not’.
Comments
Dear Jo This is my first blog, so I apologize you for my bad English. But I want write because just a pair of months ago, I went to London and I had an accomodation in a Hotel close to Wembley. I didn't entry in the stadium but it is a very big stadium in the centre of a neighbourhood. The construction is modern but I think it is not bad. There is a correct contrast with the other (old) buildings, but the final result is acceptable.I don't like seeing concert in cloused areas, I prefer staying in open space with the atmosphere of the sky... take care
Hi Jo! You`ve received nice responses over the weekend, it made me being almost jealous! I did nothing exciting such as visiting to Wembley but I spent time walking in a big nature stadium where I stood hardly noticeable once in a darkness of thick tall firs then under the pure blue high-sky smelling lime tree full in blossoms that I couldn`t move away. I forgot a car crash, shruged off about finding broken TV set and even bad net connection. You surely know this on your walks too. And despite being bad student in completing homeworks English holds me above the water. Nice dreams!
Hi Jo! Wow! You had a great time this Sunday! The Wembley Stadium seems to be very nice. Hmmm... I´ve never heard about Muse before. Do they have any CD recorded? Good night, Ana Paula.
Hi, Jo. Thank you for your hearty and encouraging comment! Your comment to me is like a bottle of strong energy drink I can never buy! Anyway, you seem to have had a great time on the weekend. It's amazing! How big the stadium is! There is no such a big stadium can hold up to 75,000 people in Japan. As far as I know, the biggest stadium in Japan can only hold up to about 64,000 people. In my opinion, there might be many people who have prejudices of the stadium in Uk like fermented soybeans (natto) on the plates you have to eat. Once you eat natto you might be addict to its stinky and sticky threads. Are you follow me? By the way, do you know natto?
Hi Jo, When I looked at the photo of Wembley Stadium on this blog and checked the note” Muse at Wembley Stadium’, my understanding was “everybody closes eyes and has a meditation at Wembley Stadium’, However, right after that I read some information of Wembley Stadium which stated:” English rock band Muse become the first band to rock the new Wembley Stadium’, I eventually knew ‘Muse’ is ‘the name of an English rock band’ instead of ‘engage in meditation/ a state of a meditation’. Why I had such kinds of awareness in the first place? I have no idea. Best Regards
Great, you have been to Wembly stadium - do you know England is playing against Germany there? One of my ambitions is to watch Arsenal playing against ManU at Old Trafod. I am familiar with some of your stadiums as I watch EPL football. Bye the way I know couple of songs of Muse. The one I like is "starlight", though I didn't understand the lyrics much. I think the meaning is something like he is going far away in search of star light ignoring all loved ones (whatever that means). Then he is asking a second chance, ready to hold his loved one again. Well, overall a sad tone. Pronunciation is difficult to learn. People say listern to english new channels, my opinion that won't help much. THe reason is that unless you know the pronunciation of the word, you won't understand it. So learning pronunciation requiures extra effort from we students. There is a website that can help you http://m-w.com - you can listen to the pronunciation. Thank you.
Thanks Teacher, for your reply with my question's answer however it is short and sweet. I hope it will help to me to take my exam better. Thank you once again. best regards Kailarai.
Hello Jo! I can see that you had a great time with your friends at the concert, and you brought back a lot of nice memories to share with us. You used the word slang twice in this blog. Would you explain its meaning and give us one or two examples for easy understanding, please? Thank you
Dear Jo, it must be very wonderful to go to wembley, and the photo shows that The live act is a roaring success. I once chatted with a guy online, he constantly used "lol" to express his feeling,so what does that mean? What's a facebook name? I am befuddled.Thank You.
Hello Jo, Namaskar, Its really useful trips about the auxiliary verb. You got a wonderful chance to be the newly built stadium with live concert. I like live concert. I also did a wonderful rafting at river on this weekend with my friends. Have ever been rafting? It was a overnight trip. We were sleeping on the beach of the river at night and the flow of the river has suddenly increased. The water level has come up to our tent. At the midnight we have to move our tent at safe place. It was a really unforgettable incidence. Any way we fully enjoyed the weekend. Regards.
Hello Jo, How are you? This is my first blog here, so I am a little bit scared :-) I usually chit chat a lot on the BBC Learning Boards, but I think we there need a good teacher who would correct us. There are many people and none of us is a native speaker. It is rare we run into one. Anyway, I see you have many fans, so could I be one of them? I just wanted to say hello:-) I don't know what to ask you. Suddenly, the cat got my tangue, but soon I will have bunch of questions. You will be overflowed :-) At the end of my precious speech, I want to ask you a tiny, little question. What do you think about my English here (writing skills)? Have I made a mistake somewhere? Sanja with love ;)
Hello, Jo! You said that ‘ain’t’ and ‘aren’t’ do mean the same thing, and I have difficulty understanding the meaning of "ain't no". I came across such a sentence today, i.e. "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." which is a well-know proverb. As far as I'm concerned, "ain't no" is a double negation form, which should mean positive things. In that case, the proverb should mean "a free lunch exists". We all know, however, the actual meaning is that "a free lunch doesn't exist". So I'm quite confused about it. Why should double negation mean the same thing as single negation here? By the way, may I ask you another question? I heard about "She's daddy's daughter" or "daddy's little girl" when I listened to some radio programme the other day. What does that imply? Is she a girl who is dependent on her daddy emotionally? Or else? Thank you very much. I am eagerly looking forward to and really appreciate your answers. Best wishes.
Hello Jo!Hor are you ?This is my first question that i asked to the natives fo this language So i can u clarify me these two words Ain't And Aren't i have confused them after when i heard them from the black americans i mean Who sing or vocalsts who are not natives of america iam so sorry to wonder my brokenenglish i request you to not surprise my broken english thnxxxx 4 ur helping ..... Iam going peace from you
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