Q9
EnglishVerbs, Tenses & Agreement
Which of the following is an auxiliary verb?
- a.Look
- b.Can
- c.Take
- d.Do
Answer: (B) Can
"Can" is a modal auxiliary: it never works as a main verb, takes no "-s" in the third person and is followed by a bare infinitive ("She can swim"). "Look" and "take" are ordinary lexical (main) verbs. "Do" is also an auxiliary when it forms questions, negatives and emphasis ("Do you know?", "I do like it"), but it can equally be a main verb ("do your homework"), and the Commission's key accepts only "Can". Auxiliaries are of two kinds: primary (be, have, do) and modal (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to), with need, dare and used to as semi-modals.