Do
From Creolista!
Contents
[hide]Forms
- dictionary form (bare infinitive): do /du:/
- present tense: does /dʌz/ (3s), do (1s/p, 2s/p, 3p)
- past tense: did
- present participle: doing
- past participle: done /dʌn/
Syntax
Auxiliary for the "simple" past & present
do is the auxiliary verb marking the simple past and present.
- It is used both in negative and interrogative sentences to fuse with the grammatical markers of time and person.
- —Does it work?
- ——It doesn't seem to...
- —Strange. It worked yesterday.
- ——Did it? Maybe I just don't know how it works.
- In affirmative sentences it is not required. It can however be used emphatically (in contrastives and tag questions for example).
- —I remember you said they didn't care. In the end, they did care, did they? Well, well...
- It is also used to refer to the previous main verb in discourse.
- —I gave you the keys yesterday.
- ——No you didn't.
- —Yes I did. Look. They're right over there on your desk.
Lightweight lexical verb
A sentence like, "yes, let's do that" takes its meaning from the preceding context.
- Shall we make dinner?
- We could just leave this until tomorrow.
- We could survey a couple hundred people and see what they think before making a decision.
Semantics
Make or Do?
Generally you do repetitive tasks -- the focus is on the activity, but when you make something you create it -- the focus is on the product.
