Difference between revisions of "Do"

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(Light verb)
(Light verb)
Line 20: Line 20:
 
*Shall we make dinner?
 
*Shall we make dinner?
 
*We could just leave this until tomorrow.
 
*We could just leave this until tomorrow.
*We could survey a couple hundred people and see what they think before making a decision.
+
*We could survey a couple hundred people and see what ''they'' think before making a decision.
  
 
==Semantics==
 
==Semantics==

Revision as of 17:41, 1 May 2021

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 simple present and simple past

do is the grammatical marker of the simple past and present. It is used both in negative and interrogative sentences to mark the tense; in affirmative sentences it is not required. It can however be used emphatically (contrastives, tag questions). It also is used to refer to the previous main verb in discourse.
I gave you the password yesterday.
No you didn't.

Light 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, but when you make something you create it.