I recently had an exchange of messages with one of my students, in which I said “I do hope that you get better soon.” She was unsure why I would use the auxiliary verb “do” in this sentence, because English learners are taught that we use “do” in the Present Simple tense only when we are asking a question, “Where do you live?” or for a negative statement “I don’t like bananas.” However, there are occasions when we use it in positive phrases;
To emphasise a positive statement to show sincerity
Well, in my sentence I used the auxiliary verb in order to emphasise or ‘give weight to’ my hope that she would indeed get better. This is similar to saying ‘really’ or ‘truly’ in English or using ‘bien’ or ‘vraiment’ in French. If I had spoken these words, I would have raised my voice on the word ‘do’ to stress its importance and the sincerity of my hope.
To emphasise a contrasting opinion
We also use the auxiliary verb ‘do’ in a positive sentence when we want to give ‘extra emphasis’ to the positive, usually after a corresponding negative statement. For example, let’s say that my daughter has some good friends who failed an exam at college, and I’m talking about this with my daughter. She says, “Well, the problem is they don’t work hard.” I could answer, arguing with my daughter or disagreeing with her, “They do work hard. The problem is that the exam was too difficult.” Okay, so my daughter expressed a negative opinion, “They don’t work hard,” and to make a contrast with her negative opinion, I gave a positive one. “They do work hard,” so, instead of just saying, “They work hard,” I added the word “do” for extra emphasis, or to reinforce me contrasting opinion.
This is very common in arguments and disagreements. For example, if a couple of people in a relationship are having an argument; one person might say, “You don’t care about me.” The other might respond, “I do care” in order to emphasise that positive statement in contrast with her negative statement. Often, the person who is responding will raise the intonation of their voice on the word “do” to add further emphasis.
To indicate a choice between alternatives
This doesn’t only happen between multiple people… one person can also make both a negative and a positive statement using “don’t” in the negative and then “do” to emphasise the contrast with the positive. For example, if I am talking to my daughter about her choices about whether or not to come with me into town, I might say “If you don’t want to come to town with me, then you can stay here and do your homework. If you do want to come, then you can do your homework later” (again, with a raising of the intonation of my voice on the word “do”).
Also, use of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ doesn’t always have to accompany the main verb. For example, in the last conversation, I could have said “If you do, then you can…”, without having to repeat the rest of the sentence.
Remember, normally in English, we do not use “do” in the positive. We would just say, “They work hard,” but when we want to show our sincerity, give extra emphasis to the positive after making a negative statement or after someone else makes a negative statement, then we can add the auxiliary verb “do” for extra emphasis.
So, if you don’t want to read my latest blogs right now, that’s fine. If you do, then just go back to the Blog Page. Thanks! 😊
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please ‘like’ it and share it with your friends and colleagues, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my online one-to-one lessons, please do ask them to contact me to discuss how I can help them to excel in English.
Thank you,
Martin
Recent Comments