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These two sentences are both valid

I write this sentence.

I do write this sentence.

Are these both valid?

I am writing this sentence.

I do be writing this sentence.

Community
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Victor
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5 Answers5

12

The rule of Do-Support applies to every main verb in English, except auxiliary verbs.

Do-Support is the process that provides the dummy auxiliary do to carry the tense and swap with the subject in Yes/No- and Wh-Questions

  • Do you still love her?
  • What do you love about her?

tag questions

  • You still love her, don't you?

and negations

  • You don't love her any more.

However, there are two important qualifications for this rule:

  1. The verb be is always treated as an auxiliary verb, even if it's the only verb in its clause. I.e, it can never invoke Do-Support. Which is the answer to the OP's question.
    Other isomorphs of do can occur with be, however:

    • Do be a "Doo Bee", and don't be a "Dont Bee". - Emphatic do, active noun predicates.
    • What I'm gonna do is be her bodyguard. - Active do, active noun predicate.

  2. The verb have, in its sense of "possess", may be treated

    • either as an auxiliary verb, i.e, commuting with the subject: Have you the time?
      (marked as "British" in American English)
    • or as a main verb, i.e, allowing Do-Support:
      Do you have the time? (by far the more common choice in N. America)
John Lawler
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    Oh, by the way, do is not a modal verb; it's just a dummy auxiliary verb, the same way It in It's easy to tell is a dummy pronoun; they're both put in as markers by the syntax and have no meaning. – John Lawler Aug 16 '12 at 23:52
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    +1 May I suggest, however, that you add your comment to the answer? It is germane to the issue at hand and not simply a comment on it. – Robusto Aug 17 '12 at 00:25
  • Is it going to become invisible after a while or something? I do get tired of saying the same things over and over again; the link explains what the modals are, for anybody interested. – John Lawler Aug 17 '12 at 01:21
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    My point is that people don't always read comment chains. You are, of course, free to do as you like. – Robusto Aug 17 '12 at 15:10
  • I think there's generally more interesting information in the comments than in the Official Answers; I've found no reason to distinguish between them. As to what people do or don't always read, that is completely not my responsibility so I don't worry about it. – John Lawler Aug 17 '12 at 15:52
  • @JohnLawler Is the comment about emphatic BE meant to cover imperatives in general? Don't be sad doesn't seem to have an active predicate of any sort. I'm not sure it's emphatic either? – Araucaria - Him Jul 19 '14 at 15:18
  • @Araucaria: No, "emphatic" does not cover "imperatives"; emphasizing is a very different thing from giving an order. As I said, Do-Support do, which is by far the most common -- and therefore is the first one to suspect and eliminate before considering other options -- is required for negatives. Don't be sad is a negative. Do be sad would be an emphatic. – John Lawler Jul 19 '14 at 15:50
  • @JohnLawler Yes, agreed. So doesn't this seem to undermine the assertion that BE doesn't take DO-support? (or rather is it an exception that might need to be added to the list?) – Araucaria - Him Jul 19 '14 at 16:00
  • @Araucaria: Not at all. Be is an auxiliary verb, and in Don't be sad what is allowing the imperative in the first place is the active predicate adjective be sad. The be is required for the predicate adjective, and if it weren't negative, that would be it -- no Do-Support: Be sad. But it is negative, and so Do-Support is required. But it's not "be taking Do-Support", as you describe it. It's negation taking Do-Support and a predicate adjective taking be. Grammar is constructions, not a big bag of words. – John Lawler Jul 19 '14 at 16:06
  • @JohnLawler Yes, agreed, but as described 'he usually don't be sad' might appear well formed, because you've described 'be sad' as an 'active' predicate. It's not clear why 'do' is not required for the negation of this predicate. In actual fact as we know we are stuck with 'He usual isn't sad' active reading or no. – Araucaria - Him Jul 19 '14 at 16:18
  • @Araucaria: Other forms of be invert and contract with negatives. But not the infinitive form be. It used to in older Englishes, but it doesn't now. And the infinitive form is required to make an imperative. So the fact that it's a predicate adjective requires some form of auxiliary be, the fact that it's an imperative determines that that form is the infinitive form be, the fact that infinitive be can't alternate and contract requires a preceding not, and the fact that it's a negative without an alternating auxiliary requires Do-Support. Got all that? – John Lawler Jul 19 '14 at 16:26
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    @JohnLawler Right, so negative imperative constructions with BE invoke Do-support for the same reason that other constructions do. There is an auxiliary requirement in the construction which can't be met by another verb. However, this example is different from others because BE is still an auxiliary verb. It just can't perform the required function Is that right? (this is my last comment I promise!) – Araucaria - Him Jul 19 '14 at 16:57
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    Just a few comments: 1) the correct context for do-support are negation, inversion (not just questions) and VP-ellipsis (not just tag-questions). 2) some speakers do allow do+be in irrealis context (e.g., “why don’t we be a low-tax country instead” - we should be vs. “why aren’t we a low tax country instead” - we in fact aren’t). 3) imperatives take do with be irrespective of emphasis (“don’t be an idiot” is far more common than “be not an idiot”). 4) the answer ignors dialects where do-support is more comprehensive, notably AAVE. – Richard Z Feb 22 '19 at 18:01
  • @RichardZ: Indeed. But on this question such details are extra trimmings. The people who submit questions here rarely expect (and almost never get) comprehensive answers. Plus, once we get down to details, it turns out that almost every person who answers questions here has their own set of terminology, rules, and phenomena to account for, so the devil is in the details. – John Lawler Jul 02 '19 at 19:08
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"I do be (something, something)....." is used regularly in everyday speech in South-East Ireland, where I grew up, but it is not regarded well, and a sign of being from a very specific type of rural, working class background. Its used in this context as a continuous present: "I do be always listening to that radio show on my way home from work"

Ciarán
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  • Interesting! It's also perfectly acceptable in AAVE, but as an emphatic. "I don't think you be studying much based on your grades", "But I do be studying all the time!" – user0721090601 Sep 19 '14 at 18:02
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What the second of the first pair is doing is adding emphasis. Because we normally use the auxiliary verb "do" in interrogative and negative sentences, not positive sentences.

Question: Do you like apples?

Positive sentence: You like apples.

Negative sentence: You don't like apples.

However, "do" is used in a positive sentence to add emphasis.

Ex.

I do believe in fairies, I do! I DO!

If my guess is right and you're trying to duplicate the act of emphasizing in the second pair, then it should be done this way:

First pair:

I write this sentence.

I do write this sentence.

Second pair:

I am writing this sentence.

I am writing this sentence.

As you can see, there is no need to add another auxiliary verb in the second pair because the word "be" or "am" is already one.

Cool Elf
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Do is not usually used as a modal verb. Other answers have explained this and discussed the non-modal use of do with the verb be.

However, do is used as a modal verb to indicate continuous aspect, in some dialects English, as shown in Do be doing be’s: habitual aspect in Irish English.

Thus the strict answer to the question of whether the modal do can be used with the verb be is:

Yes, when do is a modal verb it can be used with the verb be.

David Robinson
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-1

All except the last are grammatical, but the second would be found only infrequently. In some regional dialects the construction illustrated by I be writing this sentence is also found.

Barrie England
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