GRADE 8 English POLLUTION – GRAMMAR IN USE:PRIMARY AUXILIARIES Notes
GRAMMAR IN USE: PRIMARY AUXILIARIES
Topic: Pollution — Subject: English (Kenya) — Age: 13
Primary auxiliaries are the helping verbs: be, do and have. They help form questions, negatives, continuous (‑ing) forms and perfect (have + past participle) forms.
1) BE — forms and uses
- Forms: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been.
- Use 1 — continuous (progressive): shows actions in progress. Structure: be + verb‑ing.
- Use 2 — passive: shows who/what receives the action. Structure: be + past participle.
• The factory is making smoke right now. 🚗🏭 (present continuous)
• The river was polluted by dumped plastics. ♻️ (passive, past)
• Trees are being planted to reduce air pollution. 🌳 (present progressive passive)
2) DO — forms and uses
- Forms: do, does, did.
- Use 1 — questions in simple tenses: Do/Does/Did + subject + base verb.
- Use 2 — negatives in simple tenses: do/does/did + not + base verb (contractions: don't, doesn't, didn't).
- Use 3 — emphasis: We use do to stress a verb (I do care!).
• Do people recycle in your town? ❓
• Many people do not pick up litter. 🚮 (don’t pick up)
• Did the school clean the playground yesterday? ✅
3) HAVE — forms and uses
- Forms: have, has, had, having, (have + past participle forms perfect tenses).
- Use — perfect tenses: show completed actions with a connection to now (present perfect) or earlier actions (past perfect).
• The community has planted trees to reduce dust. 🌿 (present perfect)
• We have not solved plastic pollution yet. (haven’t)
• By the time the team arrived, the rubbish had been removed. (past perfect passive)
How to make negatives and questions
- Negative with BE: subject + am/is/are/was/were + not. Example: The sky is not clear.
- Question with BE: am/is/are + subject + verb-ing or complement. Example: Is the air clean?
- Negative with DO (present simple): subject + do/does + not + base verb. Example: They do not recycle (They don't recycle).
- Question with DO: Do/Does + subject + base verb? Example: Does your town collect rubbish?
- Negative with HAVE (present perfect): subject + have/has + not + past participle. Example: We have not fixed the leak.
- Question with HAVE: Have/Has + subject + past participle? Example: Have they cleaned the river?
Contractions you will see
don't = do not, doesn't = does not, didn't = did not, isn't = is not, aren't = are not, haven't = have not, hasn't = has not
Short practice — choose the correct auxiliary
- People ______ burning plastic near the river. (is / are / do)
- ______ your school collect plastic bottles? (Do / Have / Is)
- We ______ planted new trees this year. (do / have / was)
- The factory ______ closed last month. (did / was / have)
- They ______ not recycle their bags. (do / are / have)
- are — (People are burning plastic near the river.)
- Do — (Do your school collect plastic bottles?) — note: better: "Does your school collect...?" if subject is 'school' as singular noun.
- have — (We have planted new trees this year.)
- was — (The factory was closed last month.)
- do — (They do not recycle their bags.)
Tip: Check the subject (I, you, we, they, he, she, it) to choose the right form: e.g., he/she/it + is/was/has/does.
Quick cheat sheet
Use: continuous, passive. Examples: is eating, was polluted.
Use: questions/negatives in simple tenses, emphasis. Examples: Do you recycle? They don't.
Use: perfect tenses. Examples: have cleaned, has reduced.
Practice using these auxiliaries with sentences about your neighbourhood: make one question, one negative and one perfect sentence about pollution. Keep them short and clear!