Sentence structure: Positive, negative, question

You can turn every sentence into three forms. The secret is the helping verb (a small word that helps the main verb: is, do, can, will…).

Bring the pieces together

In this chapter

Three golden rules
Negative = helping verb + not. Question = helping verb to the front. If there is no helping verb, do / does / did comes in and the main verb goes back to its base form (the dictionary form: play, go).
Family 1: be (am / is / are / was / were)
Positive: She is at home. · Negative: She is not at home. · Question: Is she at home?
Family 2: do / does / did
Positive: She plays chess. · Negative: She does not play chess. · Question: Does she play chess?
Family 3: can / will (modal = a helping verb that adds meaning like ability or future)
Positive: He can swim. · Negative: He cannot swim. · Question: Can he swim?
Changing forms with do / does / did
Example: She plays the piano.
Example: She does not play the piano.
Changing forms with be and will
Example: The museum is open today.
Example: The museum is not open today.
Tip
Short forms are very common in everyday speech: does not → doesn't, did not → didn't, will not → won't, cannot → can't. In writing, cannot is one word.

Position 1 of 11 chapters at A1.