did or was

Question

Hi,Sometimes I get confused which one to used in the situations like the one  or ones below.Did he go to school on Sunday?Was he born in Japan?Why one takes a modal verb 'did', whereas the other one takes an auxiliary verb 'was'? How can I make correct choices?

Philip · Accepted Answer

AnonymousHi,

Sometimes I get confused which one to used in the situations like the one or ones below.

Did he go to school on Sunday?

Was he born in Japan?

Why one takes a modal verb 'did', whereas the other one takes an auxiliary verb 'was'? How can I make correct choices?

'Go' is a regular verb that uses do/does/did in the formation of negatives and questions.

'Born' is actually the past participle of 'bear', here used in the passive. 'He was born [by his mother until his birth]' has become shortened to 'he was born', which is now the common expression, people not even thinking of the actual meaning. Dictionaries now list it as an adjective in its own right: 'brought into life by birth'.

Doll · Answer

My try:

I was born in Japan. In this sentence axuliary verb should be put in front of the sentence to form a question.

He went to school on Sunday. You can rewrite this sentence as he did go to school on Sunday. "Go" is not axuliary ver in this sentence and we change the form of the verb, go, ,into past tense in our sentences. So, in a way, "did go" becomes "went. " ( You can say did go if you want to emphasize something.) If you want to turn the sentence into a question form, remember the hidden "did" in front of verbs and put it at the begining of the sentence.

did or was

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