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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

To do or not to do.

Dear friends;

I have a couple of questions for you, would you be so kind as to help me? Thanks!

1) I would like to know about the use of to do in positive sentences as that:


I'd never liked her much, but I did respect her.
2) And now, why is it used to do and not to have for doing the question tag in that sentence?


I had to get the story in first, didn't it?
Many thanks!



  

Top answer

Hello Anon The "do" in your first sentence adds emphasis. It's true that where the main verb is in the simple past or simple present, we use "do" to form the tags, rather than the main verb itself; but I'm not sure why we do so. g.

— MrPedantic

  • Hello Anon The "do" in your first sentence adds emphasis.
  • It's true that where the main verb is in the simple past or simple present, we use "do" to form the tags, rather than the main verb itself; but I'm not sure why we do so.
  • g.
  • 1.
  • You like cheese, don't you?
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4 Answers
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Hello Anon

The "do" in your first sentence adds emphasis.

It's true that where the main verb is in the simple past or simple present, we use "do" to form the tags, rather than the main verb itself; but I'm not sure why we do so. I suppose it might be because we have to use "do" to form the negative, e.g.

1. You like cheese, don't you?

But that doesn't explain wh
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The auxiliary "do" is used in questions, negatives, emphatic expressions, and tags.

You liked her. Did you like her? You didn't like her. Didn't you like her?
You did like her. You liked her, didn't you? You did like her, didn't you?

As for emphatics, they frequently occur in the "but" clause after a negative statement (as in your example).

... did
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Anonymous Dear friends;

I have a couple of questions for you, would you be so kind as to help me? Thanks!

1) I would like to know about the use of to do in positive sentences as that:


I'd never liked her much, but I did respect her.
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<As for tags, they always invert the subject and verb, and they are always in the reverse polarity (affirmative / negative) from what they tag.>

"Let's leave now, shall we?"

;-)
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