Auxiliaries

Concept: Can You Pass the 'is' and 'am' Test

Definition:

• The words ‘is’, and ‘am’ are words that have a special importance to build a sentence. They describe actions happening in the present.
• We call ‘is’ and ‘am’ the auxiliary verb brothers. Though they are brothers, they have different personalities. We will find out what they are.

The use of ‘am’:

• ‘Am’ is another auxiliary verb brother. ‘Am’ likes to be lonely. ‘Am’ doesn’t have many friends except ‘I’. Therefore, ‘am’ only likes to go around with the pronoun ‘I’.
• We use ‘am’ to talk about a person or an action happening right now or happens regularly.
• ‘Am’ always comes right after the pronoun ‘I’ in a sentence.

Examples:

We used ‘am’ in each sentence after the pronoun ‘I’ to talk about the speakers.

The use of ‘is’:

1. ‘Is’ is one of the auxiliary verb brothers. ‘Is’ likes to go around with all singular naming words and singular pronouns like he, she, it.


Example:

In the above picture, we are talking about a boy, Rishav. To describe a singular person (Rishav), therefore, we used ‘is’ after the naming word.



In this picture, we are talking about only one dog. ‘Dog’ is a naming word for an animal. Therefore, we used ‘is’ after the dog.


2. We use ‘is’ to talk about a person or an action happening right now or happens regularly.

Example:



Again, we used ‘is’ right after the pronoun ‘she’.

She is a singular pronoun and we are describing the lady in the present. That is why we used ‘is’ in this sentence.

3. ‘Is’ always comes right after a naming word or pronoun in a sentence.

Example:



We are describing a pencil that is a singular object. ‘It’ is a singular pronoun used to take a place of a non-living noun (pencil). So we put ‘is’ after the pronoun ‘it’.

Let’s look at a few more sentences where we have used ‘is’.

Common mistakes:

1. Don’t use ‘am’ after singular nouns or pronouns like he, she, and it.

Examples:

a. Ravi am a pilot.

Ravi is a pilot.

b. He am a cook.

He is a cook.

2. Don’t use ‘is’ after the pronoun ‘I’. ‘I’ is always followed by ‘am’.

Examples:

a. I is watching a movie.

I am watching a movie.

b. I is a painter.

I am a painter.