Learn English – Different forms of the verb “to do”

auxiliary-verbsverbs

I was looking through Internet and I got confused about the Past simple of the verb "To do" as an auxiliary verb.

We all know the basic syntax that is:

Subject + auxiliary verb "to do" (past simple) + full verb (present simple) + complement

Example:

Mr. Johson did write a novel.

The thing is that I also saw another form of it and I want to ask you if is it correct.

Subject + Auxiliary verb "to do" (present simple) + full verb (past simple) + complement

Example:

Mr. Johnson does wrote a novel/Mr. Johnson wrote a novel

Best Answer

"Does", describing an action, does not need to precede "write", which, in itself, already describes an action.

An example of when does would be used is if the sentence is a confirmation/emphasis:

Wait, Mr. Johnson writes novels?

Yes, Mr. Johnson does write novels.

When expressing the past, write, the infinitive, can still be used, but does must be converted to the past tense:

Wait, Mr. Johnson wrote novels?

Yes, Mr. Johnson did write novels.

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