Podcast - Agreements with auxiliary verbs

Hello Onur! That's very good. Keith keeps the conversation going by agreeing with everything Joyce says.

Keith: Yes, it really does… No Joyce, there isn't…

His agreements are very short, because he uses auxiliary verbs. 

Let’s look at the first one.

Joyce: Oxford Street gets so busy these days.

Keith: Yes, it really does.

Keith agrees by saying yes, with a subject pronoun and an auxiliary verb. 

The subject is Oxford Street, so the pronoun is it.

Joyce's sentence has a main verb, so the auxiliary is does. Listen:

Joyce: Oxford Street gets so busy these days.

Keith: Yes, it really does.

Listen to another one.

Joyce: But all the shops are selling the same stuff!

Keith: That's true Joyce, they are.

This time the subject is the shops, so the pronoun is they.

And Joyce uses an auxiliary, so Keith uses it too.

Now to agree with negative sentences, we start with No, and we use the subject pronoun with a negative auxiliary.

Listen to this one:

Joyce: There isn't any variety any more!

Keith: No Joyce, there isn't.

So that’s yes for positive agreement, no for negative agreement, and you need a subject pronoun and auxiliary verb.

Ok, that's all from me. Good luck with your grammar challenge!

Grammar tables: Agreements with auxiliary verbs

Statement 

Signal agreement Pronoun Auxiliary

Oxford Street gets so busy these days.

Yes it does.

All the shops are selling the same stuff! 

That's true Joyce, they are.

I can't afford to spend all this money. 

No Joyce, you can't.

We haven't got much time. 

You're right, we haven't.