B2 Auxiliary verbs

B2 GRAMMAR: AUXILIARY VERBS

The Kitchen At Parties

PICTURE

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"So you hate tents, I hate hotels, but we both survive on coffee."

Avoiding repetition · so / neither + auxiliary · emphatic do · reply questions · question tags

Listening

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

The kitchen at parties

Discuss in pairs.

1. Small talk at a party with a total stranger: what are your three reliable opening topics?

2. What do you do when you discover you have absolutely nothing in common?

3. Why does everyone always end up in the kitchen?

PICTURE

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B · BEFORE YOU LISTEN

Two guests at a housewarming

Two guests, Ffion and Kasper, meet at a housewarming party. Neither of them knows anybody there.

LISTEN ONCE AND ANSWER

1. What do they discover they have in common?

2. Where do they completely disagree?

3. First: predict two things two strangers usually find they share.

PICTURE

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B · TAPESCRIPT

The kitchen at parties

"That's not nature, that's television with weather."

FFION You've found the kitchen too, then. Everyone ends up in here.

KASPER They do, don't they? I don't really know anyone tonight, to be honest.

FFION Neither do I. I know Renata from work, and that's it. Ffion, by the way.

KASPER Kasper. So - I'm going to guess you don't love parties either.

FFION Oh, I do love parties. I just hate the first forty minutes. Once I've found one sensible person and a bowl of crisps, I'm unstoppable.

KASPER So am I, actually. Right - sensible person test. Coffee: essential or overrated?

FFION Essential. Three a day, minimum.

KASPER So do I! And I've given up feeling guilty about it.

FFION So have I. Life's too short. OK, harder one. Camping.

KASPER Love it. Tent, rain, tiny gas stove, misery - perfect weekend.

FFION ...You're joking.

KASPER I'm not! I go every month.

FFION Do you? Voluntarily? See, I don't do fields. My idea of nature is a hotel with a big window.

B · TAPESCRIPT (continued)

The kitchen at parties

KASPER That's not nature, that's television with weather. So you've never camped? Not once?

FFION I have camped. I did camp, once, in 2019, and I've been recovering nicely ever since. It rained sideways. A sheep stole my breakfast.

KASPER A sheep did not steal your breakfast.

FFION It did steal it! It looked me in the eye while it ate my croissant. I have photographs.

KASPER ...I genuinely respect that sheep. OK, music, then. You didn't like the playlist earlier, did you? I saw your face during the jazz.

FFION I do like jazz - some jazz. I just don't like that jazz. Forty minutes of a saxophone having an argument with itself.

KASPER Fair. Renata chose it, so we say nothing.

FFION We say it's wonderful.

KASPER We do. So: you hate tents, I hate hotels, but we both survive on coffee and diplomatic lying. That's a decent evening's work, isn't it?

FFION It is. And the crisps are behind you, which you knew, didn't you - you've been guarding them for half an hour.

KASPER I have. It's the only reason I stand in kitchens.

C · COMPREHENSION

Listen again. Who - Ffion (F), Kasper (K), or both (B)?

1. Knows almost nobody at the party.

2. Drinks a lot of coffee, guilt-free.

3. Goes camping regularly.

4. Claims a sheep once stole her / his breakfast.

5. Dislikes the playlist but won't say so to the host.

6. Has been standing near the crisps deliberately.

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Agreeing, contradicting and replying

a) I don't really know anyone tonight. - Neither do I. / So do I! ... So have I.

b) You're joking. - I'm not! / A sheep did not steal your breakfast. - It did steal it!

c) I go every month. - Do you? Voluntarily?

1. In (a), why So do I after a present simple sentence but So have I after a present perfect one? What is the pattern: so / neither + ______ + ______? And after neither / nor, is the auxiliary positive or negative?

2. In (b), Ffion contradicts. With present or past simple, which word gets added and stressed? With be / have / will, what happens instead - contraction or stress?

3. What are the little questions in (c) called, and what do they express - a real request for information, or interest and surprise?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Emphasis, tags and the bare auxiliary

a) I do love parties. I just hate the first forty minutes. / I do like jazz - some jazz.

b) They do, don't they? / That's a decent evening's work, isn't it? / ...which you knew, didn't you?

c) Everyone ends up in here... They do.

1. In (a), I do love parties - is Ffion asking anything? What is emphatic do doing here?

2. In (b), when a tag just invites agreement (It's a nice evening, isn't it?), does the voice rise or fall? And when you are genuinely checking something you're not sure about?

3. In (c), what does the bare auxiliary They do replace? Why do fluent speakers do this?

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete the rules with one word in each gap.

• Auxiliaries replace the whole verb phrase to avoid ______.

• So + auxiliary + subject agrees with a ______ statement; neither / nor + ______ auxiliary + subject agrees with a negative one.

• Emphatic do / does / did (or a stressed, uncontracted auxiliary) adds ______, often to contradict.

• Reply questions (Did you? Has she?) show ______ or surprise, not a request for information.

CAREFUL

The auxiliary always matches the tense of the original sentence, and after neither / nor it stays positive: Neither do I - never Neither don't I.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Complete with one suitable auxiliary or modal (positive or negative).

1. "I can't stand small talk." - "Neither ______ I. And yet here we are."

2. "I've been to that new bakery." - "______ you? What's it like?"

3. "You didn't water my plants while I was away!" - "I ______ water them! Twice a week, like you said."

4. "Renata loves jazz, and so ______ her brother. The whole family's musical."

5. "I won't tell anyone." - "You ______ tell Renata, though. You tell Renata everything."

6. "He doesn't eat meat, but his kids ______ - dinners are complicated."

7. "It's a lovely flat, ______ it?" (seeking agreement)

8. "I ______ warn you about the sheep. You just didn't listen." (past, emphatic)

F · FREER PRACTICE

Snap!

Work with a partner. Make statements about yourself - likes, habits, experiences.

• Your partner may respond only with So / Neither + auxiliary, a reply question, or a contradiction with a stressed auxiliary - then one follow-up sentence.

• After two minutes, you will work with a new person.

• Who do you have the most / the least in common with?

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B GIST In common: knowing almost nobody, loving parties after a slow start, heavy coffee habits, diplomatic lying about the playlist, crisp-adjacent positioning. Disagreement: camping versus hotels ("television with weather").

C 1 B · 2 B · 3 K · 4 F · 5 F (both stay silent, but the dislike is Ffion's) - accept B for the "say nothing" pact · 6 K.

D PART 1 1 The auxiliary matches the tense of the original statement: so / neither + auxiliary + subject; after neither / nor the auxiliary is positive (Neither do I, never Neither don't I). 2 Present/past simple: add stressed do / does / did (It DID steal it); with be / have / will, stress the full, uncontracted auxiliary (I'm NOT / I HAVE camped). 3 Reply questions; interest or surprise, not real information-seeking.

D PART 2 4 No - emphatic do adds emphasis or contradiction to a positive sentence. 5 Falling intonation when seeking agreement; rising for a genuine check. 6 It replaces the whole verb phrase (end up in the kitchen); economy - avoiding repetition sounds natural and fluent.

RULES repetition · positive; positive · emphasis · interest.

E 1 can · 2 Have · 3 did · 4 does · 5 will (accept 'll; stressed WILL) · 6 do · 7 isn't · 8 did.