English - English
Definition of do 1 in English English dictionary
- politeness Do is used as a polite way of inviting or trying to persuade someone to do something. Do sit down Do help yourself to another drink
- emphasis Do is used to give emphasis to the main verb when there is no other auxiliary. Veronica, I do understand You did have a tape recorder with you
- do WEAK STRONG does WEAK STRONG doing did done AUXILIARY VERB USES ; Do is used as an auxiliary with the simple present tense. Did is used as an auxiliary with the simple past tense. In spoken English, negative forms of do are often shortened, for example do not is shortened to don't and did not is shortened to didn't
- Do can be used to refer back to another verb group when you are comparing or contrasting two things, or saying that they are the same. I make more money than he does I had fantasies, as do all mothers, about how life would be when my girls were grown Girls receive less health care and less education in the developing world than do boys
- Do is used to form questions, by putting the subject after `do' and before the main verb in its infinitive form, that is the form without `to'. Do you like music? What did he say? Where does she live?
- Do is used to form the negative of main verbs, by putting `not' after `do' and before the main verb in its infinitive form, that is the form without `to'. They don't want to work I did not know Jamie had a knife It doesn't matter if you win or lose
- Do is used with a negative to tell someone not to behave in a certain way. Don't be silly Don't touch that!
- You use do when you are confirming or contradicting a statement containing `do', or giving a negative or positive answer to a question. `Did he think there was anything suspicious going on?' --- `Yes, he did.' `Do you have a metal detector?' --- `No, I don't.'
- You use do after `so' and `nor' to say that the same statement is true for two people or groups. You know that's true, and so do I We don't forget that. Nor does he
- Do is used in question tags. You know about Andy, don't you? I'm sure they had some of the same questions last year didn't they?