The phrases Do me a favour and Can you do me a favuor? are very useful in everydayconversational English. Whenever you need a person’s help, and you want to ask them for help, you can use one of these phrases before you say your request. Saying Do me a favour and Can you do me a favour? makes your request less direct, and is also a signal to let the listener know that you are going to ask them for help. Here are a few examples:

In the office

• Bob: Hey Jack. Can you do me a u?
• Jack: Sure Bob, what’s up?
• Bob: I want to move this table to the back of the room. Can you help me?
• Jack: Sure. Let’s do it!

On the telephone:

• Jen: Hello?
• Dan: Hi Jen. It’s me, Dan.
• Jen: Oh Dan. I’m glad you called. Do me a favour. Tell your sister that I wasn’t able to find the makeup she asked me for. I tried to call her but the line is busy.
• Dan: Ok, I’ll let her know.

At the department store:

• Cashier: Ok, your total is $35.40. Will that be cash or charge.
• Customer: Charge please. And can you do me a favour? It’s a gift, so can you giftwrap it?
• Cashier: Yes, of course.

At the train station

• Chris: I need to by a ticket. Do me a favour. Hold my bag.
• Joe: Ok!

The word do in English is an auxiliary verb. We also call it a helping verb, because it helps the main verb of the sentence. We use do to form the negative form of ordinary (non-auxiliary) verbs. The negative form is do + not + verb. Of course we generally use the contracted form of do not, which is don’t. The contracted form of does not is doesn’t:

• I like pizza, but I really do not like pasta (or) …I really don’t like pasta
• We live in New York. Our cousin does not live very close to us (or) … doesn’t live very close to us.
• I do not watch a lot of TV because I work until 10pm (or) I don’t watch…

Be careful! We do not use do to form the negative of other auxiliary verbs:

• “I can not play tennis” is ok, but “I do not can play tennis” is not correct.
• “I may not go to the party” is ok, but “I don’t may go to the party” is not correct.

We also use do when we form yes/no questions. The grammar is do + subject + verb:

• Do you like pizza?
• Does Jack have an extra tennis racket?
• Did they meet you at the mall?

Do also has a non-auxiliary use, and there are a lot of collocations with do, especially with some sports. Some examples of collocations are do the dishes (wash the dishes) do laundry (wash dirty clothes) and do homework.

• Lori does yoga on Sundays.
• Akira did kendo in high school.
• Jen cooks, and Joe always does the dishes.
• Make sure you do your homework before watching TV.

It is also possible to use the auxiliary verb do with the non-auxiliary verb do:

• Tom didn’t do his homework and the teacher got angry.
• Did you do anything fun last weekend?
• Don’t do that!

We also use do to replace a verb that was just used:

• I washed the car today. I do it once a month.
• I always exercise in the morning, but today I did it after lunch.
• Jack was singing again in the office. I hate it when he does that.

Lastly, we use do for emphasis before the main verb in a sentence.

• Wow! You do like pizza. You at five slices!
• Oh, don’t worry. Jane does like you. She told me so yesterday.
• I’m sorry, but I do need to go home now. It’s late.

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