My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

Back me up, will you?
Auxiliary verbs are used ‘to indicate the tense, voice, mood, etc. of another verb
where  this  is  not  indicated  by  inflection’.  Don’t  you  just  love  dictionaries?  It
means they are the little words you stick in the front of verbs. There are twenty-
three of them, which can be learnt by singing them to the tune of Jingle Bells – if
you really, truly have nothing better to do with your time.
may, might, must
be, being, been
am, are
is, was, were
do, does, did
should, could, would
have, had, has
will, can
shall
So they can express simple things such as I am coming, slightly more complicated
ones  such  as  it  shall  be  done  ,  or  even  more  complex  ones  with  up  to  three

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auxiliaries  attached  to  one  main  verb:  He  must  have  been  feeling  unhappy  for
some time .
Must and may , along with should and ought , are also called modal verbs : they
give information about the mood of the verb (see
here
), expressing such things
as obligation (you must be home by midnight , he ought to pay before leaving the
restaurant ), recommendation (you should ring and apologize ) or possibility (I