What connects with another verb to help form tense?

The correct answer is "auxiliary verb" because auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, work alongside main verbs to create various tenses, moods, and voices in English. For instance, in the sentence "She is running," the verb "is" (an auxiliary verb) helps to establish the present continuous tense, indicating an ongoing action. This structure is essential for conveying the time frame of the action clearly.

Active verbs, on the other hand, refer to the main action verbs in a sentence and do not assist in forming tense themselves. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, but they do not affect verb tense or assist in creating tenses. Nouns simply represent people, places, things, or ideas and have no direct role in verb tense formation. Thus, auxiliary verbs are uniquely responsible for helping main verbs convey tense effectively.