Are the bold verbs auxiliary in these situations

[learner7]

(I do believe they are main verb, just to confirm...)
I am a boy.
He is Y.
Are you busy?

 

[learner7]

Thanks for confirming!

 

[Bamako5]

One way to check is to take the words out and see if the sentences make sense - I a boy, He Y, you busy? It seems that these are required.

This does not make sense.

I like you. -- main verb "like"
I you.

The primary verb "be" is a main verb with a copulative function here:

1. I am a boy.
2. He is Y.
3. Are you busy?,

and "be" is an auxiliary here:

I am going there. -- aspect auxiliary
I was biten by a bug. -- passive auxiliary


The primary verbs BE, HAVE, and DO, Quirk et. al., 3.31., p. 129

 

[birdeen's call]

What Gillnetter said does make sense, if that's what Bamako5 is denying.

When you remove "am" from "I am busy", it becomes nonsense, therefore "am" is not auxiliary in this sentence. When you remove "like" from "I like you", it becomes nonsense, therefore "like" is not auxiliary in this new sentence either.

"Am" is the main verb in "I am busy" and so is "like" in "I like you."

An irrelevant remark: as it was said in another thread, we don't use a period after "et" in "et al."

 

[Bamako5]

adverb
and others ('et al.' is used as an abbreviation of 'et alii' (masculine plural) or 'et aliae' (feminine plural) or 'et alia' (neuter plural) when referring to a number of people); "the data reported by Smith et al." [syn: et al.]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/et+alii

:-D

Ohh, after 'et',that was a typo indeed.