student asking question

why did he put 'do' before 'move' here? I think 'do' is not really necessary tho.

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Here, "do" emphasises the contrasting, affirmative idea of when sloths <do> move, saying that it's significant. It emphasises the affirmative. This is what is called the "emphatic do." It's common in spoken English. When used in the past tense, "do" takes the past marker instead of the verb. Ex: Do come over for lunch. We'd love to have you. Ex: I <did> wash the car last week! Stop bothering me. => past tense = I washed the car last week! Stop bothering me. Ex: She doesn't play sports much. But when she <does> play sports, she's very good at it. Ex: Person A: I can see you really like to play sports. Person B: I <do> like to play sports, don't I?

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