Here is an example of a question and response about a tricky grammar point:
Hi,
does the "did" in this sentence have the intent of adding something emotional?
The Lord never did buy Janis a Mercedes Benz.
They could wrote: The Lord never bought Janis a Mercedes Benz.
Thank you.
mummleun responds:
No, not emotional, exactly. Hmm... this is trickier to explain than I thought. Compare, let's say, "Joe didn't buy the car" and "Joe never did buy the car." The first one just states a fact. The second one states a fact, too, but there's a sort of implied history to it -- he probably said he was going to go buy it or someone thought he was going to buy it, but he ended up not buying it... Maybe he decided not to, maybe he never really intended to (like the Lord with Janis Joplin's Mercedez ;) ), but in the end this thing that someone expected to happen never did take place.
I'm not sure that clears it up -- it's a rather subtle thing to explain, really.
Jellyroll233 adds some further clarification:
Do is used in an affirmative clause for emotive or contrastive emphasis.
You do look nice.
I don't eat much now, but I did use to as a child.
Do sit down
She thinks I don't care but I do.
(Reference: Swan, Michael Practical English Usage second edition, Oxford, 1995, page 162.)
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