Casa · B2 Upper Intermediate · Lesson 13 of 20 · Step 2

Entrepreneurship

Innovation, risk-taking, and emphasis with do/does/did

Use 'do', 'does', and 'did' for emphatic affirmation in positive sentences
Recognise when emphatic 'do' is used for contrast, insistence, or surprise
Discuss entrepreneurship, start-ups, and business innovation

Words · tap a card to see it used

Grammar

Emphatic do / does / did

In affirmative sentences, adding 'do', 'does', or 'did' before the base form of the main verb creates emphasis. This structure is used to insist, contrast, or express surprise. In present tense: 'I do believe', 'She does understand'. In past tense: 'They did manage'. Stress falls on do/does/did in speech.

I do believe this start-up has enormous potential.

She does understand the risks involved in launching a new product.

We did manage to secure funding despite the difficult market.

The prototype did work — the problem was in the marketing, not the technology.

Exercises · type, then check

1. Rewrite each sentence using emphatic do, does, or did to add emphasis. Write only the missing words.

1.I appreciate everything my co-founder has done for this company.

2.She realise that the market was saturated — she just chose to enter it anyway.

3.The product have some flaws, but it also has genuine strengths.

4.We try to negotiate a better deal, but the investor refused.

5.He want to help, even though he seems reluctant at first.

2. Choose the sentence that correctly uses emphatic do/does/did.

1. Which sentence uses emphasis correctly?

2. Which is the emphatic form of 'They succeeded'?

3. Which sentence shows contrast?

4. Choose the correct emphatic sentence.

5. Which is correct?

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Reading

Failure as a Foundation

When Priya launched her first tech start-up at twenty-three, she was convinced it would succeed. The idea was innovative, and the team did work incredibly hard throughout the first year. However, the company ran out of money within eighteen months. Critics said the product was ahead of its time, and they did have a point — the market was not ready. Priya could have abandoned entrepreneurship entirely, but she did learn a crucial lesson: timing matters as much as talent. She spent two years working in a large corporation, studying how established businesses scale. When she launched her second venture, she did things differently. She bootstrapped the company, iterated rapidly on customer feedback, and chose a scalable model from the outset. This time, the market was ready. Within three years, the company had over a million users. Priya does acknowledge that her first failure was painful, but she insists it was necessary. As she often tells aspiring founders: 'I do believe that every failure contains the blueprint for future success.'

1. Why did Priya's first start-up fail?

2. What did Priya do differently with her second venture?

Speaking · say it out loud, with a partner or alone

1Debate: 'Failure is essential for entrepreneurial success.' Do you agree? Share examples and use emphatic do/does/did to strengthen your arguments.

2Discuss with a partner: If you could start any business tomorrow, what would it be? What risks would you face, and how would you overcome them?

Writing

Write a short profile (8–10 sentences) of an entrepreneur — real or imagined — who overcame failure. Use emphatic do/does/did at least three times to highlight key achievements or turning points.

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