[EnglishTeacher79]

In a phrase like "may help shed light on" or "may help increase...", you have the modal may and then two base verbs - help and shed/increase.

I was asking my students about what tense "shed" was - whether base form or past/present tense. Of course it's base form. But I was going to explain to my students that it's base form because the modal "may" is used - the second verb after a modal is always in base form. However, I realized that "help" is the second verb and shed is the third! I've never come across such a situation. Are there normally two base verbs after modals? Is there a rule that I can explain to my students because I'm not sure how to explain it.

Thanks