We have studied the present simple and the present continuous separatedly, but what about using them together? Do you really know when to use one and when to use the other? Let's have a look at them.
Present simple
It is used to speak about routines, hobbies, things that are always true.
Present continuous
It is used to speak about what is happening now or around now, temporal things or situations.
REMEMBER: there are some verbs which are not used in the continuous: believe, want, love, hate ...
Watch this video where both the present simple and continuous are explained
And now let's see if you understood. Do the following exercises and check your knowledge!!!
Use the Present Continuous with normal verbs to express the idea that something is happening now, at this very moment. It can also be used to show that something is not happening now.
Example:I am watching TV now. he is not reading a newspaper now.
To make a statement in the present continuous we need the present of verb to be (AM/IS/ARE) + the -ing form of the verb we want to use
I AM READING a book She IS DRIVING a red car They ARE HAVING a shower
To make negative sentences we just add NOT after verb to be.
I amnotreading a book She isnotdriving a red car They arenothaving a shower
To make questions we just place the verb to be before the subject.
Are you reading a book? Why is she driving a red car? Are they having a shower?
With this video you can practise negative and questions in the present continuous
Let's see if you have understood, let's practise with these exercises Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Watch the video and make full sentences, You can check the answers if you have a look at the comments to this post.
In English there are regular and irregular verbs. We have to know if a verb is regular or irregular to know how to form the past.
To make the past simple of REGULAR verbs you only have to add -ed to the verb.
live ----- lived walk ----- walked
To make the past simple of IRREGULAR verbs you have to know the form of that verb in the past. Remember it's the second column of the verb. Unfortunately there is no way to know if a verb is regular or irregular, so study them!!!!
go ----- went speak -----spoke
But we are lucky because in the past the verb has the same form for all the persons, there is no change in the third person singular.
I worked went you worked went
he worked went
she workedwent
it worked went
we worked went
you worked went
they worked went
POSITIVE
The structure of a sentence is the same as in the present, we only have to use the verb in the past.
Present:I work as a musician Past:I worked as a musician Present: They go to the cinema every weekend Past: They went to the cinema every weekend Present: She lives in Galway Past:She lived in Galway
Present: He speaks very fast Past: He spoke very fast
To form the -ed of the regular verbs in the past there are some rules:
1. If the verb ends in -e we only have to add -d live ----- lived hate ----- hated love ----- loved
2. If the final syllable of the verb is stressed and it is a consonant, then we have to double the consonant stop ----- stopped admit ----- admitted prefer ----- preferred
3. If the verb ends in -l then we also duouble the -l travel ----- travelled
4. If the verb ends in -y and the -y is preceded by a consonant, the -y turns into -i and we add -ed try ----- tried study ----- studied
But if before the -y there is a vowel we just add -ed play ----- played enjoy ----- enjoyed
NEGATIVEAND INTERROGATIVE
The structure of the negative and interogative sentences is the same as in the present, we know it is past because instead of the auxiliaries do and does, we use auxiliary DID. And, again, it is the same which person it is, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, singular or plural, the auxiliary is always did.
In positive sentences we have to know if the verb is regular or irregular to know its past form. In negative and interrogative sentences it is not necessary because we use the infinitive of the verb, in the same way we use it in the present simple.
Examples of negative sentences:
Present:They don't like going to the cinema Past:They didn't like going to the cinema
Present:She doesn't drink a lot of water Past:She didn't drink a lot of water yesterday.
Example of interrogative sentences
Present:Do they like going to the cinema? Past:Did they like going to the cinema?
Present:Does she drink a lot of water? Past:Did she drink a lot of water yesterday?
Watch this video to learn more about the past simple.
Remember that pronouns always take the place of the noun and everything that goes with the noun. The possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs) are used instead of the possessive + noun to indicate possession. Let's see some examples:
That car is my car -----> that car is mine
This book is Mary's book -----> this book is hers
And, of course, some exercises for you to practise!!!
Exercise 1 Complete the sentences with a possessive pronoun Exercise 2 Change the sentences so that they have a possessive pronoun. There is an example. Exercise 3 Complete the sentences with a possessive pronoun Exercise 4 Choose the correct answer Exercise 5 Complete the sentences Exercise 6 Complete the sentences according to the person in brackets.
A pronoun is the word that takes the place of the noun. The subject pronouns are the pronouns that are the subject of a sentence (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
Mary has a car ------> She has a car Peter and I are happy -----> We are happy
The 'Object Pronouns' or complement pronouns are the pronouns used as a complement of the verb or after a preposition (me, you, him, her, it, us, them)
Peter buys flowers for Lorraine -----> Peter buys flowers for her I like those shoes -----> I like them
Don't confuse them with the possessive adjectives. The possessive adjectives are adjectives, so they come before a noun. The pronoun substitutes the noun, so they come alone.
Possessive adjective: Tom and Bob live with their parents
Object pronoun: Tom and Bob live with them
To talk about what we like or we don't like we use the verbs love, enjoy, likeandhate. After these verbs we can use a noun
She loves chocolate
They don't like football
Does he hate the beach?
But we can also use a verb. When we use a verb it usually takes the form of the gerund, that is, we add -ing to the verb.
He loves going to the cinema
She doesn't like dancing
Do they enjoy playing chess?
Remember that there are some rules to add -ing:
* most of the times we just add -ing directly to the verb go ---> goingwork ---> working study --->studyingplay--->playing
* but when the verb ends in a silent final e preceded by a consonant, we drop the -e and add -ing
live ---> living write ---> writing
* when the verb ends in a consonant and it is a strong one syllable verb then we double the final consonant. Also when the verb has two or more syllables but the stress is on the last syllable.
stop ---> stoppingbegin ---> beginning
This video might help you
And of course, nothing better than some practice!!!
The verb can is used to express ability to do something and to ask for permission. I can sing quite well Can we go out on Saturday?
The verb can is special. It doesn't add the '-s' in the third person singular She can dance very well *NOT She cans dance very well
It is always followed by another verb in the plain infinitive, that is, in the infinitive without 'to' . They can play tennis *NOT they can to play tennis
To make the negative we add not to the verb and to make questions we just swap places between subject and verb.
We can't go out tonight Can you play the guitar?
Note that in the negative it is either can't or cannot but NOT can not.
Watch the video and sing with the busy beavers. Remember that songs are good practice to learn. Pay attention to the pronunciation!!
When we speak or write we have two options. We can use the formula sentence + sentence + sentence + sentence + ..... which doesn't sound too natural
I like Sundays. I don't work on Sundays. I wake up at 8.30. I get up at 10.00. I have a big breakfast. I sometimes read the newspaper. I sometimes work in the garden. I go out for a walk. I have lunch with my family. We watch TV. We talk. We don't work. We don't study.
Or we can link the sentences and the discourse using CONNECTORS (and, or, but, because) and SEQUENCERS (then, before/after breakfast, ...) which sounds a lot more natural, don't you think so?
I like Sundays because I don't work. I wake up at 8.30 but I get up at 10.00 and I have a big breakfast. Then I sometimes read the newspaper or work in the garden. Before lunch I go out for a walk. Then I have lunch with my family.After lunch we watch TV and talk. We don't work or study.
Now time for you to practise!!!!!
Exercise Write a composition about your favourite day and send it to your teacher!!
When we say 'when' we not only say the watch time but also we refer to:
parts of the day (morning, afternoon, everning)
specific time in the day (lunch, dinner)
day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, ...)
month of the year (January, February, March...)
the year (2010, 1984, 1715...)
the season (spring, summer, autumn, winter)
specific periods of time (Christmas, Easter, weekend) ....
Three prepositions are used AT, IN and ON . Do you remember when to use them? If you don't then have a look at this powerpoint, it will help!!!
Exercise 1 (Choose the correct answer) Exercise 2 (Write in, at, on, to complete the sentences) Exercise 3 (Drag each word to the correct group) Exercise 4 (Complete the sentences with the correct preposition) Exercise 5 (Choose the right answer) Exercise 6(Which is the right preposition to complete the sentence?)
This is a video from MadridTeacher.com. Victoria Fontana tells us about a typical day in her life. There are two parts. During the first part of the video just listen to it and try to understand as much as you can, in the second part you can read the subtitles. Does she live in an Okinawa way? What do you think?
We not always say just what we do but we also say how often we do things and that's when we use 'adverbs of frequency'. The most used frequency adverbs are always, usually, often, sometimes, hardly ever (or seldom) and never.
Example: I usually go to the cinema
Remember that they are placed immediately before the verb:
Example: She often plays tennis.
But they come after the verb to be:
Example: They are never happy with the results.
This graphic will help you learn their degree of frequency:
An adjective describes how something 'is'. For this reason, we usually use the verb 'to be' when using adjectives. Adjectives are used to describe nouns. Examples: - He is a good doctor. - Beautiful trees. - They are happy. Be careful!
* Adjectives don't have a singular and plural form OR a masculine, femine and neuter form.
* Adjectives are always the same! Never add a final -s to an adjective.
Example: these are difficult books.
NOT!!: difficults books Rule: Adjectives are placed before the noun.
Example: - a wonderful book - very interesting people
Be careful!
* Don't place an adjective after the noun
NOT!!: an apple red
LET'S PUT THEM IN PRACTICE
Exercise 1 (Put the words in the correct order) Exercise 2(A crossword) Exercise 3 (Choose the correct answer) Exercise 4 (Put the words in the correct order) Exercise 5 (Choose the correct answer) Exercise 6 (Crossword, opposites) Exercise 7 (Wordsearch, colours) Exercise 8 (Which picture best describes the adjective given? two exercises) Exercise 9 (Match the adjective and the correct picture)
Are you good at forming the plural of the nouns? In case you need some extra help this is a presentation for you to review how to make singular nouns plural. If you download it to your computer you will see it better.
And this is a video where a teacher shows some of the rules. Very instructive.
Now it's time to practise! Look up the words you don't understand in the dictionary and you will learn more vocabulary.
In these exercises each time you load them you will get new words, do them more than once. Remember, the more times you do the exercises the more words you will learn! Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3
