PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE VS.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Present Simple Tense

Paco likes sports  Paco likes sports a lot. He does sports

to keep fit. He usually plays basketball with his friends at weekends and, from time to time, they go for a mountain bike ride. Paco enjoys cycling very much. They intend to do Saint James Way next year.

Positive: (+) SUBJECT + VERB* + OBJECT

*Third person singular –s : (general rule)

he / she / it knows, starts, eats, lives, plays, reads, looks, obeysExceptions:1. Verbs ending -y (after a consonant) + ies e.g. study, carry, try, fly, cry. he / she / it studies / carries / tries /

flies / cries 2. Verbs ending -ss, -sh , -ch, -x + -es e.g. kiss, wash, watch, mix. he/ she / it kisses, washes, watches,

mixes3. Verbs ending -o

do, go he / she / it does, goes

The Present Simple Tense

playIfootball

.

playsShefootball

.

Negative: (-)

SUBJECT + DO / DOES + NOT + VERB + OBJECT

The Present Simple Tense

don’t playIfootball

.

Hefootball

.doesn’t

play

Interrogative: (?)The interrogative structure in the Present Simple follows this pattern:Without an interrogative pronoun:

DO / DOES + SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT OR COMPLEMENTS

Do you play football? Does she play football?

With an interrogative pronoun:

 WH + DO / DOES + SUBJECT + VERB ?What do you want to do?

WH- PRONOUNS AND INTERROGATIVE PARTICLES:who, what , when, where, why, how, how much, how many, how often, what time, etc …

The Present Simple Tense

The Present Simple Tense

USESWe use the Present Simple to talk

about: Everyday activities

e.g. I go to school every day. Habits and routines

e.g. I usually go out with my friends at weekends.

Permanent situationse.g. I live in Cañada del Hoyo.

Likes and dislikese.g. I love pizza. e.g. I hate studying.

Stative verbse.g. I feel very happy today.

The Present Simple Tense

Stative verbsVerbs expressing states, possession, senses, emotions, and mental activities:

1. Verbs of senses (perception) – smell, see, hear, taste, feel e.g. I smell something burning in the kitchen.

2. Mental processes (thoughts) – know, believe, think, understand, mean, doubt e.g. She understands the principles of photosynthesis.

3. Possession possess, have, own, belong e.g. I have an allergy to cats.

4. Emotions, attitudes, opinions –like, love, hate, desire, need, want e.g.The boy needs new clothes.

5. Measurement –equal, measure, weigh, cost e.g. The shoes cost a lot of money.

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of frequency go before any verb, except auxiliary verbs and the verb to be:

Paco never gets angry. V (ORDINARY VERB)

Paco is always happy. V (AUX. VERB)

Adverbial phrases

once, twice, three times a day/week/month…Þ every morning/afternoon/day/week/month/year…Þ on Mondays/weekdaysÞ at weekends…

They go at the end of the sentence: e.g. I do my homework every afternoon.

or at the beginning followed by a comma:e.g. Every afternoon, I do my homework.

Other ways to express frequency

The Present Continuous Tense

Paco is improving his English

Is Paco really improving his level of English? Yes, he is.

Paco is taking pains to learn English. He is making a great effort to speak English properly.

He is studying hard because he needs the English language for his journey around the world.

Positive:Subject + Present “to be” + Present Participle (-ing)

Negative:

Subject + Present “to be” + NOT + Present Participle (-ing)

Interrogative: Present “to be” + Subject + Present Participle (-ing)?

The Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense

Spelling rules for adding –ing to the verb (I):

A. General rule: verb (base form) + ing.e.g. eat, read, look, clean → eating, reading, looking, cleaning

B. Verbs ending with silent final -e drop the e, then add –ing.e.g. love, live, make, take → loving, living, making, taking

C. 1- syllable verbs ending Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) double the final consonant, then add –ing.

e.g. run, sit, stop, swim→ running, sitting, stopping, swimming

The Present Continuous Tense

Spelling rules for adding –ing to the verb (II):

D. 2- syllable verbs ending with stress on the las syllable, double the final consonant, then add –ing.

e.g. refer, begin, prefer, control → referring, beginning, preferring, controlling

E. Verbs ending –l double the final consonant, then add –ing.

e.g. travel, cancel → travelling, cancelling

F. Verbs ending –ie change –ie to –y, then add –ing.

e.g. die, lie → dying, lying

The Present Continuous Tense

USES

We use Present Continuous to talk about:

1. Actions happening at the moment of speaking.

e.g. Paco is wearing a new suit.

2. Also for several actions happening at the same time:e.g. Colin is playing football and Anne is watching.

3. Actions happening in a period around the present moment in time.

e.g. Thomas’s cousin is staying with them these days.

4. Future plans and arrangements. e.g. Andrés is meeting Paco next Saturday .