1. Simple Present
· The simple present tense is the one which we use when an action is happening right now, or when it happens regularly (or unceasingly, which is why it’s sometimes called present indefinite). The simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding ‑s or ‑es to the end, depending on the person.
· The simple present tense in English is used to describe an action that is regular, true or normal.
FUNCTIONS
We use the present tense:
1. For repeated or regular actions in the present time period.
·I take the train to the office.
·The train to Berlin leaves every hour.
·John sleeps eight hours every night during the week.
2. For facts.
·The President of The USA lives in The White House.
·A dog has four legs.
·We come from Switzerland.
3. For habits.
·I get up early every day.
·Carol brushes her teeth twice a day.
·They travel to their country house every weekend.
4. For things that are always / generally true.
·It rains a lot in winter.
·The Queen of England lives in Buckingham Palace.
·They speak English at work.
NOTES ON THE SIMPLE PRESENT, THIRD PERSON SINGULAR
In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s:
he wants, she needs, he gives, she thinks.
Negative and question forms use DOES (= the third person of the auxiliary 'DO') + the infinitive of the verb.
He wants ice cream. Does he want strawberry? He does not want vanilla.
Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies:
fly --> flies, cry --> cries
Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y:
play --> plays, pray --> prays
Add -es to verbs ending in:-ss, -x, -sh, -ch:
he passes, she catches, he fixes, it pushes
EXAMPLES
· He understands English.
· She goes to school every morning.
· It mixes the sand and the water.
· She very hard.
· He enjoys playing the piano.
2. Present continuous Tense
[am/is/are + present participle]
The present continuous tense is formed from the present tense of the verb be and the present participle (-ing form) of a verb:
a) Use
We use the present continuous tense to talk about the present:
• For something that is happening at the moment of speaking:
1. I’m just leaving work.
2. I’ll be home in an hour.
3. Please be quiet.
4. The children are sleeping.
• For something which is happening before and after a given time:
1. At eight o’clock we are usually having breakfast.
2. When I get home the children are doing their homework.
· For something which we think is temporary:
1. Michael is at university. He’s studying history.
2. I’m working in London for the next two weeks.
• For something which is new and contrasts with a previous state:
1. These days most people are using email instead of writing letters.
2. What sort of clothes are teenagers wearing nowadays?
3. What sort of music are they, listening to?
Note: We normally use always with this use.
b) We use the present continuous tense to talk about the future:
· For something which has been arranged or planned:
1. Mary is going to a new school next term.
2. What are you doing next week?
c) We can use the present continuous to talk about the past:
1. When we are telling a story:
2. When we are summarising the story from a book, film or play etc.:
REMEMBER NON-CONTINUOUS VERBS/ MIXED VERBS
It is important to remember that Non-Continuous Verbs cannot be used in any continuous tenses. Also, certain non-continuous meanings for Mixed Verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses. Instead of using Present Continuous with these verbs, you must use Simple Present.Examples:
- She is loving this chocolate ice cream. Not Correct
- She loves this chocolate ice cream. Correct
3. Past Simple
We use the Past Simple tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long.
The formula of Simple Past Tense :
a. Without Verb :
(+) S + to be (was/were) + Obj. / Compliment
(-) S + to be (was/were) + not + Obj. / Compliment
(?) To be (was/were) + S + Obj. / Compliment + ?
Example : (+) I was at home last night
(-) I was not at home last night
(?) Was I at home last night?
b. With Verb :
(+) S + V2 + Compliment
(-) S + did + not + V1 + Compliment
(?) Did + S + V1 + Compliment + ?
Example : (+) I called him last night.
(-) I did not call him last night.
(?) Did I call him last night?
Time Signal of Simple Past Tense :
- Yesterday
- Yesterday afternoon
- Last night
- Last month
- Last week
- Last year
- An hour ago
· The Function
To tell about activity that began in the past and ended in the past too. We usually use simple past tense when the adverb of time in the sentence is specific when the adverb is not specific we can use simple perfect tense.
Here are some short events with the Past Simple:
The car exploded at 9.30am yesterday. She went to the door. We did not hear the telephone. Did you see that car?
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Here are some long events with the Past Simple tense:
I lived in Bangkok for 10 years. The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million years. We did not sing at the concert. Did you watch TV last night?
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Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past, or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period). We use the Past Simple tense when:
1. the event is in the past
2. the event is completely finished
3. we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event
Examples:
1. I lived in that house when I was young.
2. He didn't like the movie.
3. What did you eat for dinner?
4. John drove to London on Monday.
5. Mary did not go to work yesterday.
6. Did you play tennis last week?
7. I was at work yesterday.
8. We were not late (for the train).
9. Were you angry?
4. Past Continuous
The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past.
The pattern of Past Continuous Tense:
(+) S + to b (was, were) + V1-ing + .....
(-) S + to be (was, were) + not + V1-ing + .....
(?) To be (was, were) + S + V1-ing + .....?
Example :
(+) I was studying all day yesterday.
(-) I was not studying all day yesterday.
(?) Was I studying all day?
Note:
Subjek (S) To be
He, She, It Was
I Was
You, We, They Were
EXAMPLES
1. They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
2. Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
3. When we arrived he was having a bath.
4. When the fire started I was watching television.
5. Subject Verb Agreement
Subject verb agreement simply means the subject and verb must agree in number. This means both need to be singular or both need to be plural.
Subject/Verb Agreement Examples
Here are some examples of subject verb agreement (the subject is bolded and the verb underlined) :
1. My dog always growls at the postal carrier.
2. Basketballs roll across the floor.
3. I don’t understand the assignment.
4. These clothes are too small for me.
5. Peter doesn’t like vegetables.
Compound Subjects
Compound subjects (two subjects in the same sentence) usually take a plural verb, unless the combination is treated as singular in popular usage or the two subjects refer to the same thing or person. Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with compound subjects:
o Sugar and flour are needed for the recipe.
o Neither my dad nor my brothers know how to ski.
o Pepperoni and cheese are great on a pizza.
o Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional meal in Ireland. (popular usage)
o The creator and producer is arriving soon. (both refer to same person)
When using “or” or “nor” in a compound subject containing a singular and plural subject, the verb agrees with the closest subject. Examples of compound subjects using or, neither-nor, or either-or include:
o My mom or dad is coming to the play. (singular)
o Neither gray nor white is my favorite color. (singular)
o Either Grandpa or my sisters are going to the park. (closest subject is plural)
o Either my sisters or Grandpa is going to the park. (closest subject is singular)
o Neither she nor I am going to college. (closest subject is singular)
6. Pronoun
Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence to make it less repetitive and less awkward. Some of the most common Pronouns are - he, she, you, they, it, etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based on their use.
1) Personal Pronouns
These pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to indicate the different genders, numbers, case and persons speaking.
Example:
· Vania told him to take the food to them as soon as possible as it was urgently needed.
‘Him’ is a Pronoun of gender.
2) Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns are used to show or identify one or a number of nouns that may be far or near in distance or time. They are only four in number - This, That, These and Those. This and That are singular demonstrative pronouns and These and Those are plural demonstrative pronouns. They can also be used to show an unspecified quantity in a sentence.
Examples:
§ That is the car that I’ll buy for my birthday.
§ The speaker is pointing out to a singular noun that is far from him/her.
§ She said she wanted these.
§ The underlined pronoun refers to a plural noun and also serve as the object of the verb wanted.
3) Interrogative Pronouns
Who, Whom, Which and What are Interrogative Pronouns as they are used to ask questions about a person or object that we do not know about. Compounds of these words are made by attaching ‘-ever’ to the words to strengthen the emphasis on the word.
Examples:
§ What did the teachers say?
§ Who wrote the book 1984?
4) Relative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the noun in the previous clause using the pronouns - Who, Whom, Whose, Which andThat.
Examples:
§ The contestant who gets the highest score wins the million dollar jackpot.
§ In this sentence, the underlined pronoun is the subject of the verb gets. The subordinate clause, “who gets the highest score wins the million dollar jackpot,” describes the noun contestant.
§ He will accept whichever project comes first.
§ The subordinate clause, ”whichever project comes first,” serves as the object of the verb “will accept.”
5) Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns are used to show unspecified objects or people, whether in plural or in singular. They are used to indicate the entire noun or some of the noun or none of the noun. They are used when we want to refer to group of nouns without actually specifying who or how much.
Examples:
§ Many were called for the interview but only 3 were hired.
§ He’s ready to give up everything for his family’s safety.
6) Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns are those which are used to indicate a noun which has been used in an earlier part of the same sentence. These pronouns are - Myself, Themselves, Yourself,Ourselves, Herself, Himself and Itself.
Example:
§ Ina never forgets to send a copy of the email to herself.
§ The pronoun “herself” refers back to the subject of the sentence, which is Ina.
§ He promised to repair the broken fence, however, we ended up fixing it ourselves.
§ The underlined reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject we.
§
7) Reciprocal Pronoun
reciprocal (adj.): given or done in return; [grammar] expressing mutual action
We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other. For example, A is talking to B, and B is talking to A. So we say:
- A and B are talking to each other.
The action is "reciprocated". John talks to Mary and Mary talks to John. I give you a present and you give me a present. The dog bites the cat and the cat bites the dog.There are only two reciprocal pronouns, and they are both two words:
When we use these reciprocal pronouns:
- there must be two or more people, things or groups involved (so we cannot use reciprocal pronouns with I, you [singular], he/she/it)
- they must be doing the same thing
Look at these examples:
- John and Mary love each other.
- Peter and David hate each other.
- The ten prisoners were all blaming one another.
- Both teams played hard against each other.
- We gave each other gifts.
- Why don't you believe each other?
- They can't see each other.
- The gangsters were fighting one another.
- The boats were bumping against each other in the storm.
http://grammar-monster.com/glossary/reciprocal_pronouns.htm