1. PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE Vs. Present Continuous Tense

2. 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. 2

3. The Present Simple Tense
Positive: (+) SUBJECT VERB* OBJECT
*Third person singular –s : (general rule)
he / she / it knows, starts, eats, lives, plays, reads, looks, obeys
Exceptions:
Verbs ending -y (after a consonant) + ies
e.g. study, carry, try, fly, cry. he / she / it studies / carries / tries / flies / cries
Verbs ending -ss, -sh , -ch, -x + -es
e.g. kiss, wash, watch, mix. he/ she / it kisses, washes, watches, mixes
Verbs ending -o
do, go he / she / it does, goes I
play
football.
She
plays
football. 3

4. The Present Simple Tense
Negative: (-)
SUBJECT DO / DOES + NOT + VERB + OBJECT I
don’t play
football. He
doesn’t play
football. 4

5. The Present Simple Tense
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 … 5

6. We use the Present Simple to talk about:
The Present Simple Tense
USES
We 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 situations
e.g. I live in Cañada del Hoyo.
Likes and dislikes
e.g. I love pizza. e.g. I hate studying.
Stative verbs
e.g. I feel very happy today. 6

7. The Present Simple Tense
Stative verbs
Verbs 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.

8. Adverbs of frequency V (AUX. VERB)
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) 8 8

9. Other ways to express frequency
Adverbial phrases
 once, twice, three times a day/week/month…
every morning/afternoon/day/week/month/year…
on Mondays/weekdays
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. 9

10. 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. 10 10

11. The Present Continuous Tense
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)? 11 11

12. The Present Continuous Tense12 12

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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 . 15 15