1. You can use the Present Simple tense (a) To describe a state or characteristic. e.g. Our client is a profitable UK company … (b) To describe repeated or habitual action. e.g. They regularly advertise on TV. (c) To describe processes and procedures e.g. The exporter delivers the goods to the ship and receives the B/L. (d) To give instructions. e.g. You take the form to the accounts office …

2. (e) To refer to something already arranged in the future, usually in a fixed time. e.g. The MP leaves Harwich on the 1 st of May and arrives in Hamburg on the 10 th. (f) In conditional and time clauses referring to the future. e.g. If our turnover improves, we expect … (g) In certain set expressions in written documents. e.g. We thank you for your letter. We regret we cannot allow.. We hope to hear from you shortly

3. You can use the Present Continuous tense (a) To describe a temporary action. e.g. We are looking for an accountant. (b) To describe an action which is taking place at the moment (often when the listener cannot see what ’ s happening) e.g. We ’ re standing by the checkout desks of Marks & Spencer ’ s newest store.

4. (c) To describe background to an action in the present. e.g. I usually read the newspaper while I ’ m going to work. REMEMBER: the present simple can also be used in both clause here. (d) To express future arrangements. e.g. He ’ s flying to Tokyo next week.

5. Remember That Some verbs are rarely used in the continuous form because they describe a STATE of some kind rather than an action. Some of them are: appear, assure, believe, belong to, concern, consist of, cost, contain, doubt, dislike, depend on, feel, forget, guess, hate, hear, hope, imagine, include, involve, know, lack, like, look (like), mean, measure, need, notice, owe, own, please, realise, recognise, regret, remember, see, seem, smell, sound, suggest, suppose, taste, thank, think, understand, weigh, wish