Present Continuous: Verbs with -ing

 Suitable for beginners CEFR A1+

 #PresentContinuous #EnglishGrammar #Tenses #grammar

 

 

 

Use present continuous to talk about things happening in the present moment, right now or things that you have made plans for in the immediate or near future.

 

To make sentences in present continuous use: 

 

             am/is/are (not)  + verb + -ing 

For example:

Where is she?

                        She's walking the dog. 

What's he doing?

                            He's doing his homework. 

Are you giving me a pay rise?

                                                I'm not giving you anything.

What are you doing?

                                  I can't talk right now. I'm having a shower. 

Are they coming to the party?

                                              They aren't coming to the party later. 

Notice that in the interrogative (question form) the pronoun and the verb 'to be' switch places. 

So, now you know how to make sentences and questions using present continuous, try these activities to test your knowledge: 

Activity 1

Complete the sentences with present continuous.

1. ________ you _________ dinner? (have)

2. Stop, you____ _________ a mess! (make)

3. I____ ________ him at the cinema at 7pm. (meet)

4. ____ he _________ on holiday with you next year? (go)

5. He___ not _______. He isn't hungry. (eat)

                        

Activity 2

Make your own sentences in present continuous to describe what is happening in the picture.

Activity 3

Write about what you are doing today/tomorrow or right now in present continuous or go to your local park and describe what is happening there.

Some useful verbs to use are:

be

do

make

have

go

play 

eat 

drink

clean

stay

take

meet

travel

wear 

Write your answers in the comments! See you again soon for another FREE English lesson

 

Future Simple

Suitable for beginners CEFR A1+

#grammar #futuresimple

Use future simple to talk about or make predictions about things that haven't happened yet.

To make affirmative sentences in future simple use this structure:

will  +  bare infinitive

For example

We will go to Italy on holiday next year.

I will do my homework later.

She will have her first piano lesson on Monday.

It will be cold and dark in the UK in January.

To make negative sentences in future simple use this structure:

will not (won't) + bare infinitive

For example

He won't arrive until tomorrow.

They won't make it. 

It won't be possible to order it until Monday. 

The children won't eat spicy food. 

In the interrogative (question) form will/won't and the subject change places:

For example

Will there be food at the party?

Won't it be very cold there in January?

Will you come over later?

Won't he want any dinner?

So, now you know how to make sentences using future simple, try these activities to test your knowledge:

Activity 1

Complete the sentences with an appropriate form in the future simple.

1. ______ robots ________ teachers in the future? (replace)

2. How many grandchildren do you think you ______ _______?

3. ________ your brother ______ here soon? (be)

                          Yes, he _______.

4. She didn't eat her lunch today, so I think she _____ ______ hungry later. (be)

5. Do you think people ______ ________ on mars in the future? (live)

Activity 2

Make your own sentences in future simple with the following words.

1. long summer / be / this year

2. shopping / tomorrow

3. a prize / for the winner?

4. Flight BA147 / depart / from gate C5 / at 10.15.

5. Maybe / rain tomorrow / maybe / or

Activity 3

Write about what you think life will be like 50 years from now. Make predicitions using future simple.

Some useful verbs to use are:

be

do

make

have

live

replace

travel

Write your answers in the comments! See you again soon for another FREE English lesson

Past Simple

Past Simple




#grammar Past simple is used to communicate an action that didn’t happen, happened once or happened several times in the past. 

It is often used to give details about an event in the news or in a story. Regular verbs in positive sentences in past simple use the suffix  -ed. 

Positive	Negative	Question
They scored the winning goal.	They didn’t score the winning goal.	Did they score the winning goal?
He ordered a pizza.	He didn’t order a pizza.	Did he order a pizza?
We asked her to move her car.	We didn’t ask her to move her car.	Did you ask her to move her car?

In the negative form, we use the auxiliary verb do in its past form did with the negative not. This can be shortened to didn’t. We then use the bare infinitive of the main verb.

Negative: didn’t + bare infinitive (without to)

For questions the auxiliary verb did comes before the pronoun.

Question: did + pronoun + bare infinitive (without to)

There are three important spelling rules to remember when using regular verbs with -ed. 

1	With verbs ending in e, add -d. For example, the verb score changes to scored.
2	With some verbs ending in a short, hard vowel sound or that end in the letter L after a vowel, the last letter is doubled. For example, the verb admit changes to admitted, and the verb travel changes to travelled.
3	With verbs ending in -y, the letter y changes to i. For example, the verb carry changes to carried.

However, there are many irregular verbs that do not follow this pattern and must be learnt individually. One of the most commonly used and most important is the verb to be. The verb to be is unusual because it can be used to make negatives and question forms without an auxiliary verb.

Positive	Negative	Question
She was happy.	She wasn’t happy.	Was she happy?
They were late to the party.	They weren’t late to the party.	Were they late to the party?
We were impressed.	We weren’t impressed.	Were you impressed?

Sentences in past simple can include a time marker when necessary.

Mr Smith broke his arm last week.

I went on holiday last year.

She flew to Japan yesterday.

Use past simple to report several actions that happened in sequence

He came in, slammed the door and threw his keys on the table.

or to report an action that happened in the middle of another action.

The children were coming in from the playground when the alarm sounded.

Past simple also appears in the first clause of second conditional to talk about hypothetical situations that are unlikely to happen:

If	I	won	the lottery	,	I would	buy a house
	he	lived	In Australia		he would	be better off
	she	went	on holiday		she would	go sightseeing
	we	moved	to Canada		we would	live near the mountains
	they	had	children		they would	take them to the park

Exercise 1: Use the words to make sentences in past simple

1. dog / run / street

2. make / she / a sandwich.

3. they / the shopping / carry.

4. be / it / yesterday / cold.

5. he / not / holiday / last year / go


Exercise 2: Use the words to write questions in past simple

6. you / out / at the weekend / go

7. visit / she / family

8. good time / have / they

9. be / good / film

10.  car / left / turn


Write your answers in the comments



Sources

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/past-simple
Swan, M. (2005) Practical English Usage (3rd Edition): OUP: Oxford

IELTS Writing Task 1: How to Use the Passive Form of Present Simple

Suitable for intermediate CEFR B1+

The passive form of present simple is often used to describe processes, where the person completing an action is either not important or unknown. You can often see the passive form of present simple used in formal texts that describe processes and in documentary programmes. 

The passive form of present simple is also used in part 1 of the academic IELTS writing test to describe process diagrams. 

The passive form of present simple is made with the present form of the verb to be. 

is / are + past participle (third form)

For example:

          Cars are made in the factory. 

          The cows are milked every morning

          The coffee beans are harvested in South America.

          The plastic is dyed one of three colours. 

          The pond is cleaned thoroughly, and weeds are removed every year. 

In these sentences the object receiving the action (verb) is most important and comes at the beginning and the person or subject completing the action is omitted. In some cases the subject may be added to the end of a sentence in the passive form using the preposition by.

Now try changing the active sentences in the following exercise into the passive form.

Exercise

1. The boss sends a weekly email to the employees. 

2. People destroy the rainforest.

3. The secretary deletes unnecessary files. 

4. Housekeepers clean the hotel rooms every day.  

5. Birds eat a variety of insects.

Post your answers in the comments below.