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Interactive Grammar: Present Tense -ar Verbs

The document discusses the present simple and present continuous tenses in English. It provides examples of how each is formed and used. The present simple is used for general truths, habits, and permanent situations. The present continuous is used for ongoing or temporary activities. Some verbs like seem or know are usually not used in the progressive form since they describe states rather than actions.

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Miruna Carmen
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131 views6 pages

Interactive Grammar: Present Tense -ar Verbs

The document discusses the present simple and present continuous tenses in English. It provides examples of how each is formed and used. The present simple is used for general truths, habits, and permanent situations. The present continuous is used for ongoing or temporary activities. Some verbs like seem or know are usually not used in the progressive form since they describe states rather than actions.

Uploaded by

Miruna Carmen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Introduction to Present Tenses
  • Usage of Present Tenses

Present Simple and Present Continuous

Take a look at the following sentences taken from the text on Internet branding:

‘The Internet is the only mass-communications medium that allows interactivity’.

‘On the Internet a brand lives or dies in an interactive era’.

‘The number of websites is growing at the rate of fifty thousand a week’.

The verbs in these sentences are in the present.

I. Form

Present Simple

The Present Simple is formed with the bare infinitive form of the verb (without to)

e.g. ‘You make too little of the Net when you assume it will not affect your business at all’.

You speak French. We talk a lot every day.

- we add -s in the third person singular (after he/she/it/John etc.)

e.g. ‘It exploits a totally new attribute’.

She plays the piano.

- verbs ending in -s, -ss, -ch, -sh, -o, -x add -es

e.g. He watches TV in the morning. He misses her. He goes there.

- be, have, are irregular verbs


e.g. ‘The Internet is the Wild West’.

He has a nice house.

- we use do (does for the IIIrd person sg.) to form questions and negative sentences

e.g.

Do you ever listen to music?

Does she tell everyone that?

‘What attribute does the Internet bring…?’

They don’t understand.

He doesn’t feel very well.

‘The new medium does not replace the old’.

Present Continuous

The Present Continuous is formed with the present of the auxiliary verb be and the –ing form of
the verb

e.g. You are talking to them. She is swimming.

- we place the auxiliary before the subject to form questions

e.g. Is she driving to the city?

- we add not to the auxiliary to form negatives

e.g. They aren’t reading.

II. Use
 

Present Simple

We use Present Simple for:

- general statements and timeless truths

e.g. Two plus two makes four. Children like chocolate.

- habitual activities

e.g. He wakes up at 5 every morning.

- permanent situations

e.g. She lives in a large house.

- we often use frequency adverbs with Present Simple (they show how often an action takes
place): never, hardly ever, seldom, rarely, sometimes, occasionally, usually, normally, often,
frequently, always

See the position of frequency adverbs:

She always drinks coffee in the morning.

adverb verb

She is never late for school.

be adverb

Present Continuous

We use Present Continuous:

- for an activity in progress at the moment of speaking

e.g. ‘What is Ann doing?’

‘She is writing a letter’. (she is in the process of writing)

Sometimes the action is not happening exactly at the time of speaking


e.g. I am reading this great book about France these days.

(I have started reading it but I haven’t finished it).

- to talk about changes happening around now

e.g. It is getting warmer every day.

- for temporary activities

e.g. I am working in a different office this month.

Present Simple or Continuous?

- with verbs like: agree, suggest, promise, apologise, refuse etc. we use the Present Simple, not
the

Present Continuous (we do the activity when we say the sentence)

e.g. I promise I’ll help you.

(at the same time I say the sentence and I also do the action of promising)

- we use ‘always’ with Present Simple with the meaning ‘every time’

e.g. He always reads the newspaper in the morning.

- we use ‘always’ with Present Continuous with the meaning ‘too often’ when we want to
emphasize

that a situation is annoying

e.g. He is always coming late at work! I hate it!

- ‘forever’ and ‘constantly’ are also used with Present Continuous to express annoyance

e.g. She is constantly complaining about the weather!

Stative and active verbs

Some verbs have a stative meaning: they describe states (something staying the same), as
opposed to action verbs

e.g. Children like chocolate. (state verb)


They are eating. (action verb)

- we do not usually use state verbs in the progressive

e.g. ‘The future belongs to those who …’

‘We believe that history will rank…’

I know what to do (not: I am knowing).

Verbs with stative meanings:

1. verbs of thinking: know, think, believe, realize, understand, suppose, forget, imagine

2. verbs showing emotional state: love, like, hate, fear, prefer, mind

3. verbs showing possession: have, own, belong

4. sense verbs: feel, taste, hear, see, smell

5. other stative verbs: be, seem, appear, look, resemble, exist

  - some stative verbs can be used in the progressive as action verbs, but their meaning changes

e.g.

 
I see a bird flying. (state verb) I am seeing John tonight. (action verb)

  (‘I am meeting’)
We have several books on this subject. We are having lunch. (action verb)

(state verb) (‘We are eating’)

   
You look sick. You should see a doctor. She was looking at him, unable to smile.

(state verb) (action verb)

   

 
- some stative verbs can be used to express temporary feelings

e.g. I’m loving this music!

See also: He is usually very quiet, but today he is being very noisy. I wonder what happened.

(He is behaving this way now, it’s a temporary behaviour)

- sometimes with state verbs used either in the simple or in the continuous form there is little
difference in meaning

e.g. She feels happy/She is feeling happy.

- be + adj. has a stative meaning (am/is/are old/young/tall). Sometimes be + adj. can be used in
the progressive (e.g. am/is/are being + bad/polite/nice/serious etc.)

Common questions

Powered by AI

The Present Continuous should be used for activities in progress at the moment of speaking, to talk about changes happening around now, and for temporary activities, as opposed to the Present Simple which is used for general statements, habitual activities, and permanent situations .

In the Present Simple, 'have' indicates possession (e.g., "We have several books"). In the Present Continuous, 'have' suggests an ongoing action (e.g., "We are having lunch"), highlighting a temporary behavior rather than a permanent state .

Frequency adverbs show how often an action takes place and are commonly used with the Present Simple to indicate habitual actions. They are positioned either before the main verb or after the verb 'be' to convey regularity (e.g., "She always drinks coffee in the morning"; "She is never late for school").

Stative verbs, which describe states rather than actions, are typically used in the Present Simple. However, some can be used in the Present Continuous if the meaning shifts to an action or temporary state (e.g., "I am seeing John tonight" indicates a meeting, while "I see" typically implies visual perception).

In the Present Simple, 'always' means 'every time' (e.g., "He always reads the newspaper in the morning"). In the Present Continuous, 'always' can indicate annoyance due to an action happening too frequently (e.g., "He is always coming late at work!").

Stative verbs can be used as action verbs when the context implies a dynamic or temporary state, changing their meaning. For example, "I see a bird flying" (state) versus "I am seeing John tonight" (action, indicating a meeting), or "I love music" (state) versus "I'm loving this music" (action, implying a temporary enjoyment).

The Present Simple is formed with the bare infinitive form of the verb, with an -s added in the third person singular. The Present Continuous is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb 'be' and the -ing form of the main verb .

In the Present Continuous, the auxiliary verb 'be' is combined with the -ing form of the verb. To form negatives, 'not' is added after 'be' (e.g., "They aren't reading"). For interrogatives, 'be' precedes the subject (e.g., "Is she driving to the city?").

Verbs like 'promise' or 'agree' are often used in the Present Simple because they describe actions completed as the sentences are uttered, not ongoing processes, making their continuous form usually inappropriate (e.g., "I promise I'll help you").

The sentence "It is getting warmer every day" exemplifies the Present Continuous, used here to indicate a change or development happening over time. In contrast, a sentence like "The weather is warm" would use the Present Simple to describe a stable state or a general fact .

Present Simple and Present Continuous   Take a look at the following sentences taken from the text on Internet branding: ‘The
e.g. ‘The Internet is the Wild West’. He has a nice house. - we use do (does for the IIIrd person sg.) to form questions and
  Present Simple We use Present Simple for: - general statements and timeless truths e.g. Two plus two makes four. Children l
e.g. I am reading this great book about France these days. (I have started reading it but I haven’t finished it). - to talk a
They are eating. (action verb) - we do not usually use state verbs in the progressive e.g. ‘The future belongs to those who …
- some stative verbs can be used to express temporary feelings e.g. I’m loving this music!   See also: He is usually very qui

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