Simple Present Tense

A. Read the following text.

There are two kinds of people. One kind likes to get up early in the
morning. The other kind likes to stay in bed.

Art Johnson is the first kind. He gets u early, brushes his teeth, shaves,
takes a shower, combs his hair, and gets dressed. He has enough time
to eat a good breakfast and walk to the collage.

Carl Morgan is his roommate, likes to stay in bed. He does the same
things Art Johnson does when he gets up, but he does them in hurry. He
runs. He is usually late.

B. Answer these questions based on the text.

1. Generally, there are two kinds of people. How are they?

2. Is Art Johnson a lazy man? What about Carl Morgan?

3. Does Carl Morgan brush his teeth every day?

4. Does Art Johnson have enough time to have breakfast and walk to the collage? What about
Carl Morgan?

5. Does Carl Morgan go to the class on time?

C. Fill the table below

What Art Johnson What Carl Morgan does What I do
does
He. He I.

D. Underline the present verb form of the following discourse

ABACUS HISTORY

Even though most of us know that abacus is counting device with the ability to perform
simple mathematics calculations, such as addition and subtraction, not many of us can boast
about knowing its history. In fact, abacus history is one of the most contentious issues of the
world, and even the historians are left divided over it. There seems to be no consensus
whatsoever about who invented the abacus or even it was invented among the historians
themselves, and that makes it all the more difficult for a common man to understand the same.
 E. Underline the present simple sentence form of the following dialogue

Claude the Chef

Connie : OK, any ideas for the Midvale feature in our next issue?
Pete : well, the big story is on great chefs. How about an interview with
Claude Larose?
Nancy : yeah, I like that idea
Jim : I do too. He is the most famous chef in town.
Pierre : dont you know? He cooked a special lunch for Mrs. Foster last year
Nancy : well, so what?
Pierre : afterwards, all her guests got sick.
Pete : oh, great!
Pierre : so she doesnt go to the restaurant any more. And C.K doesnt either.
Connie : OK. Next idea, please.

How do we make the Present Simple Tense?

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb

do base

There are three important exceptions:

1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the

auxiliary.
2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we
add s to the main verb or es to the auxiliary.
3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even
for questions and negatives.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

subject auxiliary verb main verb

 + I, you, we, they like coffee.
He, she, it likes coffee.
- I, you, we, they Do not like coffee.
He, she, it Does not like coffee.
? Do I, you, we, they like coffee?
Does he, she, it like coffee?

Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:

Subject main verb

+ I am French.
You, we, they are French.
He, she, it is French.
- I am not old.
You, we, they are not old.
He, she, it is not old.
? Am I late?
Are you, we, they late?
Is he, she, it late?

Use of simple Present tense

Simple present is used:

1. To express general truth, it means that something was true in the
past, is true in the present, and will probably be true in the future.
e.g Water consists of Hydrogen and oxygen
2. To express habitual action or repeated activity
e.g She wakes up at five every morning
I usually go to campus every Monday and Tuesday
3. To describe schedule or program in near future
e.g the train leaves Tasikmalaya at seven tonight

Exercise

ACTIVITY 1: Circle the correct verbs.

1) Mary play/plays volleyball on Mondays.

2) I swim/swims every weekend.

3) Chris and Pat go/goes to school at 7:30 AM.

4) The students do/does the homework in the afternoon.

5 ) Marta climbs/climb a tree.

ACTIVITY 2: Put the verb in the box into the sentence.

LISTEN - PLAY - GO - DO - GET UP - READ - RIDE - WASH - DRIVE -
 WATCH

a) Camilla.. the homework at home.

b) I ..my bike every day.

c) John .to music.

d) Tom .football at the club on Tuesdays.

e) My father .his brand new car.

f) You ..the newspaper on Sundays.

g) My sister T.V. in the evening.

h) Lucy and I ..at 9 oclock every day.

i) Danielle home at 6:30.

Simple Past Tense

The rules of simple past tense

Use the simple past tense to talk about things that happened in the past.
The simple past tense is usually made by adding ed to the verb.
4 I opened the door and looked inside.
The plane landed ten minutes ago.
My cousin visited us last summer.
We walked to school yesterday.
She laughed when I told her the joke.

If a verb ends in e, just add d to make the simple past tense.

Who closed all the windows?

We lived in that house when I was a baby.
She smiled when she saw me.
We raced each other on our bikes.

With some short verbs that end in a consonant, you must double the
consonant before adding ed.

I climbed over the fence and ripped my shirt.

The stranger grabbed my arm.
The dog wagged its tail when it saw the biscuits.
 If a verb ends in y, change the y to i before adding -ed.

I carried my moms shopping bag.

My brother cried when he fell off his bike.
We hurried to the station to catch the train.
Dad tried to help me with my homework.

was and were

The words was and were are the simple past forms of the verb be.

Was is the simple past form of am and is. Use was with singular nouns like
my dad and the teacher, and with the pronouns he, she and it.

Were is the simple past form of are. Use were with plural nouns like
my parents and Jenny and Mary, and with the pronouns we, you and they.

Here are the example of sentences using was and were

Ten years ago, I was only a baby.

When I was younger, I played with teddy bears.
My friend was ill yesterday.
Mom was angry when she saw the broken vase.
It was very wet on Monday.
It was six oclock when we got home.
We were away on vacation last month.
John and I were in the garden.
You were nasty to me!
You and Sally were not at school yesterday.
Dinosaurs were prehistoric animals.
Those were my best jeans.
 First person I was we were

Note: Second person you were you were

Third person he was they were

ACTIVITY 5: Complete the sentences with the simple past tense of the verbs in
parentheses.
1. The boys (whispered) secrets to each other.
2. Uncle Ben (hurried) to catch his bus.
3. We (returned) our books to the library.
4. She (kissed) the frog and it (changed) into a prince.
5. Someone (tapped) me on the shoulder.
6. The baby (cried) when we took her toy away.
7. John (pinned) the badge onto his jacket.
8. Two doctors (rushed) into the room.
9. This is the house that we (lived) in when I was younger.
10. Granddad (lowered) himself into the chair.

ACTIVITY 6: Write was or were in the blank spaces in the following passage.

It was.. a beautiful summers day and there was.nt a cloud in the sky. Mom,
Dad and I wereall in the garden. Dadwas in the vegetable garden planting some
seeds and Mom and Iwere busy with other jobs. The sun hot and soon I feel very tired.
Mom and Dad..werent tired at all. They went on working for a long time. I was. glad
when it time to go inside and have a drink.

ACTIVITY 7: Draw a circle around the correct past tense verb in each sentence below.

1. I (losed / lost) my watch in the park.

2. David (hurt / hurted) his knee when he (falled / fell).
3. I kicked the ball hard and it (breaked / broke) a window.
4. My new shoes (cost / costed) a lot of money.
5. I (getted / got) this book from the library.
6. We had a garage where we (keeped / kept) our car.
7. Ali (shew / showed) me the cut on his knee.
8. The glass (falled / fell) off the table and (breaked / broke).
9. We (selled / sold) our old car and (buyed / bought) a new one.
10. The bell (ringed / rang) and we all (goed / went) into school.
11. The dog (catched / caught) the ball in its mouth.
12. The man (kneeled / knelt) down to talk to the little boy.
13. I (meeted / met) my friend in the park.
14. Our cat (runned / ran) onto the road in front of a car.
15. Jane (writed / wrote) a letter to her best friend.

ACTIVITY 8: Change the verb form of the following passage into the appropriate one

John Sutter grow up in Switzerland. In 1834, he go to the United States. He buy land
in California and start a farm called Sutterrs fort. In 1848, a man named James Marshall,
who was working for Sutter, find gold on Sutters land. He show it Sutter. The two men try to
keep it a secret, but other men who were working there soon find out about it. Right away
they stop work to hunt for more gold. Sutters Fort quickly become famous. During the next two
years, over 40,000 people come there. Workers leave their jobs, soldiers quit the army, and
husbands leave their wives. Sutter fight to save his farm, but the crowds destroy it. In 1873,
Sutter leave California. He die as a poor and unhappy man.