PART 1

SUB TOPIC/SUB THEME : Active Voice (Verb Tense)

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES : Students are able to expres ideas and
make sentences using appropriate simple
tenses.
INDICATOR : Students are able to express ideas using
simple present tense, simple past tense,
and simple future tense.

LEARNING MATERIAL

Active voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's

languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a transitive verb in
nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other Indo-
European languages.

Active voice is used in a clause whose subject expresses the main verb's
agent. That is, the subject does the verb's designated action. A clause whose agent
is marked as grammatical subject is called an active clause. In contrast, a clause in
which the subject has the role of patient or theme is named a passive clause, and
its verb is expressed in passive voice. Many languages have both an active and a
passive voice; this allows for greater flexibility in sentence construction, as either
the semantic agent or patient may take the subject syntactic role.

In the firts part of this module, active voice will be described and xplained
in simple tenses i.e Simple Present Tense, Simple Past Tense, and Simple Future
Tense.

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EXPRESSING PRESENT TIME
Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense is one of several forms of present tense in English. It is
used to describe habits, unchanging situations, general truths, and fixed
arrangements. The simple present tense is simple to form. Just use the base form
of the verb: (I take, you take, we take, they take) The 3rd person singular takes an
-s at the end. (he takes, she takes)

The simple present tense is used:

 To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging

situations, emotions and wishes:
I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a
large city (general truth)
 To give instructions or directions:
You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.
 To express fixed arrangements, present or future:
Your exam starts at 09.00
 To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as
soon as, until:
He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.

Be careful! The simple present is not used to express actions happening now.

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Examples

 For habits
He drinks tea at breakfast.
She only eats fish.
They watch television regularly.
 For repeated actions or events
We catch the bus every morning.
It rains every afternoon in the hot season.
They drive to Monaco every summer.
 For general truths
Water freezes at zero degrees.
The Earth revolves around the Sun.
Her mother is Peruvian.
 For instructions or directions
Open the packet and pour the contents into hot water.
You take the No.6 bus to Watney and then the No.10 to Bedford.
 For fixed arrangements
His mother arrives tomorrow.
Our holiday starts on the 26th March
 With future constructions
She'll see you before she leaves.
We'll give it to her when she arrives.

Forming the simple present tense: to think

Affirmative Interrogative Negative

I think Do I think? I do not think
You think Do you think? You do not think
He thinks Does he think? He does not think
She thinks Does she think? She does not think
It thinks Does it think? It does not think
We think Do we think? We do not think.
They think Do they think? They do not think.

Notes on the simple present, third person singular

 In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s: he wants, she
needs, he gives, she thinks.
 Negative and question forms use DOES (= the third person of the auxiliary
'DO') + the infinitive of the verb.
He wants ice cream. Does he want strawberry? He does not want vanilla.

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  Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies:
fly --> flies, cry --> cries
Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y:
play --> plays, pray --> prays
 Add -es to verbs ending in:-ss, -x, -sh, -ch:
he passes, she catches, he fixes, it pushes

Examples

 He goes to school every morning.

 She understands English.
 It mixes the sand and the water.
 He tries very hard.
 She enjoys playing the piano.

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EXPRESSING PAST TIME

Simple Past Tense

Definition of the simple past tense

The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterite, is used to talk about a
completed action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past
tense in English. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past
and action duration is not important.

Examples

 John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.

 My father died last year.
 He lived in Fiji in 1976.
 We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is
associated with certain past time expressions

 frequency: often, sometimes, always

I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
I often brought my lunch to school.
 a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six
weeks ago
We saw a good film last week.
Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
She finished her work at seven o'clock
I went to the theatre last night
 an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
People lived in caves a long time ago.
She played the piano when she was a child.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is
placed after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Be Careful: The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own
language, but the meaning may be different.

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Forming the Simple Past Tense

Patterns of simple past tense for regular verbs

Affirmative
Subject + verb + ed  
I skipped.  
Negative
Subject + did not + infinitive without to
They didn't go.
Interrogative
Did + subject + infinitive without to
Did she arrive?
Interrogative negative
Did not + subject + infinitive without to
Didn't you play?

To Walk
Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I walked I didn't walk Did I walk?
You walked You didn't walk Did you walk?
He walked He didn't walk Did he walk?
We walked We didn't walk Did we walk?
They walked They didn't walk Did they walk?

Simple past tense of to be, to have, to do

Subject Verb
  Be Have Do
I was had did
You were had did
He/She/It was had did
We were had did
You were had did
They were had did

Notes on affirmative, negative, & interrogative forms

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Affirmative

The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.

 I was in Japan last year

 She had a headache yesterday.
 We did our homework last night.

Negative and interrogative

For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "to do" as an ordinary verb,
use the auxiliary "did", e.g. Wedidn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary
"did", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary
"did".

Examples

 They weren't in Rio last summer.

 We didn't have any money.
 We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
 We didn't do our exercises this morning.
 Were they in Iceland last January?
 Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
 Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past,
always use the auxiliary 'did''.

Simple past, irregular verbs

Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.

to go

 He went to a club last night.

 Did he go to the cinema last night?
 He didn't go to bed early last night.

to give

 We gave her a doll for her birthday.

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 They didn't give John their new address.
 Did Barry give you my passport?

to come

 My parents came to visit me last July.

 We didn't come because it was raining.
 Did he come to your party last week?

EXPRESSING FUTURE TIME

Functions of the simple future tense

The simple future refers to a time later than now, and expresses facts or certainty.
In this case there is no 'attitude'.

The simple future is used:

 To predict a future event:

It will rain tomorrow.
 With I or We, to express a spontaneous decision:
I'll pay for the tickets by credit card.
 To express willingness:
I'll do the washing-up.
He'll carry your bag for you.
 In the negative form, to express unwillingness:
The baby won't eat his soup.
I won't leave until I've seen the manager!
 With I in the interrogative form using "shall", to make an offer:
Shall I open the window?
 With we in the interrogative form using "shall", to make a suggestion:
Shall we go to the cinema tonight?
 With I in the interrogative form using "shall", to ask for advice or
instructions:
What shall I tell the boss about this money?
 With you, to give orders:
You will do exactly as I say.
 With you in the interrogative form, to give an invitation:
Will you come to the dance with me?
Will you marry me?

Note:In modern English will is preferred to shall. Shall is mainly used with I and
we to make an offer or suggestion, or to ask for advice (see examples above).

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With the other persons (you, he, she, they) shall is only used in literary or poetic
situations, e.g. "With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have
music wherever she goes."

Forming the simple future

The simple future tense is composed of two parts: will / shall + the infinitive
without to

Subject will infinitive without to

Affirmative
I will go
I shall go
Negative
They will not see
They won't see
Interrogative
Will she ask?
Interrogative negative
Won't they try?

Contractions

I will = I'll
We will = we'll
You will = you'll
He will = he'll
She will = she'll
They will = they'll
Will not = won't

The form "it will" is not normally shortened.

To see: Simple future tense

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 Affirmative Negative Interrogative Interrogative Negative
I will see I won't see Will I see? Won't I see?
*I shall see   *Shall I see?  
You will see You won't see Will you see? Won't you see?
He will see He won't see Will he see? Won't he see?
We will see We won't see Will we see? Won't we see?
*We shall see   *Shall we see?  
They will see They won't see Will they see? Won't they see?

*Shall is dated, but it is still commonly used instead of "will" with the affirmative
or interrogative forms of I and we in certain cases (see above).

SUMMARY

QUIZ
Quiz on Simple Present Tense

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Choose the best answer!

1. She ___ four languages.

a. speak
b. speaks

2. Jane is a teacher. She ___ French.

a. teach
b. teaches

3. When the kettle ___, will you make some tea?

a. boil
b. boils

4. I always ___ the window at night because it is cold.

a. close
b. closes

5. Those shoes ___ too much.

a. cost
b. costs

6. The food in Japan is expensive. It ___ a lot to live there.

a. cost
b. costs

7. His job is great because he ___ a lot of people.

a. meet
b. meets
8. He always ___ his car on Sundays.
a. wash

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 b. washes

9. My watch is broken and it ___ to be fixed again.

a. need
b. needs

10. I ___ to watch movies.

a. love
b. loves

Quiz on Simple Past Tense

Put the verbs into the simple past!

1. Last year I (go) ________ to England on holiday.

2. It (be) ________ fantastic.
3. I (visit) ________ lots of interesting places. I (be) ________ with two
friends of mine .
4. In the mornings we (walk) ________ in the streets of London.
5. In the evenings we (go) ________ to pubs.
6. The weather (be) ________ strangely fine.
7. It (not / rain) ________ a lot.
8. But we (see)________ some beautiful rainbows.
9. Where (spend / you) ________ your last holiday?

Quiz on Simple Future Tense

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate form of the verb!

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1. The train _____________ at 6 pm.
a) leaves
b) will leave
c) leave

2. I will phone you when I _____________ time.

a) have
b) will have
c) am having

3. I _____________ my grandparents this evening.

a) visit
b) am visiting
c) would visit

4. Look at the sky. It _____________ to rain.

a)  is going
b) goes
c) will

5. Perhaps we _____________ Paris next month.

a) will visit
b) visit
c) are visiting

6. Unless we _____________ now we can’t be there on time.

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 a) start
b) starts
c) will start

7. The next term _____________ on September 15th.

a) begin
b) begins
c) is beginning

8. Oh dear! I _____________
a) will sneeze
b) am going to sneeze
c) sneeze

9. I am sure he _____________ win.

a) will
b) would
c) will be

10. We _____________ you one of these days.

a) will be seeing
b) see
c) sees

REFERENCES
Murphy, R. 1989. English grammar in use: Reference and practice for
intermediate students of English. Cambridge University Press
Azar, B. S. 1996. Basic English grammar, 2nd ed. Person Longman
https://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/simple-present-tense/

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