Present simple present continuous - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Present simple present continuous

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1 – GRAMMAR Slide2

PRESENT TENSES

The present simple and the present continuous tenses are the most common ways of expressing present time in English.

The present simple describes things that are generally true, while the present continuous describes things that are true at the time of speaking, but which may change.Slide3

PRESENT SIMPLESlide4

PRESENT SIMPLESlide5

PRESENT SIMPLESlide6

PRESENT SIMPLE

PS is used to talk about:

Permanent states:

- I

have

a car.

- She

lives

next door.

- Smiths never

relax

.

- I

don’t like

horror films.

Permanent actions – laws of nature, scientific facts, general truths…

-

The moon

moves

round the earth.

-

Stress

causes

high blood pressure.

-

Water

freezes

at 0 degrees.

-

British people

drink

a lot of tea.

-

Broken bones in adults

don't heal

as fast as they

do

in children.

Slide7

PRESENT SIMPLE

Actions that repeat

(including daily routines…):

-

He usually

starts

work at 8 am.

-

I often

go

to the seaside.

-

We sometimes

sleep

late.

-

They seldom

take

a vacation.

- The

Blairs

take

their summer holiday in a quiet part of Tuscany.

- Our two chefs

provide

an excellent choice of hot meals every day.Slide8
Slide9

PRESENT SIMPLE

With timetables, schedules,

programmes

:

- The bus

leaves

at 10.

- The ferry

arrives

at 3 pm.

- The film

starts

at 8 pm.

- On day 1 we

visit

the castle and on day 2 we

go

to the beach. After that you

have

some time off.Slide10

PRESENT SIMPLE

to describe a series of events or actions (e.g. to give directions or

instructions, sports commentaries

…), often with impersonal

you:

- From here you

cross

the road,

go

through an iron gate and

follow

the path west ...

- France

kicks off

,

Zidane

passes

to Henry, Henry

cuts

inside ...Slide11

PRESENT SIMPLE

If we wish to give the events of a past narrative more immediacy (including anecdotes, plots and summaries of stories, novels, films), we can use the present simple, especially in speech and jokes (

historic present

):

-

There's an old woman with thick glasses and a name tag. I

go

up to her and

ask

...

- May 1945: The war in Europe

comes

to an end

.

- ...At the end of the play both families

realise

that their hatred caused the

deaths of the lovers ...

-

... So

then the second man

asks

the first one why he has a banana in his ear and the first one

says

...

In

newspaper headlines

:

-

Morrison

gets

two years of prison

- Ship

sinks

in midnight collision.

Slide12

PRESENT SIMPLE

With state verbsSlide13

PRESENT SIMPLE

An exception

to the use of the present continuous to describe actions in progress is

Here comes and There goes

, which are always in the present simple:

- Here

comes

the postman.

- There

goes

the last bus.

Note the inversion of the verb and subject in these phrases.Slide14

PRESENT SIMPLE

We use

performative

verbs

in the first person actually to perform an action, i.e. saying

I

apologise

performs the action of

apologising

:

- On behalf of the company, I

apologise

for any inconvenience caused.

When these verbs 'perform' the function they express, they do not usually take the continuous:

-

Railtrack

apologises

for the disruption to services over the last three months.

By saying this, the function of

apologising

is performed. However, if we use the verb to describe the action rather than to do it, we can use the continuous:

- The

Railtrack

chief executive was

apologising

profusely for the inconvenience.

Common

performative

verbs are:

accept, agree,

apologise

, congratulate,

dec

/are, deny, disagree, forbid, forgive, guarantee, insist, invite, order, predict, promise, recommend, refuse, request, suggest, thank, warn.Slide15

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

Also called the Present Progressive Tense.Slide16

PRESENT CONTINUOUSSlide17

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

PC is used for:

Actions happening right now:

You

are sitting

and

listening

while I

am talking

.

Jerri

isn’t doing

her homework now.

Actions happening these days

(around the moment of speaking):

We

are studying

in the U.S. this month.

Laura

’s studying

in France this year.

Are

you

studying

hard these days?

She

is practicing

for her concert these days.

I

am learning

to drive.Slide18

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

For temporary actions

:

-

I'm feeding

the

neighbour's

cat this week while she's in hospital.

- Graham

's having

a tough time at the office at the moment and he

's smoking

about fifty cigarettes a day!

With always, forever

, constantly and continually

to express annoyance or criticism

:

- You

are

always

interrupting

me!

-

You

are

forever

making

remarks about my cooking!

- The

neighbours

are

forever

slamming

doors and

shouting

during the night.

For fixed arrangements in

near future

:

-

He

is flying

to Milan in an hour.

- She

is going

to Berlin next month.

Slide19

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

For changing situations or developing actions:

- It

is getting

dark.

- More and more people

are giving up

smoking.

- British summers

are getting

hotter and winters

are getting

wetter.

Slide20

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

You may hear the present continuous used in sports commentaries, when the action is in progress throughout the time of speaking:

- They

're

now

entering

the back straight and EI

Garrouj

is starting

to pull away ...

( ...

but he crosses the line two seconds ahead of his closest rival ...)Slide21

STATE VERBS WITH DIFFERENT MEANINGSSlide22
Slide23

Some verbs of feeling can be used in both the simple and the continuous with no change in meaning:

- My wrist

hurts/is hurting

again. I must go to the physiotherapist.

- think those shells may have been off.

Do you feel/Are you feeling

OK today?Slide24

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