Simple Present vs Present Continuous Tense

Heloooooo, the class started as usual after a short one week holiday for Chinese New Year. We continued our lesson on grammar and Miss Zu asked the next group to present their slides to us. They are Adam and Aisyah, and Wan and Nabilah.

Simple Present Tense 

• To tell about things that happen again and again(habit)

- Ahmed drinks coffee every afternoon

- Many American children wear costumes on Halloween.

• To tell facts.

- Peru is in South America .

- Water freezes at 32 Fahrenheit.

• Simple present with non-action verbs.

- Marian and Clara know Arabic.

- Roberto likes bullfight.

Affirmative statement

- Use the base form of the verb for all person except third person singular.Put –s or –es on third person singular.

Example:

1.Ted dresses up like a lion.

2.Daniel dances in the Chinese New Year Parade each year.

Negative statement

- Use "does not" and "do not" before the base form.

Example:

1.She does not take off her shoes.

2.Some people do not enjoy sushi.

*Singular - Does

*Plural - Do

*Singular -  verb + ‘s’

*Plural - verb does not + ‘s’

Question statement

- Use ‘’do or ‘’does’’ in the sentences.

Example:

1.Do many chinese eat noodles?

2.Does Shila like to eat spicy food?

After they had finished presenting, the next group which was Adam and Nabilah group came to the front to present their topic on Present Continuous Tense. 

Present Continuous Tense 

 

  Definition - Describe an action that is happening at the moment of speaking.

• ‘be verb’ + base form of verb+ -ing
• Is/are/am + bese form of verb + -ing

Example:

1.The singer is singing the contract now.

2.The members of the group are talkng to the manager at the moment.

Uses of present continuous tense

• used when two or more actions happen simultaneously.

Example:

1. While Fasha Sandha is posing for the cameraman,her manager is talking on the phone.

2. The crew is working hard to prepare the stage,while the performers are rehearsing.

• Some verbs are not usually used in the present continuous tense.These verbs describe a state,a condition or a situation which exists.

Example:

1.The food tastes good

2.He knows the answer

3.He seems angry.

• Even though some of these words describe condition,they can also be used to describe an action and sometimes used in the present continuous.

Example:

1.Que Haidar is appearing in Mamat Khalid’s latest comedy.(appearing=action)

2.Mr.Oki Sasaki is thinking of Syarifah Aini.

(thinking - pondering about/action)

For more information, click on the link! :D  http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/present-tense/present-continuous