LESSON NOTES

Beginner S1 #9
We Study Together Every Week

CONTENTS
2 English
2 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
5 Grammar
6 Cultural Insight

# 9
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 ENGLISH

1. OKSANA: Oh, hi Naomi! What's up?

2. NAOMI: Not much. How's it going, Oksana?

3. OKSANA: Pretty good. Do you have class now?

4. NAOMI: Yup. I have Calculus. It's a hard subject.

5. OKSANA: Calculus? Oh, are Mike and Yuki in your class?

6. NAOMI: Yes, we study together every week.

7. OKSANA: Speaking of studying, do you have plans tonight?

8. NAOMI: Actually, yes. I have a date tonight. We're going to see a new movie,
"Attraction."

9. OKSANA: "Attraction?"

10. NAOMI: Yeah, my date is an Italian student. His name is Marco.

11. OKSANA: Marco?!!!

12. NAOMI: Oh, here he comes now.

13. OKSANA: Wow! He IS handsome!

14. NAOMI: Tell me about it!

VOCABULARY

V oc abular y English C lass

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 romantic activity with a
date person, person to do noun
romantic activities with

subject field of study taught at school noun

handsome good to look at adjective

What's up? informal for - How are you? expression

phrase to show that you are

pretty good fairly healthy and your phrase
situation is good

a question to ask about

How's it going? someone's health or situation phrase

advanced type of
calculus mathematics noun

hard difficult, not easy adjective

actually as a true fact, really adverb

person born and raised in

Italian Italy noun

SAMPLE SENTENCES

My date is tall, dark, and handsome. I'm supposed to be going on a date this
Friday.

I failed several subjects including math this My favorite subject is music. I learned to
year. play the saxophone in that class.

The handsome pictures attracted the He was so handsome that everyone

children to read the book. wanted to dance with him.

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What's up with Brandon these days? I Hey, it's been a while. What's up?
haven't seen him in a while.

My friend is doing pretty good these days; How are you doing? > Pretty good!
he's looking healthy.

How's it going these days? > Well, actually How's it going? > Great! How about you?
I've been pretty busy.

Scientists use calculus to measure The only class I ever failed was Calculus; it
changes and lengths. was too hard.

That story is hard to believe. Calculus is a hard class.

He actually prepared for the party all by Actually, we can walk there since it's not
himself. too far.

My cousin is Italian but was raised in New My Italian friend is coming to visit me this
York. weekend.

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

The first phrase we'll look at is "speaking of." We use this when a person is reminded of
something else to talk about from the current topic being talked about. People use it at the
beginning of a sentence to show that they want to change the course of the conversation
because they've thought of something else. In the dialogue, Oksana uses the phrase because
their talk about studying made her think about what Naomi is going to do that evening.
Therefore, she asks her using this phrase, indicating that their talk about studying made her
wonder what her friend would be doing later that evening.

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The next phrase we'll be looking at is "he IS handsome." This is a grammatically standard
present tense phrase; however, when said with stress on the verb, the person is emphasizing
their strong agreement. In this case, Oksana stresses "IS" because she wants to express her
agreement on Naomi's opinion of how handsome Marco is.

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Simple Present

"My date is an Italian student"

In the Beginner Series, Season 1, Lessons 6 through 8, we learned about three of the four
aspects of verbs (simple, progressive, and passive). We also saw examples of how these
aspects are combined with the three verb tenses (present, past, and future). In the next several
lessons, we will look at these combinations in more detail, and learn the core meanings of the
verb tenses as we did the aspects. In this lesson, we focus on the combination of the simple
aspect and the present tense. This combination is usually called the simple present tense.

In Lesson 6, we explained that the simple aspect's core meaning is unchanging. That is, the
event that we are talking about is thought of as a complete whole and not as an event that we
expect to change. In that lesson, we had our first look at the simple present. At that time, we
explained that we use the present tense to talk about what is happening now. In this lesson, we
can be a little more specific. So, we use the present tense to talk about what is immediate, or
now, from the speaker's point of view. We also add to that idea that the speaker is
communicating facts. So, we use the present tense to talk about immediate facts. And we use
the simple aspect to talk about what is unchanging. When we bring them together, we can see
that we use the simple present to talk about facts that are thought of as complete. We will look
at some specific examples after we look at its formation.

With almost any subject, you make the simple present by using the dictionary form of the
word. The exception is when the subject is in the third person singular. The third person
singular is one person or object other than "I" or "you." Examples are "he," "she," "it," "the
dog," and so on. With most verbs, we simply add -s to the end of the dictionary form of the
word. For example, let's use the verb "stop." If the subject is not in the third person singular,
"stop" does not change its form; for example, "I stop," "you stop," "we stop," "they stop." But for
the third person singular, we say "he stops," "she stops," "it stops," "the dog stops."

Some verbs are a little more difficult. For example, verbs that end in -s, -sh, -x, or -ch, the
spelling rule is a little different. We do not simply add an -s. We add -es. But, the good news
is, the pronunciation is simply adding an -s sound. So, a verb such as "catch" is spelled
"catches." In a similar way, verbs that end in a -y with a consonant before it (such as -by, -dy, -
fy) change by dropping the -y and adding -ies. But, again, good news, the pronunciation rule
is the same, just add the -s sound. The other exceptions are "go" (spelled "goes"),
"do" (spelled "does" and change the pronunciation), and "have" (which you change to "has").
One more exception is the verb, "be," which changes for more than just the third person
singular. For examples of that, please see the lesson notes for Beginner Season 1, Lesson 4.

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Let's now look at how we use the simple present tense in this lesson. In the dialogue, Oksana
asks Naomi if Mike and Yuki are in her class. And she responds by saying, "Yes, we study
together every week." "We" is in the first person plural, so we don't change the form of the
verb "study." And she is talking about a habit. We use the simple present to talk about facts that
are immediately true and unchanging.

Another example from the dialogue is when Oksana asks Naomi if she has any plans. Naomi
answers, "I have a date tonight." "I" is in the first person singular, so we don't change the form
of the verb, "have." And, she is talking about a future scheduled event. Even though the event
is in the future, the plan exists now and we do not expect it to change. So, we can use the
simple present tense to talk about future scheduled events that we don't expect to change.

Another example from the dialogue is when Naomi describes her date. She says, "Yeah, my
date is an Italian student." "My date" is in the third person singular, and for the verb "be," the
third person singular is "is," as we explained in Lesson 4. She is talking about a state, the state
that her date is Italian and a student. These facts are not expected to change, so she uses the
simple present tense to talk about states.

We have one more example from the dialogue. Naomi sees Marco coming, and she says,
"Oh, here he comes now." "He" is in the third person singular, so we add an -s to "come" and
say, "he comes." Naomi is describing an action as it happens before her and Oksana. So when
we describe actions in this way, we can use the simple present instead of the present
progressive. If we use the present progressive and say, "He is coming now," we understand
that the action is incomplete and happening now, but the immediacy, the excitement of the
action, is reduced. This is why sports announcers often use the simple present tense to
describe actions as they happen.

There are a few more uses for the simple present tense. In Lesson 6, for example, we showed
how to use the simple present tense to talk about general, timeless truths such as science and
math. In the future, we will also introduce some other uses, but the examples in this lesson
should give you a good foundation going forward.

Language Tip

The third person singular conjugation of verbs is easy to understand, but is often difficult for
learners of English to master in real time. Be patient with yourself, and try to notice when you
make a mistake. If you pay attention to your own words and notice them, you should be able to
cut down on your future mistakes.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Movie Night in America

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 Going to the movies is a common past time for many North Americans, especially among
college students. It's an easy, affordable, and accessible form of entertainment that can be
enjoyed with friends and dates. Movie theaters have food and drinks so that the viewers can
enjoy their show while they snack. Popcorn is one of the most common foods sold, and
people usually get a soda, too. Friends can also get together and rent a movie to watch in
somebody's living room instead of going to the theaters. These days, with great home
entertainment systems, it can be just as enjoyable as going to the theaters.

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