SIMPLE PAST TENSE vs PAST PROGRESSIVE

Look at the photos. Which couples do you recognize? What do you know about them?

SUPER COUPLES (By Dennis Brooks)

It’s a bird…, it’s a plane…, it’s Superman!

Disguised as Clark Kent, this world-famous character met Lois Lane while the two were
working as newspaper reporters for the Daily Planet. At first Lois wan’t interested in mild-
mannered Kent – she wanted to cover stories about “The Man of Steel.” In time, she changed
her mind. When Kent proposed, Lois accepted. ( And she didn’t even know he was Superman!)
Like Superman and Lois Lane, some names just seem to belong together: Marie and Pierre
Curie, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, or Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. What were these
other super couples doing when they met? What did they accomplish together? Let’s find this
out below!
 WHAT’S YOUR CROSS-CULTURAL IQ?

Look at the cartoons. What are the people doing? How do they feel?

Are you living in your native country or in another country? Do you ever travel abroad?
Do you understand the misunderstandings below?
(Explanation appear at the bottom of the page)

SITUATION 1 SITUATION
2

EXPLANATIONS

SITUATION 1 :
SITUATION 2 :

Eva invited Karl to a seven o’clock party.
conversation.
Karl is arriving at exactly 7:00 P.M. That’s
polite in his culture.
In Eva’s culture, people usually arrive at
Sami and Taro are having a
They are both feeling uncomfortable.
In Sami’s culture, people usually stand
quite close to each other.
least a half an hour later than the scheduled
time. That’s polite in her culture. In Taro’s culture, people like to stand
farther apart, and they almost never
touch.

DISCOVER THE GRAMMAR

Read this short review of another baby-name book. Underline all the present progressive verbs
and circle all the simple present tense verbs.

Are you looking for an interesting, original name for your baby? Do you want to avoid choosing
the same name as all the neighbor’s kids? Maybe you’re writing a romance novel and you need
an exciting name for your hero. Or perhaps you’re searching for the perfect name for your pet.
In any case, Beyond Jennifer and Jason, a new book by Marvella Whitman, is the source for
you. Along with tried and true names like Tiffany and Adam, the author lists fascinating ones
such as Adoration and Slade. Whitman, a historian, tells stories associated with many names,
and she clearly feels their magic. In addition to an alphabetical listing of names, this book
includes origins, meanings, and pronunciations. It also gives each name a popularity rating.
Whitman is currently working on a history of cross-cultural dating customs.

PARTY TALK

Complete the conversation with the correct form of the verbs in parentheses. Choose between
the simple present tense and the present progressive.

1. IANTHA: Hi, I’m Iantha.

AL: Nice to meet you, Iantha. I’m Alan, but my friends ……….. me Al. Iantha is an

unusual

name. Where ………….. it ……………….. from?

IANTHA: It’s Greek. It ……………… “violet-colored flower.”

Al: That’s pretty. What ……………. you ………………, Iantha?

IANTHA: Well, I usually ……………. computer equipment, but right now I ………………… at a

flower shop. My uncle ……………… it.

Al: You …………………….. ! I ……………………. it’s true that names …………………. our lives!