ACTIVE GRAMMAR

I. Present simple and present continuous

* Present simple
1. Add an -s for third person forms in present simple statements. All other forms stay the same.
2. Make negarive forms of regular verbs with don’t and doesn’t
3. Use the present simple for things that are always or usuakky true.
4. Use the present simple for regular or repeated events and habits.
5. We often use the present simple with adverbs of frequency, e.g always, never, usually.
6. We often use the present simple to give instructions or directions.
7. We often use the present simple to tell a story, or to describe a series of events as they happen.
8. We often use the present simple for a review (of a book or film, for example).
TIP: Have got means the same as have.
Have got is more common in in formal and British English.
* Present Continous
9. Make present continous sentences with am / is / are + verb + -ing.
10. Use the present continous to decribe an activity in progress now or around now.
IV. Present perfect, past simple, present simple
1. Make the present perfect using the verb have + past participle.
2. Use the present perfect to talk about recent events or a past event which the speaker feels in
connected with the present.
3. Use the past simple to talk about a finished action in the past
4. Use the present simple to talk about present fact or event.
5. Use the present perfect, not the present simple, for an event or a situation which began in the
past and continues in the present, when we want to say how much time it has been giong on.
6. Go has two past participles: gone and been. There is a difference in meaning.
My brother has gone to America.
(= My brother is travelling to America or is there now.)
My brother has been to America.
(=My brother went to America but he back home now.)
7. Use the present perfect when we don’t know exactly when the past wvent took place, or it is
not important. Use the past simple to give details later.
8. With the present perfect, we use word which mean at a time up to now, e.g. already, ever, for,
lately, never, recently, since, yet. With the past, we use words and expressions which mean a
finished period of time, e.g. ago, in 2003, last week, on my birthday, then, when, yesterday.
9. With today and this + time word, e.g. this afternoon, this year, we can use the present perfect or
the past simple. Use the present perfect to mean the complete time period up to now. Use the past
simple to mean a finished part of that time period.
V.