THE VERB

THE INDICATIVE 9
5.) In step-by-step instructions or demonstrations
First, I take the potatoes and slice them. Then, I slice the tomatoes,
1.1. THE SIMPLE PRESENT fry the onion
and parsley in a little fat until the onions are
translucent...
1.1.1. Form 6.)In sports commentaries. In this case the Simple Present refers to quicker
(which are finished before the sentences that described them). The actions
is used for longer activities: Present Continuous
Affirmative
Interrogative The goal-keeper passes to Maradona, but
Hagi intercepts; Hagi to Lctu_ and
/you/we/they speakk Do I/you/we/they speak? he shoots and it's a goal! The Romanians are leading by three goals to nil in the
Does he/she/it speak? second half.
He/she/it speaks Nstase serves! (this very moment)
Nstase is
serving in the game we are watching now. (the service is a continuing
Negative activity)
Negative-Interrogative To o_express an_officially_planned action
|I/you/we/theydo not speak or an action belonging_to a settled
Do I/you/we/they not speak? programme:
/you/we/they don't speak. Don't I/you/we/they speak? The championship starts next Saturday. (will start)
He/she/it does not speak. Does he/she/it not speak? The tourists visit the British Museum on Friday morning. (will visit)
He/she/it doesn'tspeak. |Doesn't he/she/it speak? To express a future action
a) in a conditional clause:
If your cousin comes here tomorrow, we'll go to the cinema.
1.1.2. Use
b)in aTom
timewillclause whose actionissimultaneous with another future action:
(1 To express "eternal"/"general truths, or to make statements of general validity:
like English grammar when he understands it.
Ice melts in the sun. In proverbs, sayings
The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
Despair gives courage to a coward.
2 To express repeated/habitual/permanent actions. Such actions are usually accom-(10.1In certain contexts, especially in interrogative sentences, to render a modal hint
panied by the adverbsevery (day/week/month/year/, etc.), never, occasionally, Why do you move so slowly? (reproach)
often, sometimes, seldom, twice a week, usually, etc.
We go to school every morning.
(repeated) 1T.In'exclamatory sentences beginning with here or there:
Father smokes too much. Here they come!
(habitual) There goes the train!
Jane works in a big factory. (permanent)
3 In Direct Speech, to introduce quotations But, if these statements are notexclamatory, the progressive aspect mustbe used
Shakespeare says : They're coming
The train is going now.
"Not marble, the
nor gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive
this powerful rhyme". (Sonnet 35) 12. With the verb to continue and its equivalents (to go on, to keep on, etc.) as
nemes in_giving the summary theycontain in themselves the idea of continuity, and so, it is not necessary to use
of a 'being called "Narrative"/"Historiçc"
story, a continuous form:
Present The children continue to write.
went into the dark
room and, suddenly, I hear a strange noise.
The pupils go on reading.
ut, in telling stories, both Simple Present and Present Continuous can be must be used
aitnough there is a difference between their uses. While the Simple employed, But, when to go on means to happen, the continuous aspect
Vens that happen one after another (sees, meets, says.goes,Present 1S used tor
etc the PreseD
What is going on there?
Occurs with "background situations", that is with the things that are
wnen the story starts or at a certain moment of the story
Ihe Prince
enters the cave and there he
sees a witch. The witch is boiling
SOmething and is
talking to a huge black cat that is looking at itself in a mirror.