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“Grammar Explorer 3”
Amy Cooper and Samuela Eckstut-Didier

Week 2
SIMPLE PRESENT &
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
Simple
Present
 Third person singular
Form Add s
 Affirmative

Form
Negative
-add do/does
(Make an example sentence – like/sushi)
 Yes/no questions
-add do/does
-invert (Aus + subj + main verb)

Do you like tomatoes?

Form Wh- questions

-add do/does
-invert (aux + subj + main verb)

Where do you live?

Question with Who or What as subject

-DON’T add do/does
-DON’T invert (subj + verb)

Who plays the piano?

Be careful…
Third person
Does he play basketball?
Does he plays basketball? X
Questions with Who/What as subject
Who reads the newspaper?
Who does read the newspaper? X
 Adding “s” to the third person
singular
+ es if the word ends in these letters:
•ch - watches

•s - kisses

•sh - wishes
•z - fizzes

•x – fixes

+ es and remove “y”

Dry dries worry worries
When do we Routines, repeated events or habits

use the (What’s something you do daily, weekly, yearly?)

Facts and general truths
Simple Permanent actions or situations
Present?
Present Progressive
(Present Continuous)
 present tense ”to be” (is, am, are) + -ing verb form
•I am walking.
Form •You are walking.
•She is walking.
 Negative

Form I’m not coming.

•often use contractions - I’m, you’re, we’re etc.
 Yes/No questions
To be + subject + -ing verb form
Is the lady wearing a hat?

Form Wh- questions

Question word + to be + subject + -ing verb form
Why are you eating my cupcake?

Question with who or what as subject

Who/what + to be + -ing form
Who is making all the noise?
Be careful…
Don’t repeat the verb be when the same subject is doing two actions.
The mom is singing and dancing
with her daughters in the living room.
When do we Temporary; completable and in the process of
being completed (in process)
use the Happening over a current time period (today, this

Present week, this month, this year)

Happening at the moment of speaking
Progressive?
LOADING
What do we mean
by completable?
Possible to be completed
Present progressive is used to describe things that are
POSSIBLE to complete. (temporary)
Examples..
Homework, washing the dishes, a craft or piece of artwork,
diploma
Not possible to complete…
Descriptions, train schedules, habits/routines, facts
Check out this comparison chart
Oyster English
https://www.oysterenglish.com/present-simple-and-present-continuous.html
What do we mean
by completable?
Possible to be completed
Present progressive is used to describe things that are
POSSIBLE to complete. (temporary)
Examples..
Homework, washing the dishes, a craft or piece of artwork,
diploma
Not possible to complete…
Descriptions, train schedules, habits/routines, facts
 Stative Verbs (vs. Active or Event verbs)
•Express states or conditions
•Why do we need to learn how to identify verbs as Stative or Active anyway?
•Not usually in the progressive
Stative verbs are used for…
Description… appear, be, look, look like, resemble, seem, sound (It sounds like a storm.)

Feelings… dislike, hate, like, love, miss (I like chocolate milk.)

Senses… feel, hear, see, smell, taste (She feels happy.)

Possession… belong, have, own (I have three brothers.)

Desires… hope, prefer, want (They prefer to go out for brunch.)

Mental states… agree, believe, know, think, understand (He agrees with me.)

Measurements…cost, weigh (That jacket costs $100.)

Examples of stative verbs
Need – I need a coffee. NOT I’m needing a coffee.

Like - She likes donuts. NOT She’s liking donuts.

Want – They want a snack. NOT They are wanting a snack.

Find the error:
I don't understand stative and dynamic verbs. They seem very confusing. I am
hating them, because they are driving me crazy!
A few verbs can be used in both
ways
She looks beautiful.
She looks at the cat.

Studying the examples (where a verb can be used in both

ways) helps us identify the difference between stative and
active. (dynamic)
Verbs that can be Stative AND Active
Feel, smell, taste (senses/testing actions)
Have (possession/doing)
Appear, look (appearance/actions)
Weigh (measurement/actions)
Also…check A1 in the back of your textbook for handy reference charts!
Some examples—then, let’s try our
own…
Before I eat, I like to smell the spices.
The river smells bad.
Which one is active (dynamic)?
So, which one can you change into present progressive if you want to show that it’s a
temporary action?
What are you doing? I’m smelling the spices.
Even if it’s temporary, you can’t say, ”The river is smelling bad today.” You say, “The river
smells bad today.”
• Make 2 sentences for each verb,
one stative and one active
•Feel
•Have
•Weigh
Try in pairs
Write two sentences for one of the sense verbs

feel, look, smell, taste

Now draw a picture that doesn’t make sense!

Show your picture to the class so they can guess your sentence.
Verbs with a stative meaning only Verbs with active and stative
meaning

Believe, belong, like, look, own, Appear, feel, have, hear, look,
prefer, understand, want see, smell, taste, think
Simple past - form
Add –ed (She laughed.)
Negative – add didn’t and base form (She didn’t laugh.)
Watch for the many irregular verbs (check Appendix 3 at back of textbook)
Past progressive - form
Was/were + main verb in an –ing form
Simple Past/Past progressive
questions
Yes/No Questions Did Jan read the news this Were you eating lunch at 1:00?
morning?

Wh- Questions Where did you go last night? What were you doing at 8:00 last
night?

Who or What as subject Who went to the movie after Who wasn’t paying attention in
class? class?
Simple past – when to use
1. Completed actions or events (We ate lunch at noon.)
2. Repeated past actions that are not likely to happen again (The twins played
several games.)
3. A past state or feeling (Nadia was sick yesterday.)

Draw timelines for these

 Past Progressive – when to use
An action or event that was in progress…

a. at a specific time in the past

She was watching TV at 9:00 p.m. Now she’s asleep.

b. when another action or event happened. The second action may cause the action in progress to end.
(interrupted action)
We were driving to the store and our car broke down.

Remember—the stative rule applies with the past progressive as well as the present progressive. You can’t
use past progressive with a stative verb.
Page 20-21
Exercise 4A
Story 1 – all together
Story 2 – on own (check together)
 Compare these sentences…
What do you notice?
I was closing the door when I hurt my finger.
The movie was playing when the noisy kids arrived.

Someone stole John’s wallet while he was walking down the street.
While I was washing the dishes, Tina answered the phone.

Last year, I was working at the university and living in an apartment.

Last year, I worked at the university and lived in an apartment.

The ball hit the window and the glass broke.

Sentence 2?

Verb tense, punctuation

Rules (draw some timelines – see examples
on p. 20 in chart – 3 a&b)
I was closing the door when I hurt my finger.
The movie was playing when the noisy kids arrived.

Someone stole John’s wallet while he was walking down the street.
While I was washing the dishes, Tina answered the phone.

Simple past
Short and/or interrupting Comma rule
action Time clause first
Time clause second
Past progressive
Longer, ongoing action
 And more rules… J
Last year, I was working at the university and living in an apartment.
Last year, I worked at the university and lived in an apartment.

• If the actions took the same amount of time, use the same tense. (SP or PP)

The ball hit the window and the glass broke.

• If the actions are both short you cannot use Past Progressive.
 While and when

Time clauses with “while” and “when”

Tense Used with “while” Used with “when”

Past Progressive X (most common) X

Simple Past X X (most common)

When the
train
arrived…
Let’s review the meaning again
What were you doing at 8 p.m. last night? I was studying.
This means I started studying before 8 and continued after 8. (action already in progress
at a certain time in past)
We were cleaning the house all morning
Shows the activity was in progress for some time (not just a moment)