ONE OF THE GANG!

THEORY
Present Simple
We use the Present Simple for
• habits and routines: I go to the tennis club every Monday.
The tennis coach doesn’t work here in the winter.
• facts: You become a teenager when you are thirteen.
Do British people have ID cards?
• generalisations: Lots of young people are sports fans.
Teenagers often argue with their parents.
State verbs (seem, like, feel, etc.) are usually in the Present Simple:
You seem interested in photography.
Do you prefer colour or black and white?
Adverbs of frequency, (occasionally, often, never, always, etc.) with the Present Simple
show how often things happen. We put them
• before a main verb: He occasionally goes to rock concerts.
• after to be: She is often at home on Sunday evenings.
• between auxiliary (e.g. can, do, have) and main verbs: We don’t usually go to away
games.
You can always get a taxi at the station.

Present Continuous
We use the Present Continuous for
• things which are happening now: I’m making a poster for the school chess club now.
She’s not sleeping, you can go in.
• temporary situations: At the moment, he’s working for a charity.
Are you staying with your parents until term starts?
• changing situations: More people are joining Internet forums these days.
Is the chess club becoming less popular?
Time expressions (now, these days, at the moment, etc.) usually go at the beginning or end
of the sentence.
Reflexive Pronouns
Subject Objective Reflexive pronoun
I me myself
he him himself
she her herself
it it itself
we them ourselves
you you yourself (singular) yourselves (plural)
they them themselves

We use reflexive pronouns

1. when the subject and object of the sentence are the same person or thing:
He looks at himself in every shop window!
The cat washes itself a lot.
Did you enjoy yourself at the party?
2. to stress that something is done without help / independently:
My mum’s a hairdresser but I always cut my hair myself.
Did they build the boat themselves?
My great-grandmother is ninety-two but she drives herself everywhere.
3. to stress the subject or object only:
I complained to the manager herself.
The hotel itself was quiet but the resort was very noisy.
The dog itself wasn’t the cause of the accident.
Culture notes
Fresher’s Week is the period at the beginning of the academic year when new students at
the university are given the chance to take part in a variety of social activities to get to
know people and the university better.
A Debating Society is a club or society at university where groups of students regularly
come together and participate in debates on topics of the day, e.g. the importance of
capital punishment, does this society support the banning of smoking everywhere,
censorship on the Internet. The best debaters in these societies may form teams to take
part in national and international competitions.

EMO is a style of rock music, meaning emotional hardcore music. Famous examples of Emo
groups are: Weezer, Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional. It is also a style
characterised by slim fit jeans and tight t-shirts, usually in bright colours.
Hippie is a style characterised by home-made or home-sewn clothes which are loose fitting
and in bright colours. Hippies generally believe in the power of peace and love. They are
often involved in anti-governmental protests but always in a peaceful fashion.
Goth is a style characterised by the colour black. Goths will also have tattoos and piercings.
Punk style looks like the clothes have been made or put together by the person wearing
them. Punks normally have piercings and tattoos and very short hair which may be
coloured. The image should reflect revolutionary mentality.

Peterborough is a town in the east midlands of England. It has a population of about

170,000 and is 70 miles north of London. It is thought that about 10 percent of the
population is made up of people arriving from Eastern Europe since 2004 because there is a
lot of agricultural work in the area.
Chavs are a stereotype of certain people who live in the UK. Generally considered to be
aggressive teenagers from a working class background who are known for having anti-social
behaviour and get in trouble with the authorities. Usually characterised by tracksuits, lots of
jewellery and the wearing of caps or hoods.