The Simple Present Tense

1. Asking someone's job or occupation
    Question :

• What Do you do?
• What does he/she do?
• What do they do for living?
• What is your job/occupation?
• Do you work?
• What do you do (in the departement)?

     Answer :

• I work as a lawyer
• He/she is a colloge student
• They are fashion designers
• I'm a student
• Yes, I'm a technician
• I'm on the market research side

2. Telling about people's educational background
    Asking someone's educational background:

• When did you graduate from junior high school?
• What subject did you like when studied at networking technical program?
• Did you attend a seminar about CCNA course?
• What program study did you take when you studied at vocational school?

     Responses:

• I graduated from my junior high school last year
• I liked LAN/WAN installation
• Yes, i attended the seminar
• I took management and business study program

3.The Simple Present Tense

This page will present the simple present tense:

• its form
• and its use.

Before you continue the lesson read the following passage and try to see how the verbs are formed and used.

James is a taxi driver. He drives a taxi. But on Sundays he doesn't drive his taxi. He stays at home. The verb be, drive, stay are in the simple present. (more on the simple present of the verb to be)

The forms of the simple present

The affirmative form of the simple present:

I, you, we, they	play.
He, she, it	plays.

Remember the verbs in the third person singular (he,she and it) always take an "s". For example, "he plays, she sings,it works..."

Examples:

• Nancy and James speak good German.
• Nancy works in a restaurant downtown.
• The children play in the garden every weekend.

The interrogative form of the simple present:

Do	I, you, we, they	play?
Does	he, she, it

Examples:

• Do you speak good German?
• Does Nancy work in a restaurant downtown?

The negative form of the simple present:

I, you, we,they	do not	play.
	don't
He, she, it	does not
	doesn't

Examples:

• No, I don't speak German.
• No, she doesn't work in a restaurant downtown

The use of the simple present:

The simple present is used:

• to give your opinion - I like ice cream. I don't like spicy food.
• to talk about schedules - The library opens at eight. It doesn't open at 7.
• to talk about daily habits (routine actions)- Sara eats a cheese for breakfast every day. She doesn't eat cereal.
• to give facts - The earth circles the sun. The moon doesn't circle the sun.

The spelling of the third person singular form of the simple present:

All the verbs take an "s" in the simple present when conjugated in the third person singular (he, she, it) form:

Examples:

• I visit my parents every summer holiday. But my wife visits her parents every weekend.
• My brother meets his girlfriend everyday.

So the rule is:

He / she / it + Verb + S

There are however some special cases. Here are the spelling rules:

Silent e	Vowel + y	Consonant + y	Verbs ending in o	Verbs ending in s, z, sh, tch, ch
close = closes note = notes	play = plays say = says	study = studies marry = marries	go = goes do = does	miss = misses buzz = buzzes hatch = hatches finish = finishes teach = teaches

Examples:

• She drives to work every morning.
• He says he plays football on the weekends

Exception:

• The verb to have changes its forms as follows:
  I have two sisters and two brothers. But she has one sister and two brothers.
  I have = he / she / it has

Things to remember about the simple present:

1.In the interrogative forms, we use "do" or "does".

• "Do you like the house?"
• "Does she go to school?"

2; Verbs never take an "s" in the the negative and interrogative forms.

• "Does he speak German?"
• "Do they play soccer?"
• She doesn't like ice cream.

3. don't is the short form of "do not". You can say either:

• I do not speak Italian, or
• I don't speak Italian.

4.doesn't is the short form of "does not". you can say either:

• He does not listen to jazz music, or
• He doesn't listen to jazz music.

The verb to be

The verb to be is the most important verb in the English language.  It is difficult to use because it is an irregular verb in almost all of its forms.  In the simple present tense, to be is conjugated as follows:

Affirmative forms of the verb to be

Subject Pronouns	Full Form	Contracted Form
I	am	'm
you	are	're
he/she/it	is	's
we	are	're
you	are	're
they	are	're

Interrogative forms of the verb to be:

Am	I?
Are	you?
Is	he/she/it?
Are	we?
Are	you?
Are	they?

Negative Forms of the verb to be:

Subject Pronouns	Full Form	Contracted Form
I	am not	'm not
you	are not	aren't
he/she/it	is not	isn't
we	are not	aren't
you	are not	aren't
they	are not	aren't

Examples:

• Is Brad Pitt French?
• No, he isn't. He's American.
• What about Angelina Joli? Is she American, too?
• Yes, she is. She is American.
• Are brad Pitt and Angelina Joli French?
• No, They aren't. They are American.

4. Simple Past Tense

This page will present the simple past tense:

• its form
• and its use.

Before you continue the lesson read the following passage and try to see how the verbs are formed and used.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian musician and composer. He lived from 1756 to 1791. He startedcomposing at the age of five years old and wrote more than 600 pieces of music. He was only 35 years old when he died. The verbs "was, lived,started, wrote, died" are in the simple past tense. Notice that: lived, started,died are regular past forms. was, wrote are irregular past forms.

Regular verbs:

The verbs "lived, started, died" are regular past forms. The rule is the following:

Verb + ed

Examples:

The infinitive	The simple past
live	lived
start	started
die	died
visit	visited
play	played
watch	watched
phone	phoned
marry	married

For the spelling of the -ed forms click here.

Irregular verbs:

The verbs "was, wrote" are irregular past forms. "Was" is the simple past of "to be"; "wrote" is the simple past of "write".

More on the simple past of "to be" here.

There is no rule for these verbs. You should learn them by heart.

The infinitive	The simple past
be	was/were
write	wrote
come	came
do	did
meet	met
speak	spoke

As you can see we can not predict the simple past forms of these verbs. They are irregular. You should learn them by heart. Here is a list of irregular verbs.

The forms of the simple past:

The Affirmative form of the simple past:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they	played.
	wrote
	did.

Examples:

• I played tennis with my friends yesterday.
• I finished lunch and I did my homework.

The interrogative form of the simple past:

Did	I, you, he, she, it, we, they	Play?
		write
		do?

Examples:

• Did you play basketball yesterday?
• Did you watch television?
• Did you do the homework?

The negative form of the simple past:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they	did not/didn't	play
		write
		do

• I didn't like the food in the wedding last Saturday.
• I didn't eat it.

Remember:

didn't is the short form of did not. You can say either:

• I did not play basketball, or
• I didn't play basketball.

The simple past tense of the verb to be:

This page will present the simple past tense of the verb to be:

• its form
• and its use.

The affirmative form:

I, he, she, it	was.
you, we, they	were.

Examples:

• I was in London in 1999.
• Pam was in London in 1999, too.
• We were together.
• She was my girlfriend.

The interrogative form:

Was	I, he, she, it?
Were	you, we, they?

Examples:

• Were you in London last year?
• Was Pam with you?
• Were you together?

The negative form:

I, you, he, she	was not.
	wasn't.
You, we, they	were not.
	weren't.

Examples:

• I wasn't in Paris in 1999.
• Pam wasn't in Paris in 1999.
• We weren't in Paris.

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Pronominal Question (WH Question)

Pronominal Question (WH Question)

Question words are also called wh questions because they include the letters 'W' and 'H'

Asking questions

1.If you ask about the subject of the sentence, simply add the question word at the beginning:

Example:
James writes good poems. — Who writes good pems?

2.If you ask about the predicate of the sentence (the part of a sentence which contains the verb and 

gives information about the subject), there are three options:

• If there is a helping (auxilary) verb that precedes the main verb ( foe example, can, is, are, was, were, will, would...), add the question word and invert the subject and the helping (auxilary) verb.
  Examples:
  He can speak Chinese. — What can he speak?
  They are leaving tonight. — When are they leaving?
• If you ask about the predicate and there is no helping (auxilary) verb and the verb is "to be", simply add the question verb and invert the subject and the verb.
  Example:
  The play was interesting. — How was the play?
• If there is no helping (auxilary) verb in the the predicate and the main verb is not "to be", add the auxilary "do" in the appropriate form.
  Examples:
  They go to the movies every Saturday. — Where do they go to the movies?
  He wakes up early. — When does he wake up?
  They sent a letter. — What did they send?

C. Question Tag

Tag questions are questions attached or tagged onto the ending of a declarative statement.  They transform a declarative sentence into an interrogative sentence.

Examples:

• You live in the city, don’t you?
• We need to get going now, don’t we?
• There’s a game on today, isn’t there?
• You’re coming to the party, aren’t you?

Sometimes interrogative sentences are actually declarative sentences that have a question mark at the end.  If you ask this type of question, the last syllable of the final word in the sentence is spoken with a rising intonation.  Here are a few examples.

• The bus has already left?
• The Saints won the Super Bowl?
• It’s snowing in Florida?
• You’ve lost 15 pounds already?
• The Subject of Interrogative Sentences

The subject of interrogative sentences may not be obvious.  Typically, you can spot them right after the verb.  But there’s a way to make the subject easier to spot.  Simply rewrite the question into a statement and then the subject is then easy to find.

Here are some examples below.  First you’ll find an interrogative sentence.  Immediately following is the declarative form of the sentence with the subject underlined.

• Did you clean up your room? You cleaned up your room.
• Has Jack come to visit? Jack has come to visit.
• Is this Jill’s wallet?  This is Jill’s wallet.

Interrogative sentences are the most simple to identify.  They always ask a question or request information.  Simply look for the question mark at the end and you’ll have no problem finding or understanding the function of interrogative sentences.

6.      Too – Enough

Form

too + adjective or adverb
too much/many + noun
too much/many + of + pronoun/determiner

adjective or adverb + enough
enough + noun
enough + of + pronoun/determiner

Meaning

1.      We use too to mean more than sufficient or more/less than necessary.

·         It's too late to stop him.

·         Jerry was too young to watch the movie.

·         There are too many people on this train, there's nowhere to sit.

·         You have too much money, give some to me.

·         You've eaten too many of those cakes.

2.      We use enough to mean sufficient.

·         Your clothes are big enough to fit me.

·         You've done enough work. You can stop now.

·         Have you got enough money to buy me a drink?

3.      We use enough in negative sentences to mean less than sufficient or less than necessary.

·         You're not working fast enough, you won't finish on time.

·         Sorry, I haven't got enough food for everyone.

·         Not enough of my friends are coming to the party.

Additional points

1.      We can use enough without a noun if the meaning is clear.

·         There's a lot of food but not enough for everyone.

2.      We can replace enough with the before a noun.

·         I don't have the money to go on holiday.

·         His company doesn't have the resources to do the job.

3.      We can use time or room alone to mean enough timeorenough room.

·         Is there room in your car for one more person?

·         Do we have time for a coffee?

Too and Enough are used with adjectives and indicate degree. Too means more than necessary, and it precedes the adjective. Enough means sufficient and usually follows the adjective.

He is too old to ride the Merry-Go-Round. She has too much money. Tony was tall enough to play on the basketball team. They were smart enough to pass the test.

(NOT: enough tall) (NOT: enough smart)

Enough can also be used with nouns. In such cases, enough usually precedes the word it modifies.

I have enough money for the CD player.

I don't have enough (money) for the computer.

There aren't enough people to make a team.

In some cases, enough can stand alone.

I have had enough of this nonsense.

Enough is enough!

Common problems include using very in place of too or enough.

She is very young to drink alcohol. She is too young to drink alcohol. He is not very tough to play football. He is not tough enough to play football.

(Wrong) (Correct) (Wrong) (Correct)

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Pronoun

1. Pronoun

A. Subject Pronoun, also called subjective or subject personal pronoun, is used as substitute for proper and common nouns.

Examples

John is a doctor - He is a doctor
The laptop is on the desk - It is on the desk

A subject pronoun is used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence.

Example

______ did the job.
I, you, he, she, it, we, and they all fit into the blank and are, therefore, subject pronouns.

A subject pronoun indicates:

• number: singular or plural,
• gender: male or female,
• person: first, second or third person.

Examples

• I (first person singular)
• you (second person singular)
• She (third person singular female) 
• He (third person singular male)
• It (third person singular inanimate )
• We (first person plural)
• You (second person plural)
• They (third person plural)

The words "I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they" are subject pronouns. They refer to a person or thing in speech or in writing.

Possessive Pronouns

A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or something. Like any other pronoun, it substitutes a noun phrase and can prevent its repetition. For example, in the phrase, "These glasses are mine, not yours", the words "mine" and "yours" are possessive pronouns and stand for "my glasses" and "your glasses," respectively.

Examples

• This is our house. It's ours.
• This is my bedroom. It's mine.
• This is my brother's bike. It's his.

                                     

The words "mine, yours, his, hers, its , ours, theirs" are possessive pronouns. They show who or what something belongs to.

Note

1. A possessive pronoun differs from a possessive adjective.

Examples:

• What color is your brother's jacket?
  His jacket is black.
  (your and his are possessive adjectives; your and his modify the noun jacket in both examples)
• What color is yours?
  Mine is blue.
  (yours and mine are possessive pronouns - yours functions as a subject complement in the first example; mine functions as a subject in the second example)

2. "It's" is not a possessive pronoun or adjective; it is a contraction of it is or it has.

Example:

• It's not my book = it is not my book
• It's got five bedrooms = it has got five bedrooms

You may also be interested in:

• object pronouns,
• possessive adjectives,
• subject pronouns,
• and reflexive pronouns.

Reflexive Pronoun

Reflexive pronouns are used when the complement of the verb is the same as the subject.

Example:

He hurt himself.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object.

Example:

I wrote it myself. (I want to emphasize the fact that I wrote it.)

I spoke to the president himself. (I spoke to the president personally NOT somebody else.)

Subject Pronouns	I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they
Reflexive Pronouns	myself	yourself	himself	herself	itself	ourselves	yourselves	themselves

The words " myself, yourself, himself..." are reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are words that show that the person who does the action is also the person who is affected by it:

Examples:

• "I always do my homework myself. Nobody helps me."
• "He never does his homework himself. The teacher always helps him."

2. Direct Speech Vs Reported Speech

A. Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

Reported speech is when you tell somebody else what you or a person said before.

Distinction must be made between direct speech and reported speech.

Direct speech vs Reported speech:

Direct speech	Reported speech
She says: "I like tuna fish."	She says that she likes tuna fish.
She said: "I'm visiting Paris next weekend"	She said that she was visiting Paris the following weekend.

Different types of sentences

When you use reported speech, you either report:

• Statements
• questions
• requests / commands
• other types

I. Reporting Statements

When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• tense
• place and time expression

1-Pronouns

In reported speech, you often have to change the pronoun depending on who says what.

Example:

She says, “My dad likes roast chicken.” – She says that her dad likes roast chicken.

2-Tenses

• If the sentence starts in the present, there is no backshift of tenses in Reported speech.
• If the sentence starts in the past, there is often backshift of tenses in Reported speech.

	Direct speech	Reported speech
(no backshift)	“I write poems.”	He says that he writes poems.
(backshift)	“I write poems.”	He said that he wrote poems.

No backshift

Do not change the tense if the introductory clause is in a present tense (e. g. He says). Note, however, that you might have to change the form of the present tense verb (3rd person singular).

Example:
He says, “I write poems.” – He says that he writes English.

Backshift

You must change the tense if the introductory clause is in a past tense (e. g. He said).

Example:
He said, “I am happy.” – He said that he was happy.

Examples of the main changes in tense:

The verbs could, should, would, might, must, needn't, ought to, used to do not normally change.
Example:
He said, “She might be right.” – He said that she might be right.

3-Place and time expressions

Place and time expressions change if the context of the reported statement (i.e. the location and/or the period of time) is different from that of the direct speech.

In the following table, you will find ways of transforming place and time expressions into reported speech.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
today	that day
now	then
yesterday	the day before
… days ago	… days before
last week	the week before
next year	the following year
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
here	there
this	that
these	those

B. Reporting Questions

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Also note that you have to:

• transform the question into an indirect question
• use the question word (where, when, what, how) or if / whether

Types of questions	Direct speech	Reported speech
With question word (what, why, where, how...)	"Why" don’t you speak English?”	He asked me why I didn’t speak English.
Without question word (yes or no questions)	“Do you speak English?”	He asked me whether / if I spoke English.

C. Reporting requests / commands

When transforming requests and commands, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• place and time expressions

Direct speech	Reported speech
“Nancy,do the exercise.“	He told Nancy to do the exercise.
"Nancy, give me your pen, please."	He asked Nancy to give him her pen.

Tenses are not relevant for requests – simply use to  / not to + verb (infinitive without "to")

Example:

She said, “Sit down." - She asked me to sit down.

She said, "don't be lazy" - She asked me not to be lazy

For affirmative use to + infinitive (without to) For negative requests, use not to + infinitive (without to).

D. Other transformations

• Expressions of advice with must, should and ought are usually reported using advise / urge.
  Example:
  “You must read this book.“
  He advised / urged me to read that book.
• The expression let’s is usually reported using suggest. In this case, there are two possibilities for reported speech: gerund or statement withshould.
  Example:
  “Let’s go to the cinema.“=
  1. He suggested going to the cinema.
  2. He suggested that we should go to the cinema.

Main clauses connected with and/but

If two complete main clauses are connected with ‚and or ‚but, put ‚that after the conjunction.

Example:
He said,“I saw her but she didn't see me.“ – He said that he had seen her but that she hadn't seen him.“

If the subject is dropped in the second main clause (the conjunction is followed by a verb), do not use ‚that‘.

Example:
She said,“I am a nurse and work in a hospital.“ – He said that she was a nurse and worked in a hospital.“

B. Free Indirect Speech

Free indirect speech is also called as free indirect discourse, free indirect style, or discours indirect libre in French.)

While indirect speech conveys the report in the words of the reporter, with verbs generally 'backshifted' in tense and changes in pronouns and adverbials of time and place are made to align with the time of reporting;

free direct speech lacks a reporting clause to show the shift from narration to reporting, it is often used in fiction to represent the mental reactions of characters to what they see or experience.

Similarities:

Free indirect speech resembles indirect speech in shifting tenses and other references

Differences:

There is generally no reporting clause in free indirect speech and it retains some features of direct speech (such as direct questions and vocatives).

Examples:

Direct speech:

He sat down on the sofa carelessly. "Why are they asking me to contribute to the project?" he asked.

Indirect speech:

He sat down on the sofa carelessly and asked himself why they were asking him to contribute to the project.

Free indirect speech:

He sat down on the sofa carelessly. Why are they asking him to contribute to the project?

Famous writers who use free indirect speech

• Goethe
• Jane Austen
• Gustave Flaubert
• James Joyce
• Virginia Woolf

3. Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause within a complex sentence.

In the example:

• Mike found the keys that he had lost.

that is a relative pronoun which introduces the relative clause that he had lost.

In English the relative pronouns are who, whom, which, whose, and that.

who - subject or object pronoun for people

They caught the lady who killed her baby.
I know the man who you met.

which - subject or object pronoun

I read the book which is on the table.
I visited the town which you told me about.

which - referring to a whole sentence

They were unsuccessful which is disappointing.

whom - used for object pronoun for people, especially in non-restrictive relative clauses (in restrictive relative clauses use who)

The boy whom you told me about got the best grades in mathematics.

that - subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in restrictive relative clauses (who or which are also possible)

I like the vase that is over there.

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