International School La Serena Name :______________________________________________

Language Department Date :_______________________________________________

Language Arts
Miss Carolina Barquín
8th Grade 2015

GRAMMAR
STUDY GUIDE
 Simple Present Tense
The simple present tense in English is used to describe an action that is regular, true or normal.

We use the present tense:

1. For repeated or regular actions in the present time period.

 I take the train to the office.

 The train to Berlin leaves every hour.

 John sleeps eight hours every night during the week.

2. For facts.

 The President of The USA lives in The White House.

 A dog has four legs.

 We come from Switzerland.

3. For habits.

 I get up early every day.

 Carol brushes her teeth twice a day.

 They travel to their country house every weekend.

4. For things that are always / generally true.

 It rains a lot in winter.

 The Queen of England lives in Buckingham Palace.

 They speak English at work.

AFFIRMATIVE FORM:

SUBJECT + VERB + COMPLEMENT

I TAKE A SHOWER EVERYDAY

SHE BRUSHES HER TEETH BEFORE GOING TO BED.

In general, in the third person singular (he, she , it) we add 'S' to the verb :.

1. For verbs that end in -O, -CH, -SH, -SS, -X, or -Z we add -ES in the third person.

 go – goes
 catch – catches

 wash – washes

 kiss – kisses

 fix – fixes

 buzz – buzzes

2. For verbs that end in a consonant + Y, we remove the Y and add -IES.

 marry – marries
 study – studies

 carry – carries
  worry – worries

NOTE: For verbs that end in a vowel + Y, we just add -S.

 play – plays
 enjoy – enjoys

 say – says

NEGATIVE FORM:

SUBJECT + DON´T / DOESN´T + VERB + COMPLEMENT

I DON´T TAKE A SHOWER EVERYDAY

SHE DOESN´T BRUSH HER TEEHT BEFORE GOING TO BED

To make a negative sentence in English we normally use Don't or Doesn't with all verbs EXCEPT To
Be and Modal verbs (can, might, should etc.).
 Affirmative: You speak French. / She speaks French
Negative: You don't speak French. / She doesn´t speak French

Affirmative: You can French.

Negative: You can´t speak French.

 Affirmative: You are good at French.

Negative: You aren´t good French.

When the subject is I, you, we or they, we add don´t between the subject and the verb. The verb never
changes. When the subject is he, she or it, we add doesn't between the subject and the verb to make a
negative sentence. Notice that the letter S at the end of the verb in the affirmative sentence (because it is
in third person) disappears in the negative sentence.

 She doesn´t speak French x She doesn´t speaks French

INTERROGATIVE FORM

WH/ DO/ DOES + SUBJECT + VERB + COMPLEMENT

WHY DO YOU TAKE A SHOWER EVERYDAY?

DOES SHE BRUSH HER TEETH BEFORE GOING TO BED?

 Short Answers with Do and Does: In questions that use do/does it is possible to give short answers to direct
questions as follows:

Short Answer Short Answer

Sample Questions
(Affirmative) (Negative)

Do you like chocolate? Yes, I do. No, I don't.

Do I need a pencil? Yes, you do. No, you don't.
Do you both like chocolate? Yes, we do. No, we don't.

However, if a question word such as who, when, where, why, which or how is used in the question, you can not
use the short answers above to respond to the question.

Answer
Sample Questions
(Affirmative)

Why do you like chocolate? Because it is delicious

LET´S PRACTICE!
I.COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH THE CORRECT FORM OF THE VERB

1.I _______________ (walk) to work every day.

2.The Chicago Bulls sometimes _________________ (practice) in this gymnasium.
3.Dr. Espinoza ___________________ (operate) according to her own schedule.
4.Coach Calhoun ____________________ (recruit) from countries outside the U.S.A.
5.We ___________ (work) really hard to make this a success, and then look what__________ ( happen)
6.Every time that kid____________ ( finish) a sandcastle, the waves __________ (come )in
and ______________ (wash) it away.
7.The shipment ___________________ (arrive) tomorrow at 2 p.m.

II. MAKE NEGATIVE SENTENCES.

1. My father makes breakfast. →

2. They are eleven. →
3. She writes a letter. →
4. I speak Italian. →
5. Danny phones his father on Sundays. →

III. Questions: Make questions.

1. you / to speak / English →
2. when / he / to go / home →
3. they / to clean / the bathroom →
4. where / she / to ride / her bike →
5. Billy / to work / in the supermarket →
 Simple Past Tense

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes,
the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

To form the past tense of Regular Verbs, we usually add ED , example : Watch -> Watched

Rules of Spelling

1. Regular verbs ending in a silent e take /-d/

Example:
close=closed
2. Regular verbs ending in a vowel + y take /-ed/
Example:
play=played

3. Regular verbs ending in a consonant + y take /-ied/ (the y becomes an i followed by /-ed/)
Example:
marry=married

4. All the other regular vebs take /-ed/

5. Example:
visit=visited

Special cases of the -ed forms: Follow these rules when there is a consonant after a vowel (stop, ban, open, offer...)

 If there is a consonant after a stressed vowel at the end of the word, double the consonant:
stop – stopped
ban - banned
swap - swapped
 If the vowel is not stressed, we do not double it:
open - opened (Here the stress is on'o', not the 'e'.)
offer - offered ( Here the stress is on 'o', not the 'e'.)

To form the past tense of Irregular Verbs, we change the verb:

Example : Go -> Went

Write -> Wrote

 AFFIRMATIVE FORM

Subject + Verb (past ) + Complement.

I read a book yesterday

They jumped from the bed.

NEGATIVE FORM:

Subject + Did not /Didn´t + Verb (inf) + Complement

I didn´t read a book yesterday

They didn´t jump from the bed.

INTERROGATIVE FORM

WH/ DID + VERB (inf) + COMPLEMENT

Why / Did you read a book yesterday?

How / Did they jump from the bed?

LET´S PRACTICE!

I. Complete the sentences with was or were.

1. I __________________ happy.
2. You ________________ angry.
3. She __________________ in London last week.
4. He __________________ on holiday.
5. It ___________________ cold.
6. We ________________ at school.
7. You ________________ at the cinema.
8. They _______________ at home.
9. The cat _________________ on the roof.
10. The children _________________ in the garden.

II. Turn the previuous sentences into negative and question forms.
1. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
6. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
7. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
8. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
9. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
10. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

III. Put the verbs into the correct form (simple past).

1. Last year I (spend) ______________________ my holiday in Ireland.

2. It (be) ________________________ great.
3. I (travel) ___________________ around by car with two friends and we (visit) ________________ lots
of interesting places.
4. In the evenings we usually (go) __________________________ to a pub.
5. One night we even (learn) ____________________ some Irish dances.
6. We (be) _______________________ very lucky with the weather.
7. It (not / rain) _________________________ a lot.
8. But we (see) _________________________ some beautiful rainbows.
9. Where (spend / you) ____________________ your last holiday?

IV. Make positive, negative and question sentences

1) I ___________________ (work) in a bank for ten years.
2) Where __________________________(you/live) when you were young?
3) She _________________________ (not/study) French at university.
4) ____________________ (they/visit) the Louvre in Paris?
5) We _________________________ (buy) a new car last weekend.
6) Where _____________________ (you/teach) before you came here?
7) He __________________________ (not/think) that he was right..
8) She _______________________ (not/write) to her grandmother.
9) They ________________________ (not/meet) yesterday.
10) He __________________________ (try) to lift the box but he couldn't.