The Simple Present Tense

A. Use
1) A Fact
The earth goes round the sun.
I am Chinese and I come from Hong Kong.
Tomorrow is Monday.

2) A State
I live in Hong Kong.
Jenny works in a post-office.
Jason is very lazy.

3) A regular Repeated Action

I play basketball twice a week.
We travel to Europe every Christmas.
The children always swim in this river.

4) State Verbs
I always love ice-cream.
Cats hate mice.
This coat belongs to me now.
(Think, decide, realize, understand, remember, forget, love, like, hate, dislike, enjoy,
own, owe, cost, want, believe, look, know, need, win)

5) Something on a time-table
What time does your train leave tomorrow?
The last flight to France leaves in one hour.
The football match starts at nine tomorrow night.

B. Time guides
Always, often, usually, constantly, sometimes, never, seldom, rarely, every day, every
summer, once a month, all the time, etc.

1
Simple Present & Present Continuous
C. Exercise

Circle the time guides and complete the following with the Simple Present Tense of the

verb given in brackets.

1. My friend doesn’t like Paris. He ______________ (speak) French.

2. Most students live quite close to college, so they _____________(walk) there.

3. I have four cats and two dogs. I ______________ (love) animals.

4. Matthew is good at badminton. He ______________ (win) every game.

5. The first plane to Taiwan ______________ (fly) at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

6. Miss Wong always ______________ (do) her shopping at Park’n Shop.

7. The football match _________________ (begin) at eight tonigh.

8. Archie always ______________ (sleep) on the sofa if he works late.

9. The first train to Beijing ______________ (leave) at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

10. I ______________ (play) volleyball twice a week.

11. Nobody ______________ (dare) to live in that house.

12. The first train from Szechen next Monday ______________ (arrive) at eleven at night.

13. Rita: ___________________ (like, you) football, Tom?

Tom: ___________________ (love, I) it. _________________ (go, I) to football matches.

Nick usually ______________ (come) with me. ___________________ (like, you)

football, Rita?

Rita: I _________________ (like, not) football very much – big guys running after a ball. I

never understand why _________________ (take, you) it so seriously.

14. Steve __________________ (drink, not) four cups of coffee a day. He ______________

(drink) four glasses of milk a day.

15. ________________________ (sleep, you, usually) eight hours a day? I myself

__________________ (sleep. never) more than six hours every night.

16. Mr and Mrs. Woo ______________ (be, not) doctors, they ______________ (be) dog-

catches.

2
Simple Present & Present Continuous
17. When ______________ (be) the first train to Beijing next Tuesday?

18. ____________________________ (begin, the football match) at six this evening?

19. Lucy ____________ (love) Jack so mch that she ____________ ( prefer) to die without

him.

20. ________________________ (sleep, you, usually) eight hours a day? I myself

__________________ (sleep. never) more than six hours every night.

21. Mr and Mrs. Woo ______________ (be, not) doctors, they ___________ (be) dog-catches.

22. When ______________ (be) the first train to Beijing next Tuesday?

23. ____________________________ (begin, the football match) at six this evening?

24. Lucy ______________ (love) Jack so much that she ______________ (prefer) to die

without him.

3
Simple Present & Present Continuous
 The Present Continuous Tense
A. Use
1) Actually in Progress
Look! The cat is chasing the mouse.
Please be quiet. The children are sleeping.

2) Generally in Progress
She is doing her revision the whole morning.

3) A temporary Situation
He is living with me until he finds a flat.
I'm working in London for the next two weeks.

4) A Changing Situation
These days most people are using email instead of writing letters.
The climate is changing rapidly.
Your English is improving.

5) A Personal Future Arrangement

Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?

B. Time guides
Now, at the moment, at present, today, tonight, this morning/afternoon/evening, this
week/month/year, while, etc.

4
Simple Present & Present Continuous
C. Exercise

Circle the time guides and complete the following with the The Present Continuous of the

verb given in brackets.

1. Look. She ____________________ (watch) us.

2. We ____________________ (stay) in Paris this week.

3. My sister is not here. She ____________________ (do) the shopping.

4. Please, stop! You ____________________ (sing) so loudly!

5. It's 9 o'clock and I ____________________ (read) a book.

6. Where is Sam? He ____________________ (mend) his car.

7. Paul, where are you? I ____________________ (wait) outside the school.

8. Sarah and Sue ____________________ (play) in the street at the moment.

9. Debbie ____________________ (decorate) her flat in York these days.

10. Luke is in the bathroom. He ____________________ (take) a shower.

11. The sun ____________________ (shine) and we are sunbathing.

12. Johnny ____________________ (play) with his friends in the gym with his friends now.

13. Kayla ____________________ (not do) her morning exercise now. She

____________________ (sleep) in her bed.

14. The children ____________________ (swim) in the river right now. I don’t think it is safe.

15. Hey Philip! Where ____________ you ____________ (go)? To the new amusement park?

16. _______________ Amber and Judy _________________ (ride) their bicycles at the

moment?

17. Who ____________________ (vacuum) the floor right now?

18. I ____________________ (try) to read my book here.

19. My mother ____________________ (cook) steak and rice while my father

____________________ (make) some fresh lemonade in the kitchen at the moment.

5
Simple Present & Present Continuous
20. My grandfather ____________________ (plant) an olive tree in the garden and I

____________________ (watch) him.

21. Someone ____________________ (knock) the door. Can you open it, please?

22. Alan and Beverly ____________________ (pick) daisies for their grandmother in the

meadow right now.

23. _______________Noah’s father __________________ (wash) his truck in front of the

house at the moment?

24. Who ____________________ (look after) little Jacqueline while you are here?

25. We ____________________ (eat) hamburgers and chips here in the dining room. Come

and eat with us.

26. The detective ___________________ (look for) something at the crime scene at the

moment.

27. Mr. Cooper ________________ (repair) a sports car in his garage now. Its gearbox is

broken.

28. It ____________________ (not rain) outside. Why _____________ you

_________________ (take) your umbrella with you?

29. My father ____________________ (build) a tree house for me and my brother, Billy. We

____________________ (help) him at the moment.

30. Sir, a woman ____________________ (wait for) you in the lobby. She is

____________________ (wear) a polka dot dress and a funny hat.

31. Judy and Grace ____________________ (not do) their homework, but they

____________________ (listen) to music and ____________________ (dance) in their

room right now.

32. The students ____________________ (not skip) rope. They ____________________

(play) hopscoth in the garden.

33. All the family members ____________________ (share) the housework. I

____________________ (clean) the toilet while my brother ____________________

6
Simple Present & Present Continuous
 (mop) the floor. My father ____________________ (do) the ironing and my mother and

sister ____________________ (wash) the dishes.

7
Simple Present & Present Continuous
D. Exercise

Complete the following with the Simple Present or Present Continuous.

1. __________________________ (believe, you) in God?

2. What ____________________ (think, you), Jane? You look upsent.

3. Susan ____________________ (look) a bit absent-minded these days.

I ____________________ (wonder) what ____________________ (trouble) her.

4. What ____________________ (think, you) about the new Hong Kong Central library?

It ____________________ (look) rather unattractive to me.

5. Lisa ____________________ (share) my room now. She ____________________ (stay)

with me until she ____________________ (find) a flat.

6. The first plane to Tokyo _____________________ (take off) at 7.00 am tomorrow.

7. Food ____________________(get) more and more expensive recently.

8. “_______________________________ (go, Fred, always) to work by train?”

“No, he ____________________ (do, not). He usually ____________________ (take) the

bus but he ____________________ (take) the train today.

9. Joanna _____________________________ (borrow, forever) money from her parents.

10. Why _________________________________ (forget, always, you) to do your

homework? It’s the third time this week.

11. Let’s go out now. It ____________________ (rain, not) now though it always

____________________ (rain) in the summer here.

12. Listen! The wind ____________________ (get) much stronger now.

13. Sam and I ____________________ (go, not) anywhere this Christmas.

14. ______________________________ (be, the sun) a star?

15. Johnny ______________________________ (get up, not, usually) before ten o’clock in

the morning but these days he ____________________ (get up) rather early.

16. The company’s financial situation ____________________ (be) rather bad already but it

____________________ (become) worse this month.

8
Simple Present & Present Continuous
17. “Excuse me, I ____________________ (look for) the public phone.

____________________ (be, there) one nearby?”

18. Linda ____________________ (complain, always) about her boss.

I ____________________ (wonder) why she ____________________ (find, not) a new

job.

19. Mum usually ____________________ (eat) three meals a day bit she

____________________ (eat) one meal this week. She ____________________ (try) to

lose some weight.

20. My parents ____________________ (fly) to Europe this Saturday. They

____________________ (stay) my uncle’s house while they ____________________

(travel) in Italy. My uncle ____________________ (live) there.

21. My father’s flight ____________________ (arrive) at five tomorrow evening.

22. Julia ____________________ (stay) with me until her parents come back next month.

23. I never ____________________ (eat) sweets but I ____________________ (eat) a lot of

chocolate today. I _______________________ (understand, not) myself.

24. Peter ____________________ (come) from Russia. He’s Russian.

25. _______________________________ (enjoy, you) watching television?

26. “Hi, Maggie, what ____________________ (do, you) at the moment?

____________________ (have, you) friends with you? It ____________________ (be)

very noisy.

“I’m sorry. Yes, I’ve a lot of friends here. We ____________________ (have) a party now.

The food ____________________ (be) good and the music ____________________ (be)

wonderful.”

“_____________________________ (enjoy, you) yourself?”

“Oh, yes. I ____________________ (enjoy) every minute of it.”

27. I ____________________ (see) the dentist this afternoon. I ____________________

(have) a very bad toothache.

9
Simple Present & Present Continuous
28. James ____________________ (go, not, usually) out for dinner but he

____________________ (eat out) with me tonight.

29. My aunt ____________________ (come) to Hong Kong next Tuesday. She

____________________ (stay) with us until 15th October.

30. My sister ____________________________ (complain, forever) about her boss though it’s

true that she ____________________ (working) like a dog these days.

31. The waterfall ____________________ (dry up) rapidly recently. My husband and I

____________________ (do) a research on it at present. We ____________________ (fly)

there early tomorrow.

32. The first place to Nanjing ____________________ (take off) at half past eight tomorrow.

33. James ____________________ (come) to our wedding tomorrow. He’s just called me.

10
Simple Present & Present Continuous