Question

1 Put the verbs in brackets into the present simple or the present continuous.
Hi Isabel,
university here. I 2)
I'm in the beautiful city of Oxford. I 1). am studying.. (study) German and Russian at the
(find) both languages interesting but German
****
3)
(be) more difficult. All the other students on the course 4)
(feel) the same way, too. We 5)
This week, we 6).
17)
8)
9)
*****
....
(meet) once a week to discuss the lectures.
(go) to the theatre in London to see a play.
(stay) on the campus for the moment but a few of us
(look) for a house to share. The food in the halls
(not/be) very good, so we usually 10)
(have) lunch at a restaurant nearby.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Take care,
Bill
4
2
3

Answer 1

Răspuns:

1. Hi Isabel,

I'm in the beautiful city of Oxford. I am studying German and Russian at the university here. I find both languages interesting but German is more difficult. All the other students in the course feel the same way, too. We meet once a week to discuss the lectures.

This week we are going to the theatre in London to see a play.

I am staying at the campus for the moment but a few of us are looking for a house to share. The food in the halls aren't very good, so we usually have lunch at a restaurant nearby.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Take care,

Bill

Explicație:

The simple present tense is used:

To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes:

I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a large city (general truth)

To give instructions or directions:

You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.

To express fixed arrangements, present or future:

Your exam starts at 09.00

To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until:

He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.

Be careful! The simple present is not used to express actions happening now.

Examples

For habits

He drinks tea at breakfast.

She only eats fish.

They watch television regularly.

For repeated actions or events

We catch the bus every morning.

It rains every afternoon in the hot season.

They drive to Monaco every summer.

For general truths

Water freezes at zero degrees.

The Earth revolves around the Sun.

Her mother is Peruvian.

For instructions or directions

Open the packet and pour the contents into hot water.

You take the No.6 bus to Watney and then the No.10 to Bedford.

For fixed arrangements

His mother arrives tomorrow.

Our holiday starts on the 26th March

With future constructions

She'll see you before she leaves.

We'll give it to her when she arrives.

------

Present Continuous:

The present continuous tense is a grammatical tense that can be used to describe when an action happened, or may happen. You can use it to describe both events that are happening in the present – right now, while you are talking about something, or in the future – something that may or will happen later on.

You use the present continuous by using the present form of the verb “be” + the present participle of a verb.

Thing that are happening now

You can use the present continuous to describe immediate events taking place in the current moment:

Eg. “She is eating dinner right now and cannot answer the phone.”

You can also use it in the same way for the negative form:

Eg. “They’re not watching TV at the moment.”

Temporary events

For longer actions that may be taking place for a temporary period only, you can use the present continuous tense to describe them. It can be used for any temporary situation, no matter how long or short it is.

Eg. “He’s studying a new language at the moment.”

A new pattern or habit

A really interesting way of using the present continuous tense is to describe events or actions that are new and different from events in the past. In this case, the tense can be used to highlight the contrast between the old and new.

Eg. “These days, people are writing emails a lot less than they used to a few years ago.”

It can also be used to describe a regular habit that someone has – whether it is a good habit, or a bad one!

Eg. “You’re always running late with all your deadlines!”

Future plans

When describing something that will take place in the future, the present continuous tense can be used when you are discussing something that is already discussed or planned ahead.

Eg. “When we arrive at the airport, we are taking a private car direct to the hotel.”