week 4

Hello there,
Hope you are enjoying your weekend and thinking about English!
This week's grammar etc.

We looked at the Present Simple (questions, Negs., statements) and the use of frequency adverbs.


Frequency adverbs and phrases

Always
Usually
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Never

Position in the Present Simple:
S adverb V
She always arrives late. He often goes to the cinema.
They rarely eat meat.

With the verb “to be”
S “to be” adverb
She is sometimes late. cp She always arrives late.
They are often hungry.

Expressions indicating frequency go at the end of the sentence or at the beginning.
Once a month, Twice a week, three times a day.
We have English classes three times a week.
Three times a week, we have English lessons.

How often do you have English classes?



Then we looked at the Present Continuous tense.
Remember we use it for actions or situations that are happening at this moment

Past …………………………………………..now…………………………………future
I’m working
He’s playing

FORM
STATEMENT : SUBJECT “TO BE” V +ING
He’s watching TV in the other room!
They are playing tennis at the moment!
QUESTIONS: “TO BE” SUBJECT V+ ING
Is he watching the match?
What are you doing?
NEGATIVES: SUBJECT “TO BE + not” V +ING
The students aren’t listening to the teacher!
Mike isn’t eating anything! He isn’t feeling well!
Remember that we normally don’t use STATIVE (verbs expressing general conditions NOT actions) in this tense. We don’t say “I’m NOT knowing the answer!”
Verbs like ; like love agree matter mean…
Some verbs can be used with STATIVE and DYNAMIC meanings.
I have green eyes cp. I’m having lunch!”

ALSO remember that these are only guidelines and NOT rules – often in poetry or advertising STATIVE verbs may be used for effect!!! THINK……..i’M LOVING IT.

PAST CONTINUOUS
This tense is used to talk about an action or a situation that was in progress in the past.
FORM
STATEMENT : SUBJECT “TO BE (PAST TENSE)” V +ING
He was watching TV in the other room!
They were playing tennis at 5 pm yesterday.
QUESTIONS: “TO BE+ Past Tense” SUBJECT V+ ING
Was he watching the match when you phoned?
What were you doing at 9 o’clock last night?
NEGATIVES: SUBJECT “TO BE(PAST TENSE) + not” V +ING
The students weren’t listening to the teacher!

Remember that quite often we make a contrast between the action in progress (PAST CONTINUOUS) and the action that interrupted it. (PAST SIMPLE) .The two clauses are joined with WHILE or sometimes WHEN-
Past ------------------------------------X-----------------------------------------FUTURE
the bell rang
--------------------Sue was having a shower (when)--------------------------------------------

While Sue was having a shower , the bell rang.
The bell rang while Sue was having a shower.

Sue was having a shower when the bell rang.
When Sue was having a shower the bell rang.

Remember that the PAST CONTINUOUS is quite often used to set the scene when you are telling a story.

John was having a shower yesterday morning. It was a beautiful day… the sun was shining, the birds were singing. John was feeling really happy and he was singing too! All of a sudden the phone rang…
As regards speaking we obviously practiced using these tenses and then we learnt how to describe a wedding and also to talk about a picture of a wedding.

Well bye for now! SallyD