Present, Past Tenses, Vocabulary, and Grammar in English

Posted on Jan 19, 2025 in English

Present Continuous

The present continuous tense describes actions happening at this moment, near-future events, or temporary situations. It is formed with the verb “to be” + -ing. Indicators include now, at the moment, tomorrow, tonight, this weekend, these days.

  • Tomas is studying English.
  • I am writing a song.
  • Is Sara listening to music?
  • Tom and Mary are playing tennis.
  • The children aren’t running.
  • What are you doing?
  • This semester, they are having four lessons a week.

AM (I) – ARE (you, they, we) – IS (she, he, it) + Verb -ING

Present Simple

The present simple tense describes habitual actions, routines, permanent states, and established schedules. Indicators include always, sometimes, often, usually, never, every day, week, month, year, on Saturdays, weekends.

  • They play football. / Susan plays football.
  • They don’t play football. / Susan doesn’t play tennis.
  • Do they play football? / Does Susan play tennis?
  • The cat drinks milk.
  • Those men study at the CCD with me.
  • Helen doesn’t watch TV.
  • Do you live in Santiago?
  • Where does the doctor work?
  • We don’t like horror films.
  • Classes finish at 10:40 PM.

Present Simple and Present Continuous

  1. My mom is cooking at the moment.
  2. Tom and Ann work in a pub on weekends.
  3. How often do they go to classes?
  4. We are going to Susan’s party tonight.
  5. I am working now.
  6. We don’t usually watch TV.
  7. I am visiting you tomorrow.
  8. Peter always listens to music.
  9. She doesn’t play every day.
  10. My sister and I are meeting at the cinema at 9 tonight.
  11. The film starts at 9:30.
  12. Are you coming to my party this Friday?

Past Simple

The past simple tense describes completed actions in the past. Remember that regular and irregular verbs, as well as the verb “to be”, have different rules.

  1. David was in his office.
  2. They didn’t go to the party last Saturday.
  3. We weren’t happy to hear the news.
  4. What did you do yesterday?
  5. I had a difficult test last week.
  6. She played the piano beautifully at the concert.
  • TO GO | WENT | IR | WAS: HE, SHE, IT
  • TO BUY | BOUGHT | COMPRAR | WERE: YOU, THEY, WE
  • TO HAVE | HAD | TENER
  • TO BE | WAS/WERE | SER O ESTAR

Vocabulary

  1. Tigers, rhinos, lions, and eagles are wild animals.
  2. The Amazon is a jungle.
  3. In Santiago, we have a river in the middle of the city. Its name is Mapocho.
  4. The Sahara is a desert.
  5. To die out is a synonym of “to extinguish”.
  6. In the South of Chile, there are lots of lakes. “Todos los Santos” is one of my favorites.
  7. The word “smog” is a mix of the words smoke and fog.
  8. Lots of habitats are disappearing because humans are cutting down trees.
  9. Eagles, parrots, macaws, and doves are birds.

Connectors

Complete the sentences using the appropriate connector: as, when, but, then, and, so, because.

  1. I don’t like your idea because I think we don’t have enough time.
  2. This is one of my favorite books because it’s interesting and exciting.
  3. We didn’t have much money, so we had to go by bus.
  4. We were listening to the radio when we heard the bad news.
  5. She drives very well, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have a car.
  6. He was listening to his favorite CD as he was driving home.
  7. First, he packed everything, and then he called a taxi.

Modal Verbs

Complete the sentences using “have to”, “don’t have to”, “mustn’t”, “should”, or “shouldn’t”.

  1. In some offices, workers don’t have to wear formal clothes on Fridays. They can wear jeans.
  2. You mustn’t drive a car if you have drunk alcohol.
  3. If you want to learn, you should pay attention in classes.
  4. In Chile, you have to be 18 years old to buy alcohol.
  5. You shouldn’t use your cell phones in classes.
  • HAVE TO: TIENE QUE
  • DON’T HAVE TO: NO TIENE QUE
  • MUSTN’T: NO DEBE
  • SHOULD: DEBERÍA
  • SHOULDN’T: NO DEBERÍA

Endangered Animals

Discuss each picture using these notes below:

  • Type of animal: mammal, reptile, amphibian, etc.
  • Natural habitat: land, jungle, forest, woodlands, prairie, mountains, water, pond, river, lake, wetlands, ocean, etc.
  • Endangered by: hunting/fishing – for food, for its fur, as pets; habitat changes – fires, cutting down trees, pollution, building houses/roads/fences.

Chimpanzees are mammals that live in forests. They are endangered because their habitat is destroyed when the forests they live in are cut down. People also hunt them for food or to sell as pets.