Simple and Continuous Tenses

Grammar Point

SILENT LETTERS

Pronunciation

1. There are many silent letters in English when reading. It is better to remember such words.

e.g. lis t en, ta l k, w rite, k nife, etc.

2. As usual [r] is not pronounced after a vowel sound.

e.g. terminal [ʹtə:mɪnəl]

card [kɑ:d]

But if the word ends with r, and the next word begins with a vowel, sound [r] is pronounced.

e.g. far away [ʹfɑ:rəʹweɪ]

Ex. 11. Cross out the silent letters in the words. Listen and check.

build	height	fight
sign	island	flight
half	foreign	chalet
answer	walk	receipt
honest	know	vehicle
castle	guest	upright
highway	weigh	talk

Ex. 12. Here are some words in transcription. Write them. Mind the silent letters when writing.

[ʹkɑ:sl]	[ʹaɪlənd]	[wɜ:k]	[ʹθi:ətə]
[ʹnɔlɪʤ]	[klaɪm]	[gaɪd]	[flaɪt]
[aʊə]	[ɪnʹsaɪt]	[ʹkæmpɪη]	[weɪ]

Ex. 13. Read the phrases and sentences below. Pay attention where [r] is sounded or not? Listen and check.

for instance par excellence	number of arrivals and departures twenty per cent
there is	That place was far away.
sooner or later	I’d like to get away from the city.
What was their American dream?	We can drive about four hours.
They had their holiday cash.	They asked “Are we in the wrong country?”
Has anything gone wrong for you or for one of your friends?	They accidentally came to the wrong country for a holiday.

Ex. 14. Check if you remember Present Simple and Present Continuous: choose the correct verbs form.

1. Why are you driving / do you drive so fast? – Because, we are late.

2. Do you often travel / are you often traveling abroad? – Four or five times a year.

3. What are you looking / do you look at?

4. What do you mean / are you meaning? I don’t understand / I am not understanding.

5. 54,400 Japanese live / are leaving in Britain: 12,000 are business people, 5800 are students, and most of the rest are their families.

6. In an open-air market in Turkey, usually a tourist is admiring / admires the beautiful oriental rugs on display.

7. I have / am having a blue Toyota Camry.

8. Will you join us? We’ re having / have dinner now.

9. I am not believing / don’t believe there are evil empires and evil people.

10. He begins / is beginning to realize how difficult to be a teacher.

11. Crossing the world gets easy / is getting easy now.

STATE AND ACTIVE VERBS:

1. There are State and Action Verbs. Verbs used statively show conditions or situations that exist. Verbs used actively show action. Some verbs are basically stative and are rarely used actively. Examples of these are: want, need, like, own, belong. Other verbs are often used statively but sometimes used actively taking on different meaning. Examples of these are: have (= possess - stative) / have (= eat or drink - active), be (=exist - stative) / be (= behave - active), think (= believe - stative) / think (= work mentally - active), and the sense verbs: see, hear, taste feel, smell.

2. Most of the English verbs are used in both Simple and Continuous tenses.

e.g. She usually drives to work but today she isn’t driving she is walking.

But state verbs are not usually used in the Continuous tenses, they are used in Simple tenses. They can be used in Continuous tenses, but with the change of meaning. It is better to memorize them.

advise – советовать agree – соглашаться believe – полагать belong to – принадлежать consider – считать contain – содержать cost – стоить feel – чувствовать hate – ненавидеть have (possess) – иметь hope – надеяться inform – сообщать know – знать

like – любить, нравиться love – любить own – владеть prefer – предпочитать promise – обещать realize – понимать regret – сожалеть resemble – напоминать smell – пахнуть suggest – предлагать taste – иметь вкус think (have opinion) – полагать understand – понимать

e.g. I like black coffee.

Do you know the answer?

I enjoy traveling now.

3. When we want to emphasize that something is done repeatedly, we can use Present Continuous with words like always, constantly, continually, forever which are typical for Present Simple according to general rule. Often we do this when we want to show that we are unhappy about it.

e.g. They are constantly having parties until the early hours in the morning.

You are always complaining about her handwriting.

4. The word there shows the existence of something. It can be used with the verb to be in the past, present and future. It is only used with Simple, but with not Continuous tenses

e.g. In a Sushi restaurant in London, there are robots that serve drinks.

There have been a lot of people working there.

There were many problems in resoring the old building.

Ex. 15. Match the main clause to its dependant clause and translate the whole sentences.

There is a narrow bridge	these are too many planes, too many people, too much crime.
There is a train to the airport	connected two parts of the village.
At the airport there usually must be a duty-free	who will now be able to run their own business in Cuba.
There are the same problems at all airports	where the food and service have been unchangeable.
There were a lot of presents under the Christmas tree	running every half hour.
There are taxi drivers, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, painters, farm product salesmen, and computer programmers	lying beneath the snow of great mountain waiting for tourist who have never arrived.
There have been still plenty of cafes and restaurants	that are jammed with the number of arrival and departures
There are a number of airports	which can offer you perfume, alcohol, cigarettes, souvenirs.
There are deserted airports like Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro	wrapped up in a beautiful paper.

Ex. 16. Use Present Simple or Present Continuous with the verbs.

1. come	Alec and Mary are Scottish. They ____ from Glasgow.
	They’ll be here very soon. They ____ by car.
2. have	Lisa can’t answer the phone. She ____ a bath.
	She ____ two new pairs of jeans.
3. think	I ____ that all politicians tell lies.
	I ____ about my girlfriend. She is in New York now.
4. watch	Be quiet: I ____ my favorite program.
	I always ____ it on Monday evening.
5. smell	Dinner ____ good. What is it?
	Why ____ you ____ these roses? They’re plastic.

Ex. 17. Put the verbs in brackets into Present Simple or Present Continuous.

1. A: Why……………… … (you/smell) the soap?

B: It…………………….. (smell) lovely. It’s like roses!

2. A: Why………………… (you/taste) the soup?

B: To see if it……………… (taste) good. I think it needs more salt.

3. A: I…………………… (feel) very tired.

B: You should go to bed early.

4. A: I…………………… (see) Andy this evening.

B: I …………………….. (see). So, you don’t want to come to the cinema with me, do you?

5. A: How much…………………………………… (the bag of apples/weigh)?

B: I don’t know yet. The man…………………………… (weigh) the bag now.

6. A: I…………. (think) about buying a new car soon.

B: Why? I……………………………… (think) your car is fine.

You don’t need a new one.

7. A: What……………………………… (you/look) at?

B: The sky. It……………. (look) as if it’s going to rain.

8. A: I really………………. (enjoy) home-made food.

B: So do I, and now I………………………. (enjoy) every bit of this meal.

9. A: Why………………………….. (you/feel) the radiator?

B: It……………………………. (feel) cold in here. Is the heating on?

10. A: That famous opera singer………………………. (appear) at the opera house tonight.

B: Yes. He………………………. (appear) to be feeling better after his operation.

11. A: Chris………………………(be) a sensible person, isn’t he?

B: Yes, but in this case he……………. (be) rather foolish.

12. A: My dad………………………………. (fit) the old blind from the living room in my

bedroom today.

B: Really?.............................................. (it/fit) that window?

13. A: My back……………………………. (hurt).

B: Why don’t you lie down for a while?

Ex. 18. Correct mistakes if you find them.

e.g. The coffee is smelling wonderful – smells wonderful

1. The reason I get fat is that I’m always tasting things while I’m cooking. _______________.

2. How is Jannifer? Does her health improve? _______________.

3. Now I understand what you’re trying to say. _______________.

4. I can’t imagine why you were believing all these rumours. _______________.

5. The Prince is coming to visit, and I hear he is very rich. _______________.

6. I have great time here in England now. _______________.

7. Mathew is living in the center of the town, but this week he lives at his parents’ house in the country. _______________.

8. One of my friends has just returned from a holiday in the USA and he is now considering himself an expert on the States. _______________.

9. The airport Heathrow shares the same problems as all big airports in the world. _______________.

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