Unit 12 : The Present Continuous Tense

1)    The Present Continuous Tense consists of te present tense form o the verb ‘to be’ + verb + ‘ing’ (am/is/are + verb+ ‘ing’).

Examples :

Subject	Present tense of ‘to be’	Continuous form
I	am	running
You	are	waiting
She/ He/It	is	crawling
We/You/They	are	studying

2)    The Present Continuous Tense is used :

a)    To show that an action is still going on at time of speaking.

Examples :

Someone is knocking at the door. Can you see who it is?

The bus is leaving! Hurry! We can still catch it.

b)    To describe a temporary activity.

Examples :

The river is overflowing as the rain continues to pour heavily.

His condition is improving day by day.

c)    For events in the future.

Examples :

We are flying to Italy tomorrow.

I am walking to school from next week.

3)    The Present Continuous Tense is formed in the following ways.

a)    Adding ‘-ing’ to a verb without changing the spelling of the base verb.

Examples :

Beat-beating             catch-catching                     hurry-hurrying

b)    If the verb ends with ‘-e’, replace the ‘-e’ with ‘-ing’.

Examples :

Come-coming            ride-riding                  use-using

c)    If the verb ends with a single vowel + a single consonant, double the final consonant and add ‘-ing’.

Examples :

Run-running                        get-getting                 sit-sitting

Examples :

1)    We __________ for Hong Kong tomorrow.

a)    are leaving

b)    are leave

c)    are left

d)    leaves

2)    He __________ the horse to town.

a)    are ride

b)    is riding

c)    is rides

d)    rode

3)    I __________ for a new pair of shoes. What are you shopping for ?

a)    shop

b)    shopped

c)    is shopping

d)    am shopping

4)    The girls __________ now. Could you come back later, please?

a)    sleep

b)    sleeps

c)    is sleeping

d)    are sleeping

5)    It _________ heavily outside so we cannot go out now.

a)    rained

b)    is raining

c)    are raining

d)    am raining

6)    I __________ a book from the library tomorrow.

a)    borrows

b)    borrowed

c)    is borrowing

d)    am borrowing

7)    The train _________ the railway station now.

a)    left

b)    leaves

c)    leaving

d)    is leaving

8)    My mother _________ a cake in the kitchen. Please hold on while I call her.

a)    bake

b)    baked

c)    baking

d)    is baking

9)    The lions ___________ a helpless deer.

a)    attack

b)    attacking

c)    is attacking

d)    are attacking

10)  They __________ happily now but only s few minutes ago they were arguing.

a)    laughs

b)    laughed

c)    is laughing

d)    are laughing

Unit 11 : The Simple Past Tense

1)    We use the Simple Past Tense to show a past action at a definite point in time.

Examples :

She baked a cake every day.

2)    Except for the auxiliary verbs (was and were), the Simple Past verb is not effected by number. Past Tense verbs do not have singular or plural forms.

3)    To form the past tense of verbs, ‘-ed’ or ‘-d’ is added to regular verbs.

Examples :

Regular verbs	Past Tense	Regular verbs	Past Tense
Work	Worked	Light	Lighted
Kick	kicked	pull	Pulled

4)    The Simple Past Tense form for the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ is as follows :

Auxiliary verb	Simple Past Tense
	Singular subject	Plural subject
am/is	was	-
are	-	were

Examples :

Singular subjects	was at the library this morning.
I He She It The girl
Plural subjects	were at the library yesterday.
We You They The girls

Exercises :

1)    Someone ____________ for you an hour ago.

a)    call

b)    calls

c)    to call

d)    called

2)    We __________ Scrabble last night, we had a fun time, din’t we?

a)    play

b)    plays

c)    to play

d)    played

3)    It ___________ heavily two days ago but the garden is still muddy.

a)    rain

b)    rains

c)    to rain

d)    rained

4)    What _________ you say to her yesterday?

a)    do

b)    did

c)    does

d)    to do

5)    Last weekend my friends and I ____________ to Bukit Besar.

a)    hike

b)    hikes

c)    hiked

d)    hiking

6)    The police __________ a man trying to break into my neighbour’s house yesterday.

a)    catch

b)    caught

c)    catches

d)    catching

7)    My brother __________ last night from Penang on the last bus.

a)    arrive                                       c) arrived

b)    arrives                                     d) to arrive

8)    My uncle and his family _________ in this house several years ago.

a)    lives

b)    lived

c)    living

d)    to live

9)    The water in the lake _______ last night.

a)    froze

b)    freezes

c)    freezing

d)    To freeze

10)  The postman _________ these letters a few minutes ago.

a)    deliver

b)    delivers

c)    delivered

d)    delivering