PRESENT CONTINUOUS (I am doing).

Study this example situation:

Ann is in her car. She is on her way to work.
She is driving to work.

This means: She is driving now, at the time of speaking.

The action is not finished.

Am/is/are + Vying is the present continuous:

Positive negative
I am driving. I am not driving.
He/she/it is working. He/she/it is not studying.
We/you/they are eating. We/you/they are not sleeping.
Question
Am I cooking?
Is he/she/it eating?
Are we/you/they snoring?

I am doing something = I’m in the middle of doing something; I’ve stared of doing it
And I haven’t finished yet.
Often the action is happening at the time of speaking:
 Please don’t make so much noise. I’m working. (Not I work).
 Where’s Margaret? She is having a bath. (Not she has a bath).
 Let’s go out now. It isn’t raining any more. (Not it doesn’t rain)

But the action is not necessarily happening at the time of speaking. For example:
Tom and Ann are talking in a café.
Tom says, “I’m reading an interesting book at the moment. I’ll lend it to you when
I have finished it.”

Tom is not reading the book at the time of speaking.

He means that he has started it but not finished it yet. He is in the middle of reading it.

For more example:

 Catherine wants to work in Italy, so she is learning Italian. (But perhaps
she
Isn’t learning exactly a the time of speaking.)

We use the present continuous when we talk about things happening in a period
around now. (For example: today, this week, this evening, etc.)

 You are working hard today. Yes, I have a lot of work to do.
 Is Susan working this week? No, she is on holiday.

We use the present continuous when we talk about changes happening around now:
 The population of the world is rising very fast. (Not rises.)
  Is your English getting better? (Not does your English get better.)
PRESENT SIMPLE (I do)

We use present simple to talk about things in general. We are not thinking only about
now. We use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly, or that
something is true in the general. It is not important whether the action is happening at
the time of speaking:
 Nurses look after the patients in the hospitals.
 I usually go away at weekends.
 The earth goes around the sun.
Remember that we say: he/she/it –s. don’t forget the –s:
 He works in the hospital.
 My sister sings a song.

We use do/does to make questions and negative sentences:

 Do I/we/you/they come?
 Does he/she/it go?
 I/we/you/they don’t come.
 He/she/it doesn’t go.
 I come from Canada. Where do you come from?
 Do you like a cigarette? No, thanks. I don’t smoke.

We use the present simple when we say how often we do things:

 I get up at 5.30every morning.
 How often do you go to the dentist?
 In summer, John usually plays golf once or twice a week.

The present of BE (Am/Is/Are).

Positive negative question
I am tired I am not tired am I tired?

You/we/they are lazy you/we/they are not students Are you/we/they lazy?
He/she/it is good he/she/it is not sleepy is he/she/it good?

I/you/we/they sleep. I/you/we/they do not sleep. Do I/you/we/they eat?

He/she/it eats. He/she/it doesn’t cook Does he/she/it study?
PAST SIMPLE (I did)

We use past simple when we want to express the activity, which is started and ended
in the past.
For example:
 The police stopped me last night.
 She passed her exam yesterday.
 We saw a movie last week.

The form of past simple:

Positive negative
I played tennis yesterday. You didn’t come last night.
She bought a car last year. He didn’t change his mind.
They studied math last night. We didn’t meet John last night.

Question
Did she come to school yesterday?
Did they invite us to go to their party last night?

The past of BE (was/were):

Positive Negative
I/he/she/it was in class. I/he/she/it wasn’t at home last night.
You/we/they were the winner. You/we/they weren’t there yesterday.

Question
Was I/he/she/it a student?
Were you/we/they teachers?
 PAST CONTINUOUS (I WAS DOING)

The use of past continuous is to express an activity that still in progress in the past
when another activity take place.
For example:
 I was studying English when he came.
 While they were playing tennis, it rained.
 Tom burnt his hand when he was cooking dinner.

We use past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something
at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but
had not finished.
I started doing I was doing I finished doing now

Past past now

For example:
 This time last year I was living in Brazil.
 What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night?
 I waved to her but she wasn’t looking.

Compare the past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did).
Past continuous (in the middle of actions) Past simple (complete action)
 I was walking home when I  I walked home after the party
met Dave. last night.
(= In the middle of walking home) (= All the way, completed)
 Ann was watching TV when  Ann watched TV when was ill
the phone rang. last year.

The form of past continuous:

Positive negative
I was sleeping when he came. She wasn’t studying.
We were singing when you called. You weren’t coming when it begun.

Question
Was he studying when you came?
Were they working when you inspected?
PRESENT PERFECT (I HAVE DONE)

The present prefect simple is S + HAVE/HAS + PAST PARTICIPLE (V3). The past
participle often ends in –ED (finished, decided, etc), but many important verbs are
irregular (lost, written, drunk, done, etc).

When we use present perfect there is always a connection with now. The action in the
past the result now:
 Where is your key? I don’t know. I’ve lost it. (I haven’t got it now).
 I can’t find my bag. Have you seen it? (Do you know where it is now?)

Present perfect tense expresses the idea that something happened (or never
happened) before now, at an unspecified time in the past. The exact time it
happened is not important.
 They have moved into a new apartment.
 Have you ever visited Mexico?
 I have never seen snow.
 He has already seen that movie.
 Jack hasn’t seen it yet.
Notice in the examples: the adverbs ever, never, already, yet, still, and just are
frequently used in the present perfect.

The present perfect also expresses the repetition of an activity before now. The exact
time of each repetition is not important.
 We have had four tests so far this semester.
 I have written my wife a letter every other day for the last two weeks.
 I have met many people since I came here in June.
 I have flown an airplane many times.

The present perfect, when used with for or since, also expresses a situation that began
in the past and continues to the present.
 I have been here since seven o’clock.
 We have been here for two hours.
 She has known him for many years.
In the examples, notice the difference between since and for:
Since a particular of time.
For a duration of time.

The form of present perfect:

Positive negative
I/you/we/they have bought books. I/you/we/they have not understood.
He/she/it has gone there. He/she/it has not finished.
Question
Have I/you/we/they got the present?
 Has he/she/it arrived?

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

This tense is used to indicate the duration of an activity that began in the past and
continues to the present or it’s used for an activity that has recently stopped or just
stopped. There is connection with now.
Right now I am sitting at my desk.
 I have been sitting here since seven o’clock.
 I have been sitting here for two hours.
 It has been raining all day. It still raining right now.
 You’re out of breath. Have you been running? (You’re out of breath
now).
 Paul is very tired. He has been working very hard. (He’s tired now).

Notice: When the tense has this meaning, it is used with the time words, such as for,
since, all morning, all day, all week.

When the tense is used without any specific mention time, it expresses a
general activity in progress recently, lately.
 I have been thinking about you lately.
 All students have been studying hard. Final exam starts next week.

You can use the present perfect progressive for actions repeated over period of
time:
 I have been going there many times.
 Doty is very good in golf. He has been playing since he was eight.

The form of present perfect continues:

Positive negative
S + HAVE/HAS + BEEN + VING. S + HAVE/HAS + NOT + BEEN + VING
I/you/we/they have been playing. I/you/we/they have not been studying.
He/she/it has been watching. He/she/it has not been snoring.

Question
HAVE/HAS + S + BEEN + VING?
Have I/you/we/they been living there?
Has he/she/it been studying?