Catholic University of Mozambique

Distance Education Institute

Simple Sentence
Present Simple Tense

Minós Moisés Curcundes Navaia, code: 708215357

Course: Informatics
Discipline: English
Year of attendance: 2022

Nampula, May 2022

Index
 2

Introduce....................................................................................................................3
Simple Sentence.........................................................................................................4
Concept......................................................................................................................4
Present Simple............................................................................................................5
Rule of Simple Present Tense....................................................................................6
Positive Form.............................................................................................................6
Examples with positive form.....................................................................................6
Positive with verb 'be'................................................................................................6
Present simple tense with other verbs........................................................................6
Examples:...................................................................................................................7
Negative Sentences in the Simple Present Tense.......................................................7
Negative form with verb to “be”................................................................................7
Negative form with other verbs..................................................................................7
Negative Contractions................................................................................................7
Short Answers with Do and Does..............................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................9
Bibliographic references..........................................................................................10

2
 3

Introduce
The present work of the English course, which has as its theme simple sentence and
concretely present simple tense, which during the development will be wrapped in
definition, rules, forms and examples of subject in question.

Thus, the present work is structured in pre-textual, textual and post-textual elements.

The present work aims to:

 Describe the simple sentence and present simple tense, as well as their forms, rules,
usage and examples.

Of these forms, for the accomplishment of the present work was used the
bibliographical research and documented in pdf and articles.

During the course of the theme, the simple tense will be defined and form, uses and
examples of the present simple tense will be developed.

It is known that present simple tense is a usual form and daily customs that people use
for their everyday purposes.

3
 4

Simple Sentence

Concept
A simple sentence is a sentence that consists of just one independent clause. A simple
sentence has no dependent clauses. (An independent clause (unlike a dependent clause)
can stand alone as a sentence.)

A simple sentence is an independent clause that conveys a single, complete thought.

Unlike a complex sentence, a simple sentence does not contain dependent or
subordinate clauses.
A simple sentence contains a subject (a person or thing performing an action) and a
predicate (a verb or verbal phrase that describes the action) and expresses a complete
thought as an independent clause. Simple sentences do not contain dependent or
subordinate clauses.

It can be short or long, like in the follow examples:.

Short simple sentence: The cat mewed.

 I cannot drink warm milk.

 Chris waited for the bus.
 The bus was very late

Long simple sentence: Walking first this side and then that, the small pretty cat with a
red collar mewed softly at her owner from the outside of the house.

A simple sentence is not always a short, basic sentence like the four examples shown
above. A simple sentence could have a compound subject (i.e., a subject with two or
more simple subjects). For example:

 Jack likes walking. (This is a simple sentence with one simple subject ("Jack")
 Jack and Jill like walking. (This is a simple sentence with a compound subject
made up of two simple subjects "Jack" and "Jill").

4
 5

Present Simple
Present Tense can be defined as an expression for an activity that is currently in action
or is habitually performed. It is used for a state that generally exists or is currently on
going.

We use the Present Simple to talk about things that we do every day, usually, etc.

We often use adverbs of frequency like sometimes, always and never with the present

simple:

Examples: I sometimes go to the cinema. She never plays football.

The present tense is the base form of the verb:

I work in Nampula. 
But with the third person singular (she/he/it), we add an –s:

She works in Namina.
Use
We use Present Simple to describe an action that is regular, true or normal.
 1. We use the present simple tense for activities that happen again and again
(everyday, sometimes, ever, never).
Examples:
a) I sometimes go to school by bike.
b) I play football every weekend
c) I'm nineteen years old.
 2. We use it for facts that are always true, or else, for things that are always /
generally true.
Examples:
a) Our planet moves round the sun. b) Lions eat meat.
c) The human body contains 206 bones d) Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometres
per second.
 3. With a future time expression (tomorrow, next week) it is used for planned
future actions (timetables).
Examples:
a) The train leaves at 8.15. b) They return tonight.
Form of present simple
The present simple has the following shape:

5
 6

Subject + simple verb + object

Rule of Simple Present Tense

Simple Present Tense

Singular Plural

Rule: Subject + V1 + s/es + Object Rule: Subject + V1 + Object

Example: The girl sings a song Example: The girls sing a song

Here the subject is Girl (singular) Here the subject is Girls (plural) and no
and “s” has been added to the verb changes have been made with V1 (first
(sing), followed by the object (song) form of verb) and the object

Positive Form
Here's the positive form (positive means a normal sentence, not a negative or a
question).

Examples with positive form:

Positive with verb 'be'

Positive

I am/you are/ he is/she is/ it is /we are/ they are

Positive Short Form

I'm/you're/he's/she's/it's we're
/they're
For example: I am student. He/she is intelligent. It/ is a beautiful. You/we/ they are
good students.

Present simple tense with other verbs

The positive is really easy. It's just the verb with an extra 's' if the subject is 'he', 'she',
or 'it'.
6
 7

Don’t forget: in the third person we add 'S' in the third person.

Subject Verb The Rest of the sentence

I / you / we / they speak / learn
he / she / it speaks / learns English at home
Examples: Mina brushes her teeth twice a day.
The spelling for the verb in the third person differs depending on the ending of that
verb:
1. For verbs that end in -O, -CH, -SH, -SS, -X, or -Z we add -ES in the third
person.
 go – goes  catch – catches  wash – washes  kiss – kisses
 fix – fixes  buzz – buzzes
2. For verbs that end in a consonant + Y, we remove the Y and add -IES.
 marry – marries study – studies carry – carries worry – worries
NOTE: For verbs that end in a vowel + Y, we just add -S.
 play – plays enjoy – enjoys

Examples:
a) The President of The Mozambique lives in The White House.
b) Dog has four legs.

Negative Sentences in the Simple Present Tense

Negative form with verb to “be”

For verb to be, you only add 'not'.

Negative: I am not/ you are not/ he is not/ she is not/ it is not/ we are not/ they are not

Negative short form: I'm not/ you aren't/ he isn't/she isn't/ it isn't/ we aren't/ they aren't

Examples: I am not Mozambican. You/we/ they aren't important. He/she/it is not

respectful.

Negative form with other verbs

To make a negative sentence in English we normally use Don't or Doesn't with all
verbs except To Be and Modal verbs (can, might, should etc.).

7
 8

Negative Contractions
Don't = Do not Doesn't = Does not
Subject don't/doesn't The Rest of the
Verb* sentence
I / you / we / they don't have / buy /eat / Cereal for
he / she / it doesn't like etc. breakfast

* Verb: The verb that goes here is the base form of the infinitive = The infinitive
without TO before the verb. Instead of the infinitive To have it is just the have part.
Affirmative: You speak Portuguese.
Negative: You don't speak Portuguese.
You will see that we add don't between the subject and the verb. We use Don't when
the subject is I, you, we or they.
Affirmative: He speaks macua.
Negative: He doesn't speak macua.

When the subject is he, she or it, we add doesn't between the subject and the verb to
make a negative sentence. Notice that the letter S at the end of the verb in the
affirmative sentence (because it is in third person) disappears in the negative sentence.
Examples of Negative Sentences with Don't and Doesn't:
a) You don't speak Arabic.
b) Saman doesn't speak Italian.

Short Answers with Do and Does

In questions that use do/does it is possible to give short answers to direct questions as
follows:

Short Answer Short Answer

Sample Questions (Affirmative) (Negative)
Do you like chocolate? Yes, I do. No, I don't.
Do I need a pencil? Yes, you do. No, you don't.
Do you both like chocolate? Yes, we do. No, we don't.
Do they like chocolate? Yes, they do. No, they don't.
Does he like chocolate? Yes, he does. No, he doesn't.
Does she like chocolate? Yes, she does. No, she doesn't.

8
 9

Does it have four wheels? Yes, it does. No, it doesn't.

Conclusion
Having done several researches and documented readings on the subject simple
sentence e o present simple tense, which had as objective to: describe the simple
sentence and present simple tense, as well as their forms, rules, usage and examples, had
the following conclusions:

A simple sentence is a sentence that consists of just one independent clause. A simple

sentence has no dependent clauses. (An independent clause (unlike a dependent clause)
can stand alone as a sentence). And Present Tense can be defined as an expression for
an activity that is currently in action or is habitually performed. It is used for a state that
generally exists or is currently on going.

A simple sentence is the first structure of the text and it's consists of an independent
clause, which means that it contains a subject, a verb and a completed thought. 

We use the Present Simple to talk about things that we do every day, usually, etc.

We often use adverbs of frequency like sometimes, always and never with the present

simple.

The present simple has as form: Subject + simple verb + object

The present simple in the positive form is really easy. It's just the verb with an extra's' if
the subject is 'he', 'she', or 'it'.

To make a negative sentence in English we normally use Don't (for I, you, we and they)
or Doesn't (for 'he', 'she', or 'it') with all verbs except To Be and Modal verbs (can,
might, should etc.).

9
 10

Bibliographic references
Julian, P. (2013). Grammer in present tense and kinds of sentences. (4th ed). Brasil:
reality times.

Roy, A. G. (2010). Look for Tenses and past.(2nd Ed). São Paulo: PearsonEducation of
the Brasil

10