Review exercise

1. This wood will make a good hiding place.

2. She was made to repeat the whole story.
3. They lived many miles from the town.
4. The government seems to change its mind a great deal.
5. In the two weeks in the job he made himself thoroughly disliked.
6. Can you make me a birthday cake by Monday?
7. Alice and James got married last week.
8. After three very unhappy years, they divorced.
9. I have been married to you for twenty years and I still don’t
understand you.
10. I couldn’t think clearly, and I felt hot.
11. The manager says that we may leave our coats in the bathroom.
12. The rain made the grass wet.
Answers

1. This wood will make a good hiding place. Here hiding is an adjective.
2. She was made to repeat the whole story. Here story is a noun.
3. They lived many miles from the town. Which of the following is the
preposition? From
4. The government seems to change its mind a great deal. Here seems is
a verb.
5. In the two weeks in the job he made himself thoroughly disliked. Here
thoroughly is an adverb.
6. Can you make me a birthday cake by Monday? Here me is a pronoun.
7. Alice and James got married last week. Here last week is an adverb.
8. After three very unhappy years, they divorced. Here after is a
conjunction.
9. I have been married to you for twenty years and I still don’t
understand you. Here twenty is an adjective.
10. I couldn’t think clearly, and I felt hot. Here felt is a verb.
11. The manager says that we may leave our coats in the bathroom. Here
manager is a noun.
12. The rain made the grass wet. Here wet is an adjective.
Present tense
Take a piece of paper and draw two lines through the middle – one from top to bottom and the other from
left to right. You end up with a grid split into four sections:

You are going to write one sentence in each square describing:

1. Something you do every day.
2. Something you are doing right now.
3. Something you did in the past at an unspecified time.
4. Something you started in the past that you are still doing now.
Here are my examples:
1. I eat breakfast every day.
2. I’m looking at a computer screen right now.
3. I have swum with sharks.
4. I have been living in Asia for ten years.

Those are the four present tenses in English.

What are Tenses?
We say that there are 12 tenses in English. They are divided up like this:
⮚ 3 times: past, present, future
⮚ 4 aspects: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous
If you want to do well in IELTS, it’s really important to know these tenses.
However, if you find some of them very difficult, don’t worry. It has been estimated that present simple
and past simple make up 80% of the language. In IELTS you will commonly be asked about your past,
the present, and only some basic plans for the future, so you don’t need to know all the tenses perfectly.
Here’s a table explaining how the tenses look:

Now let’s look at the present tenses.

Present Simple
In any of the tenses, you can form positive, negative, or interrogative (a question) sentences.

Note that in written English, we usually write “do not” and “does not.” However, in spoken English, this
is contracted to “don’t” and “doesn’t.” In the IELTS exam, you should try to follow this rule.
When to Use Present Simple
The present simple is a very common tense and it has many uses. Here are some
of them:
1.Routine actions:
⮚ He goes to the market every weekend.
⮚ We ride our bikes to school.
2. Facts and permanent situations
⮚ The sky is blue.
⮚ The sun rises in the east.
3. Directions or instructions
⮚ Turn right at the corner and walk for fifty meters.
⮚ Open the box and then remove the plastic

Third Person Singular

When using the third person singular – meaning he/she/it – you must add an “-s”
to the end of the verb. However, there are a few rules about that.
Generally, you just add “-s” to the end of the base form of the verb:
⮚ Walks
⮚ Talks
⮚ Sits
⮚ Eats
⮚ Finds
If the verb ends in a “-y” you should remove the “y” and replace it with an “i,”
before adding “-es”.
⮚ Cry -Cries
⮚ Try - Tries
⮚ Fry - Fries
⮚ Hurry - Hurries
⮚ Bury - Buries
If the verb ends in one of the following cake, you should instead add “-es” to
the end: o, s, z, x, ch, and sh.
⮚ Watch - Watches
⮚ Fix -Fixes
⮚ Mix - Mixes
⮚ Wash - Washes
⮚ Go - Goes

When the third person singular is used with an auxiliary verb (do), as in the negative or
interrogative form, the auxiliary takes the “-s” and so the main verb doesn’t need it.
⮚ Does he walks? (wrong)
 ⮚ Does he walk?
⮚ He doesn’t walks. (wrong)
⮚ He doesn’t walk.
Present Continuous
The present continuous is sometimes called the present progressive; however, as
most textbooks refer to it as the continuous, I will use that term here. It is formed
by using “to be” and then verb +ing:

Again, be careful of contractions. In writing, we would say “are not” but in

spoken English, it is more common to use “aren’t.”

When to Use Present Continuous

There are many times when we could use the present continuous. Here are some
of the common instances:
1. For an action that is happening as we speak
a. I’m doing some housework.
b. She’s talking with that man.
2. For something that is ongoing but not necessarily happening right now
a. I’m reading a book called On the Road.
b. They’re studying to be doctors.
3. To describe a developing situation
a. It’s getting dark outside.
b. The weather is turning cold.
4. Referring to a regular action
a. He’s usually working at this time.
b. We’re normally on our way home by now.
A Note on Use
Numbers 1 and 2 from the list above often confuse students. The first one is
straightforward. “I’m reading a book,” could mean that I’m holding a book and
actively reading it at the moment of speaking. However, if I read a book every
night before bed, I may also say, “I’m reading a book.”
Think of it this way: Imagine you’re sitting at dinner with a friend and talking
 about your life. You haven’t seen each other in a while, so you want to catch up
with some general information about your lives. You tell her some things about
yourself:
● I’m not studying to be a vet anymore.
● I changed my major and now I’m studying to be a dentist!
● My brother is going to night school to train for a new position at his job.
● I’m reading a really wonderful self-help book.
All of these are true and all of them use the present continuous, and yet none
of the activities described are happening right this now.

Non-Continuous Verbs
It may sound like you can describe any action with the present continuous, but
this isn’t true. There are actually many non-continuous verbs. These are generally verbs that
describe states or feelings – the sort of things you can’t really see
someone do. They include:
● prefer, hate wish, love, remember, believe, imagine, know
For example, a person might say:
● I believe in God.
However, they can’t say:
● I’m believing in God.

Present Perfect
The next present tense is the perfect. As we saw in the main verb tense table above, it is formed with
“have” or “has” and the past participle form of the verb.

When to Use Present Perfect

The present perfect can be a little trickier than other present tenses, so let’s look closely at three of its
uses.
1. A finished action or state that occurred at an indefinite time in the past.
● I have been to France.
 ● She has eaten sushi.
● They have learned Chinese.
Each of these actions occurred but we don’t state exactly when they occurred. This use is very common
but also quite vague. It could refer to an isolated event
that is either long or short, or something that happened repeatedly, or something that was true over a long
period of time. Basically, it refers to something that definitely has happened and no particular time is
stated.
2. Something that has happened in the past but may happen again in the future because the time period is
not yet finished.
● It has rained today.
● She has had four coffees this morning.
● They have been to the office twice this afternoon.

In each of these situations, there is a time period that is still continuing (today, this morning, this
afternoon) and although the actions have already occurred, they may be repeated again. For example, in
the first sentence, it has already rained but it might rain again.
3. Similar to the previous rule, present perfect can also be used for events that started in the past and may
or may not be continued into the future.
● We’ve lived in Beijing for six years.
● They’ve been a couple since 2012.
● I’ve worked in finance for almost a decade.

Notice the use of “since” and “for.” We often use these with the present perfect. “For” is followed by a
period of time (“for five months”; “for two days” etc) and “since” is used to refer to a point in time
(“since last Friday”; “since 1998”).
Present Perfect Continuous
As the name suggests, this tense includes elements of the perfect and continuous tenses. Namely, it
includes both “have” or “has” and the past participle “been” plus
the verb +ing. It looks like this:
How to Use Present Perfect Continuous
This tense is less common than the previous three and has a more specific application.
1. For describing an ongoing activity and the length of time that it has continued.
● I’ve been learning Spanish for six months.
● We’ve been dating for two years.
● They’ve been caring for that sick dog since last Monday.
2. It is used with the present simple to explain the current situation.
● I’m tired because I’ve been looking after the baby all day.
● She’s hungry because she’s been dieting recently.
● We’re broke because we’ve been spending too much money.
Exercises

1. Do we take a bath daily?

2. They have razed house to the ground.
3. She has been going to college for two years.
4. The boss has sent him on a foreign tour.
5. The birds are flying in the air.
6. Tom always spends his holidays at beach.
7. He is combing his hair.
8. Nimra has planted roses in her garden.
9. The salesman has been collecting the orders for one hour.
10.The laborer is pushing the carriage.
11.He visits health resort places during summer
vacations.
12.The successful students have received their prizes.
13.Is he not listening to you attentively?
14.I have ironed my clothes.
15.She has been writing poems for one week.

Answers
1. Do we take a bath daily? (Simple Present)
2. They have razed the house to the ground. (Present Perfect)
3. She has been going to college for two years. (Present Perfect
Continuous)
4. The boss has sent him on a foreign tour. (Present Perfect)
5. The birds are flying in the air. (Present continuous)
6. Tom always spends his holidays at the beach. (Simple Present)
7. He is combing his hair. (Present continuous)
8. Nimra has planted roses in her garden. (Present Perfect)
9. The salesman has been collecting the orders for one hour. (Present
Perfect continuous)
10. The laborer is pushing the carriage. (Present continuous)
11. He visits health resort places during summer vacations. (Simple
Present)
12. The successful students have received their prizes. (Present Perfect)
13. Is he not listening to you attentively? (Present continuous)
14. I have ironed my clothes. (Present Perfect)
15. She has been writing poems for one week. (Present Perfect
continuous)