Grammar reference and practice 1.1

1.1 ■ Present simple affirmative and negative

Affirmative
I We You They	watch TV	every evening.
He She It	watches TV
Negative
I We You They	don't (= do not) watch TV	every evening.
He She It	doesn't (= does not) watch TV

Spelling rules: third person singular

• ■Most verbs: add -s

  ■Verbs ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -o, -x: add -es

  ■Verbs ending in consonant + -y: change -y to -ies

  ■The verb to have: change have to has

Negative

We make the negative form with do and does + n't (= not) + verb. We don't add -s to the verb.

Use

We use the present simple to talk about:

• ■habits and everyday routines. We often use time expressions such as every day, all the time, in the morning, in summer, on Sundays, at weekends etc.

  I get up at six o'clock every morning.

  Mikhail doesn't play football on Saturdays.

  ■facts and general truths.

  The temperature changes a lot outside the space station.

  The President of the USA lives in the White House.

  ■states. Some verbs that describe states are believe, hate, know, like, love, need, prefer, understand, want.

  I don't like Spanish food.

  Sarah knows my grandmother.

1Choose the correct words. 

• 1My mother gogoes to work by bus.

• 2I studystudies French and German at school.

• 3My school day finishfinishes at 3.30 p.m.

• 4Piotr havehas a big car.

• 5She writewrites to her cousin every month.

• 6They meetmeets their friends at the weekend.

• 7We loveloves romantic films.

• 8My friends livelives in the town centre.

2Rewrite the sentences from exercise 1 in the negative. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

• 1My mother  to work by bus.

• 2I  French and German at school.

• 3My school day  at 3.30 p.m.

• 4Piotr  a big car.

• 5She  to her cousin every month.

• 6They  their friends at the weekend.

• 7We  romantic films.

• 8My friends  in the town centre.

 

3Complete the sentences with the present simple form of the verbs in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

• 1I  (get up) at six o'clock.

• 2My father  (not / make) breakfast on Saturday mornings.

• 3Stella  (start) school at half past eight.

• 4We  (watch) films after dinner.

• 5Your friends  (not / like) pizza.

• 6You  (not / go) to the gym at the weekend.

• 7Dan  (have) a shower every day.

• 8My cat  (sleep) 14 hours a day.