Third unit: The simple present and past tense.

Simple present tense

Simple Present tense is used to describe habitual actions that occur with some frequency and does not refer to whether it is happening at present.

First use: Repeated actions

Use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. The action can be a habit, a hobby, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens. It can also be something a person often forgets or usually does not do.

Examples:

• I play tennis.
• She does not play tennis.
• Does he play tennis?
• The train leaves every morning at 8 AM.
• The train does not leave at 9 AM.
• When does the train usually leave?
• She always forgets her purse.
• He never forgets his wallet.
• Every twelve months, the Earth circles the Sun.
• Does the Sun circle the Earth?

Second Use: Facts or generalizations

The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes that a fact was true before, is true now, and will be true in the future. It is not important if the speaker is correct about the fact. It is also used to make generalizations about people or things.

Examples:

• Cats like milk.
• Birds do not like milk.
• Do pigs like milk?
• California is in America.
• California is not in the United Kingdom.
• Windows are made of glass.
• Windows are not made of wood.
• New York is a small city.

Third use: Scheduled events in the near future

Speakers occasionally use Simple Present to talk about scheduled events in the near future. This is most commonly done when talking about public transportation, but it can be used with other scheduled events as well.

Examples:

• The train leaves tonight at 6 PM.
• The bus does not arrive at 11 AM, it arrives at 11 PM.
• When do we board the plane?
• The party starts at 8 o'clock.
• When does class begin tomorrow?

Fourth use: Non continuous verbs

Speakers sometimes use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is happening or is not happening now. This can only be done with Non-Continuous-Verbs and certain Mixed Verbs.

Examples:

•         I am here now.
•        She is not here now.
•        He needs help right now.
•        He does not need help now.
•        He has his passport in his hand.
•        Do you have your passport with you?

Simple past tense

Pablo Picasso lived France.

He worked a lot and painted many pictures.

Simple Past tense is used to describe actions that have happened at an earlier time and have already done, for example:

  She cleaned her house.
  I broke the window.

1. To form the simple past tense of regular verbs in affirmative statements, add –ed to the base         

     verb.

2. In negative statements, use did not + a base verb.

3. In questions, use did + a base verb + the subject.

Affirmative Statements		Negative Statements
Subject	Past tense verb	Subject	Did not/ Didn’t	Base verb
I	Worked.	I	Did not Didn’t	Work.
You		You
He/ She/ It		He/ She / It
We		We
They		They

We Change the spelling of some regular verbs before adding –ed.

Base verb ending	Rule	Example
Most verbs	Add –ed.	Start                   Started
		Obey                  Obeyed
		Predict               Predicted
The verb ends in a consonant + e.	Add –d.	Live                     Lived
		Move                  Moved
		Decide                Decided
The verb ends in a single vowel + a single consonant.	Double the consonant, Add –ed.	Stop                    Stopped
		Plan                     Planned
		Prefer                  Preferred
Exceptions: Do not double w or x.		Fix                        Fixed
		Show                   Showed
If a verb has two or more syllables and the stress is not on the last syllable, do not double the consonant.		Open                   Opened
		Travel                  Traveled
		Exit                       Exited
		Color                    Colored
The verb ends in a consonant + y.	Change y to i and add –ed.	Worry                  Worried
		Study                   Studied
The verb ends in ie.	Add –d.	Tie                        Tied
		Die                        Died

Did Picasso paint pictures of his wives?

Yes, he did. He painted a lot of them.

Use the simple past tense to talk about actions and situations completed in the past. We often say when the situation or action happened (for example, yesterday, and last night).

Activities

I found great activities for this topics on internet. So I hope that you make those activities. And apply the knowledge acquired.

The verb be

Simple present tense 1

Simple present tense 2

Simple present tense 3

Simple present tense 4

Simple present tense 5

Simple past tense 1

Simple past tense 2

Appendix

Also, I consider a list of regular and irregular verbs. That is helpful for you.

Regular and irregular verbs list