Today's lesson is from Amy Whiting, EC Cape Town English language school.
Present Simple is used to talk about routines and habits, it uses the form Subject + Verb
Example: We eat turkey at Christmas time
Present Continuous is used to describe something that is happening at the moment, and uses the form Subject + auxiliary Verb 'BE' + verb+ing
Example: I am eating turkey at the moment
The auxiliary verb 'BE' changes according to the subject. Complete these:
| Subject | Verb 'Be' |
|---|---|
| I | am |
| You | |
| He | |
| She | |
| It | |
| We | |
| They |
Show Answers
The holiday season is a busy time for most families! Have a look at what's happening inside the Hudson's house. Use the verbs in the brackets to describe the family's activities using either present simple or present continuous.
- The house is very noisy! Everyone (get) ready for Christmas.
- Mom is in the kitchen, she (roast) a turkey for dinner,
- and Julie (peel) the potatoes.
- Kelly and Sabrina (stand) in...
- ...the living room (sing) Christmas carols at the top of their voices.
- Melanie (laugh) at them.
- Dad always (chop) wood for the fire before Christmas dinner.
- He (be) outside now, freezing in the snow.
- Grandpa (hit) Charlie with his walking-stick...
- ...because he (stand) in front of the television.
- The Christmas tree is Katie's duty, she (put) it up every year.
- She usually (hang) red and gold decorations on the branches.
- The guests (arrive) soon,
- so the family (work) hard to get everything ready in time.
- Oh no! The dog (eat) the Christmas cake!
- The Christmas tree (fall) down!
- Christine catches the tree and Grandma (smack) the dog.
- They (be) very quick.
- Everyone (finish) their duties just in time and the Hudson's have a crazy, but wonderful Christmas!
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Comments
A doubt
A good exercise indeed!
Could you please tell me why we should use
'the guest are arriving 'instead of'the guest'is arriving'
Id like to know whether the plural of guest is also the same
Pl.reply
The plural of 'the guest' is
The plural of 'the guest' is 'the guests'.
You might have misread the sentence
A question - ?
Very nice story! I was laughing at it!
But I had the same problem with GUEST, and the sentence "Christine catches the tree and Grandma smacks the dog" - why is it in present simple????
Thank you for the Lesson!
Probably, because those are
Probably, because those are their habits.
If seriously, I think those actions are taken just once, not lasting through time, so PS is used to highlight their fugacity.
I got the guest as plural automatically. Usually few guests come to celebrate smth. Compare, in Russian (am I right about your native?) we use plural despite one or many people are going to come, aren't we?
Crazy Christmas
I also got "the guest" as plural automatically and I don't know why.
Only reading comments I realized that the singular was used. I had 2 similar mistakes - "is getting and is working". Maybe it's because I didn't think over them enough (the title ELEMENTARY made me lose concentration). 
Thank you, Chris.
? about the last sentence
First of all thanks for lesson: it's very useful, but I have a question: why does the verb "to finish" in the Present Simple here? To my mind the Present Perfect is more suitable here, because it helps to show us that the Xmas routine and preparations are over, and the Hundsons are ready to start celebrating the Xmas. Or simply here we have a sequence of actions?
Thanks for answer!
For the best and crazy
For the best and crazy facebook status and christmas status i used facebookstatuscraz.com.