he present Getting started 1. The text below is from an interview with Jodie Foster, a Hollywood actress and director. Read the text and answer the questions. ) In what ways is Jodie Foster’ life not like a star’ life? 1) Why does Jodie want to have an ordinary life? ‘odie enjoys living a life around Los Angeles that is as un-starlike as she can make it. She | refuses to have a personal assistant, does her cown food shopping and takes her own letters to the post office. “I have always lived like tha,” | she says, ‘and I always will. I don’t want to become | someone who docs’t know how todo things. 1f1'm in | Calcutta and I need to get to Bombay and a flight gets | cancelled so I need to take the train, I want to know hhow to do that” She lives in a rented apartment in Hollywood and says that, when she is not working, her favourite thing isto do absolutely nothing! 2 Look at these present simple sentences from the text: She refuses to have a personal assistant, does her own food shopping and takes her own letters to the post office 1 dont want to become someone who doesnt know how to do things. She lives ina rented apartment in Hollywood How much do you know about the present simple? Underline the correct choice, i) ot ii), below: a) The present simple is used to talk about things that are: 1) generally true 4i) happening now b) It is used to say how ofien something happens, with words like 1) for and since ii) always, sometimes and never ©) It is made like this: 4) L/you/ wes they take it) I/ you / we / they takes she fhe / it takes she / he /it take <) Negatives and questions are made with: 4) do and does i) didLooking at language The present simple Use We use the present simple to talk about things and situations that are generally true: Digital cameras costa fot of money. They have very complex parts and they use a lot of battery power She's 27 years old and she has a small flat. The general truth can be: 1 a repeated action: She takes the train to work, but I usually drive. a a permanent situation: Ske lives in a small flat in London ‘The present simple can also be used in informal stories. For example, describing a film scene or telling a joke ‘She walks into the room, and sees the bottle and two glasses on the table, so she knows This man goes into « bar, and orders an orange juice and a packet of crisps 1 Fill in the gaps in this text by another Hollywood actress with verbs in the present simple. Life is pretty busy at the moment. 11 4 14-hour day, but I'm lucky because we're filming in the Santa Monica mountains, 15 minutes from home. I'm usually up at + a.m. My husband 2 up then, too ~ he 3 to work before the phone starts ringing ~and, after a coffee, 14 to Agoure to arrive at exactly 5.42. Its a wonderful drive ~ 1 see mountain lions, coyotes and sometimes snakes. My day 5 swith hair and make-up. Then its straight into filming, rom Ratio Times, 9-15 November 1996) Form Positive statements [ Negative statements Wh- questions T/you/we/ they play | 1do not (don) play Where do you play? | she / he /it plays | she does not (doesn') play _| Where does she play? [ Yes No questions Positive shor’ answers | egaave shor answers peyou pi? sare No, do | Does she play? [ es she does Spelling ar Other spellings of the third person singular are: ‘= in verbs which end in sh, ch, s, x, an ¢s is added: washes, watches, kisses, fixes. This is pronounced /12/ f= in verbs which end in a consonant 4, the y is changed to an { and es is added: try ~ tries, carry ~ caries. str 2 Tue eeeseny sienOther points 1 We can say how often something happens with adverbs of frequency like (nearly) always, usually, (quite) often, sometimes, (almost) never: ‘She nearly always takes the train to work. 1 dont often go shopping. = Note the present simple form of ¢o be: Iam, you / we / they are, she / he / itis. 1 Note the third person singular forms: have ~ has, do — does, go ~ goes. 1» We often use you + present simple to mean ‘everyone You need two photos o get a passport t= We use the present simple question What do you do? to mean ‘What’ your job?” See Unit 3 for a comparison of the present simple and the present continuous Getting it right D-Exercise 1 Subjects and verbs In the advertisements below, fil in the gaps with the correct pronoun from the box. The form of the present simple verb (e.g. doesn't have or don' have) will help you. he it you 1 she they Microwave-heated body/bed warmer ‘This special warmer gives you all the same warmth as a traditional hot-water bottle but....if... doesn’t have the problem of dangerous hot water. 1 Just put it in the microwave to heat up, and 2 stays hot for hours, 3 always use mine on cold nights. I's so easy’ to use!’ This electronic dictionary contains over DIETING SUCCESS 100,000 words. Does your weight depress you? 4. teed wo al een for ou Do vou hate dieting? td hous: Onay Stores te lg do many De Does vido couse can ey. On proc werner cary cued |_| D DATs in ore cn Ra On ths eecorc ena ees io your poke ot sn the cron tna ely no yn ck or | ean Ina en a 7 sever g ante i my come J | Oo stom my tow to args Sictonary My claus oer woo ow ona ff | ZOE Sg tabi Tm mh er my dug wee heen Beene chek ter | ZO homework with it Extension ‘Write a similar advertisement for something you have bought recently.D-Exercise 2 Asking questions Linda Magee, a television news reporter, was interviewed about her day. Use the inderlined sections of the article to write the interviewer's questions. 1_get_up around 7.00, some time before my husband, Alan. 1 He's a photographer, so he can often choose the time of day that he wants to work. | don't have breakfast, 2 because eat a lot of snacks in the studio, but I get breakfast for the kids before { leave the house. 3 They usually have fruit and cereal or toast. 4 generally walk or cycle to work unless the weather's bad, and. 5 ittakes about half an hour on foot and about ten minutes by bike. When 1 arrive, 6 Ldiscuss the day’s main stories with the news editor over a cup of coffee. We usually prepare the midday news after that, but sometimes new stories come in and we have to start again. At 11.00 Sandy, 7 the hair and make-up assistant, gets me ready for the camera. 8 lust before the broadcast Loften feel nervous, even afterall these years! 9 The programme staris at exactly 12,00 and 10 lasts 20 minutes. Then i's back to the news editor to do the whole thing again in time for the 4.00 broadcast Example: What, time, do. you get. 4p? D-Exercise 3 Learning from learners Look at this extract from a learner’ letter to a penftiend. There are 11 mistakes init Find them and correet them. The first one has been done for you. Dear Akram, am Thark you for your very interesting letter. I very pleased to be your pentriend. Are you really have. a swimming pool in the. garden? It sound wonderful. As you know from my advertisement, I have. 17 years old and came from Cartagena in Chile. i've. got two sisters, aria and Fernanda, ard they is both older than me. Hy father oun a small paper factory, but my mother don’t work. We living in a house just outside the city. T enjoying playing football and 1 am like science-fiction films ontt 2 THe paesenr snettD-Exercise 4 written practice Write a description of the world’s largest shopping centre using the information below and the verbs in the box in the order given. West Edmonton Mall, Alberta, Canada 5.2 million square feet. Visitors’ spending: $16 million per day. 800 shops, 110 restaurants (25,000 meals A 30-minute drive from the city centre. a day). 26 cinemas but no theatre. 20,000 staff. Open 08.00-24.00, 20 million visitors per year, {adapted fom an ati by Michael Booth, The Independent on Sunday, 19 January 1997) cover have serve employ attract spend be have nothave open close West Edmonton Mall covers 5.2 milion square feet and has 800 diferent shops. Its 110 restaurants Classwork 1. Work in groups of three or four. Learner 1 thinks of a job. 2 Learners 2,3 and 4 ask him/her questions in the present simple to find out what che jb i, They can only ask ten questions. Learner 1 can only answer Yes, No ot Sometimes Example: Do you get up early? Yes, Ido. Do you wear a uniform? Yes, Ido, Does this job need a lot of qualifications? No, it doesnt. Do you work inside? No, I dont. Is the job very well-paid? No, it isn. ‘Are you a postman? Yes, Lam,