English Lesson 3: Present simple

Nouns: Singular and Plural

A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea, while a plural noun names more than
one person, place, thing, or idea. There are a few basic rules to remember when it comes to
turning a singular noun into a plural noun.
Rules
A) Most nouns in plural we add ‘-s’
Example:

Singula Plural
r

boat boats

house houses

cat cats

river rivers

B) A singular noun ending in s, x, z, o, ch, sh, ss makes the plural by adding ‘-es’.
Examples

Singula Plural
r

bus buses

wish wishes

church churches

box boxes

potato potatoes

kiss kisses

buzz buzzes
 C) A singular noun ending in a consonant and then y makes the plural by dropping the y and
adding-ies.
Examples

Singula Plural
r

country countries

city cities

baby babies

city cities

daisy daisies

D) A singular noun ending in ‘-f’ or ‘-fe’ makes the plural by dropping the f or fe and
adding-ves.
Examples

Singular Plural

leaf leaves

half halves

wolf wolves

wife wives

knife knives

life lives

Irregular nouns
E) There are some irregular noun plurals. The most common ones are listed below.
Examples
 Singular Plural

woman women

man men

child children

tooth teeth

foot feet

person people

mouse mice

goose geese

F) Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.
Examples

Singular Plural

sheep sheep

fish fish

deer deer

species species

aircraft aircraft

Exercise: Singular plural

a) Form the plural from the following nouns
1) One city, two _____________
2) One wolf, three _____________
3) One desk, four ______________
4) One smile, five ______________
5) One knife, six ________________
6) One woman, seven _______________
 7) One spy, eight _______________
8) One day, nine ______________
9) One ox, ten _______________

b) Form the singular and plural from the following nouns

Singular Plural

sandwich

banks

tomato

candies

cow

clothes

leaf

Present Simple
 Subject/Verb agreement (Rules for forming the third person singular forms of the verb are
the same rules for nouns
Example

Singular Plural

1st person I work for UL. We work for UL.

2nd person You play football. You play football.

3rd person He studies English. They study English.

She studies English. Isabel and Luis study English.
It has four legs. They have four legs.
My family loves cooking. The Monteiros love cooking
Joao lives in Munhava. The dogs eat can food
The dog eats can food.
Obs: all the sentences above are in affirmative
  Sentence structures:
A) Affirmative/positive form
a) I work for UL.
b) You play football.
c) She studies English.
d) It has four legs.
e) The dog eats can food.
f) Isabel and Luis study English.

- Negative form [+ auxiliary “do(es)”]

Forming the negative in the present simple tense requires the auxiliary verb 'to do'.

Does do

He, she, it I, we, you, they

Joao Isabel and Maria
My family The Monteiros
The dog The dogs

B) Negative form
a) I do not (don’t) work for UL.
b) You do not (don’t) play football.
c) She does not (doesn’t) study English.
d) It does not (doesn’t) have four legs.
e) The dog does not (doesn’t) eat can food.
f) Isabel and Luis do not (don’t) study English.

- Interrogative/Question form [+ auxiliary “Do(es)”]

Forming the interrogative in the present simple tense requires the auxiliary verb 'to do'.

C) Interrogative form
a) Do I work for UL.
Yes, I do.
 No, I don’t.
b) Do You play football.
Yes, I do.
No, I don’t.
c) Does She study English.
Yes, she does.
No, she doesn’t.
d) Does It have four legs.
Yes, It does.
No, It doesn’t.
e) Does the dog eat can food.
Yes, It does.
No, It doesn’t.
f) Do Isabel and Luis study English.
Yes, they do.
No, they don’t.

D) WH- Questions
We use do and does with question words like where, when, how, what and when:
Where do Angela and Rita live?
What does Angela do?
When does Rita usually get up?
How long have you been living in Beira?
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
How often does Argentina go to the cinema?
Why do you need the book?

But questions with who often don't use do or does:

Who lives in London?
Who plays football at the weekend?
Who works at Liverpool City Hospital?
Exercises
A) Make positive present simple sentences.
1. (he / go to school every day) ____________________________________________________
2. (I / like swimming) ___________________________________________________________
3. (you / play basketball on Saturdays) ______________________________________________
4. (the class / begin at 9am) _______________________________________________________
5. (they / go to the cinema) ______________________________________________
6. (she / love chocolate) _________________________________________________________
7. (we / study French) ___________________________________________________________
8. (they / live in London) _________________________________________________________
9. (he / work in a restaurant) ______________________________________________________
10. (Lucy / play the guitar) _______________________________________________________
11. (we / cook every day) ________________________________________________________
12. (he / clean the house at the weekends) ____________________________________________
13. (you / come from France) ____________________________________________________

B) Make negative present simple sentences.

1. (I / not / like coffee) ____________________________________________________
2. (I / not / live in Paris) ____________________________________________________
3. (she / not / come from Spain) ____________________________________________________
4. (John / not / work in a bank) ____________________________________________________
5. (they / not / get up at eight o'clock) _______________________________________________
6. (we / not / go to the cinema every Friday) __________________________________________
7. (you / not / read the newspaper every day) _________________________________________
8. (he / not / go to school in France) ______________________________________________
9. (we / not / watch TV in the evening) _____________________________________________
10. (I / not / have a shower in the morning) __________________________________________
11. (she / not / drink tea every afternoon) ____________________________________________
12. (they / not / visit their parents at the weekend) _____________________________________
13. (you / not / study English very often) ____________________________________________
14. (Julie and Lucy / not / play football) ____________________________________________
C) Make present simple questions.
1. (you / like cake?) ____________________________________________________________
2. (she / live in London?) ________________________________________________________
3. (they / hate studying?) ________________________________________________________
4. (you / drink tea every morning?) _________________________________________________
5. (you smoke?) ________________________________________________________________
6. (he / play tennis on Saturdays?) __________________________________________________
7. (you / go shopping at the weekend?) ______________________________________________
8. (you / drink alcohol?) __________________________________________________________
9. (she / work in an office?) _______________________________________________________
10. (they / study French?) ________________________________________________________
11. (you / meet your friends on Fridays?) ____________________________________________
12. (it / snow here in winter?) ____________________________________________________
13. (John / come from America?) __________________________________________________
14. (they / like pizza?) ___________________________________________________________

D) Make present simple questions.

1. (you / like cake?) _____________________________________________________________
2. (she / live in London?) _________________________________________________________
3. (they / hate studying?) _________________________________________________________
4. (you / drink tea every morning?) _________________________________________________
5. (you smoke?) ________________________________________________________________
6. (he / play tennis on Saturdays?) __________________________________________________
7. (you / go shopping at the weekend?) ______________________________________________
8. (you / drink alcohol?) __________________________________________________________
9. (she / work in an office?) _______________________________________________________
10. (they / study French?) ________________________________________________________
11. (you / meet your friends on Fridays?) ____________________________________________
12. ((it / snow here in winter?) ____________________________________________________
13. (John / come from America?) __________________________________________________
14. (they / like pizza?) ___________________________________________________________

E) Make present simple 'wh' questions.

1. (where / you / go to school?) ____________________________________________________
2. (what / you / do?) _____________________________________________________________
3. (where / John / come from?) ____________________________________________________
4. (why / you / eat so much chocolate?) ______________________________________________
5. (how often / she / go to the cinema?) ______________________________________________
6. (how many children / you / have?) _______________________________________________
7. (when / you / get up?) _________________________________________________________
8. (how often / you / study English?) _______________________________________________
9. (what time / the film / start?) ____________________________________________________
10. (where / you / play tennis?) ____________________________________________________
11. (what sports / Lucy / like?) ____________________________________________________
12. (how / they / get to work?) ____________________________________________________
13. (how often / I / come here?) ____________________________________________________
14. (where / she / live?) __________________________________________________________

F) Make the present simple (choose positive, negative or question).

1. (he / drive to work every day) ___________________________________________________
2. (I / not / think you're right) ______________________________________________________
3. (we / have enough time?) _______________________________________________________
4. (I / eat cereal in the morning) ____________________________________________________
5. (they / write e-mails every day?) _________________________________________________
6. (you / watch a lot of TV) ______________________________________________________
7. (he / not / read the newspaper) __________________________________________________
8. (she / dance often?) ___________________________________________________________
9. (where / I / come on Mondays?) _________________________________________________
10. (what / you / do at the weekend?) _______________________________________________
11. (you / not / drink much tea) ____________________________________________________
12. (how / he / travel to work?) ____________________________________________________
13. (they / not / like vegetables) ____________________________________________________
14. (she / catch a cold every winter) ________________________________________________
15. (I / go out often?) ____________________________________________________________
16. (you / speak English?) ________________________________________________________
17. (we / take the bus often) _______________________________________________________
18. (she / not / walk to school) _____________________________________________________
19. (what / you / buy in the supermarket?) ___________________________________________
20. (how / he / carry such a heavy bag?) _____________________________________________

Daily Routines
A daily routine is the usual series of things that you do at a particular time. A routine is also the
practice of regularly doing things in a fixed order.
To talk about daily routines, we use adverbs of frequency, which are words that describe how
often an action happens.
For example, "always", "usually", "often", "sometimes", "rarely", and "never" are all adverbs of
frequency.

We usually put these adverbs in the middle of the sentence, between the subject and the verb:
 I often go to the cinema.
 She sometimes visits me at home.
 We usually drink coffee.

Exercises
A) Research on the vocabulary for a daily routines
B) Read about the daily routine of a student at a UK university. Complete the information using
the verbs in brackets in the correct form.
Dan usually 1________________ (get up) at 8am, 2 ___________ (have) a shower and 3
_____________ (eat) breakfast. After that, he always 4 ___________ (get) his books ready and
then 5____________ (go) to his lectures until midday. He usually 6 _____________ (return)
home and 7__________ (make) lunch for himself at about 12:30pm. Then, he sometimes
8__________ (watch) a bit of TV. At about 3pm, he often 9 __________ (meet) a friend for
coffee, at 3:30pm, they sometimes 10___________ (go) to the library together. Dan always
11_________ (study) for a few hours and then at around 6:30pm he 12 ____________(go) home.
He usually 13___________ (cook) dinner for himself and his flat mates. In the evening, he
sometimes 14 __________ (exercise) at the gym or goes for a run. After that, he relaxes in front
of the TV or 15 __________ (see) his friends. He never goes to bed early, but usually 16
___________ (fall) asleep at around midnight.

C) Write about your daily routines