The Present Simple (Indefinite) Tense, страница 2

c)  the consonant following a short vowel is doubled: put -putting; get - getting.

USAGE

The Present Continuous tense denotes:

1. An action happening now. This may mean 'at the actual moment of speaking' or over a period of time including the moment of speaking.

We are packing the things now and the kids are playing in their room.

Peter is still sleeping. Don't wake him up.

It's raining all day.

the Present moment (both in the narrower and broader senses) is indicated by time adverbials such as at the moment, now, at present, just now, right now, etc. When the duration over a period of time is meant, adverbials like all the morning, all day, the whole night, still, etc are used.

2.  Pre-arranged future actions, i.e. actions that have been planned or intended by the speaker*.

My father is leaving for Rome tonight. We are having a party on Saturday. Nick is running a marathon next week.

3.  Actions of unusual frequency with adverbials of per­manence and repetition such as always, constantly, etc. In these cases the Present Continuous gives an utterance an emotional colouring, mainly of a negative kind: irri­tation, annoyance, reproach, etc.

You are always finding fault with me. Why are you complaining all the time?

* Compare with the Present Simple for future actions which is used in formal situations, when the action does not convey the spea­ker's plan.

Notice the difference in meaning:

She always worries about her children. (Present Simple with 'always' is used to denote a regular habitual action.)

She is always worrying about trifles. (Present Continuous with 'always' is used to express the speaker's irritation about smb's habit which he/she considers negative.)

Note that some of the stative verbs can be used in the Present Continuous form when the verb expresses an activity (an event), not a state.

State	Activity
The soup smells delicious.	She is smelling the rose.
What do you think of the project?	What are you thinking about?
Kate looks wonderful today.	They are looking at the blackboard.

A. The Past Simple (Indefinite) Tense

 FORMATION

The Past Simple is formed by adding -ed to the stem for regular verbs and by changing the root vowel or in some other ways for irregular verbs which need to be memorized. The form of the Past Simple is the same for all persons.

Affirmative		Negative			Interrogative
I you he she it we you they	worked came	I you he she it we you they	did not	work come
					did	I you he she it we you they	work? come?

Contractions:

didn't = did not

When -ed is added there are sometimes changes in spelling, e.g. stop - stopped, study - studied. The ending -ed has variants of pronunciation depending on the type of a preceding sound:

(t) after voiceless consonants	(d) after voiced consonants and vowels	(id) after [t, d]
watched worked stopped	lived played used	studied mended rented

USAGE

The Past Simple tense denotes:

1. A single action or a state. The reference of the action to the past is typically indicated by time adverbials such as ago, last year (week, month), yesterday, the other day, in 1997, last (time), for five years, for a week, etc.

Ann spent a lot of money on books yesterday. It didn't rain last night.

When did you go to the cinema last?

She started learning the piano at the age of five.

I baked the cake for 30 minutes.