SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

Hi everyone. Today we are going to look at a rather interesting topic in learning English, simple present tense. You might have been exposed to tenses before, but worry not, I shall try my best not to tire you with this subject. Basically, simple present tense is used for:

1) General Actions and Information.

e.g. She is a doctor.
They are the members of the Red Pants Opera Club.
Rajesh works with the law firm in Damansara.

2) Habitual Action (actions that are done frequently or all the time, in the past, in the future and in the present)

e.g. Kamal and Hamka walk to school every morning.
During school holidays, Ai Chern helps her mother at their grocery shop.
They study English every Monday.

3) Facts which are true all the time

e.g. The earth is round.
There are 24 hours in a day.
The fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia is Tun Dr. Mahathir.

# For singular nouns and pronouns (except ‘I’ and ‘You’), we should add ‘s’, or ‘es’, or ‘ies’ to the VERB.

e.g. Intan likes chocolate cake very much.
Muhammad passes the book to Ijlal.
Shazlin flies to Sabah every month to meet her sister, Rahimah.
She enjoys the performance.

# For plural nouns and pronouns, we should use the base form of the VERB (no ‘s’ added).

e.g. Intan and Safinas like chocolate very much.
Muhammad and Ijlal pass the driving test.
Shazlin and Adikin fly to Sabah every month to meet their sister, Rahimah.
We enjoy the performance.

# For the pronoun ‘I’ and ‘You’, we should use the base form of the VERB (no ‘s’ added).

e.g I/You like chocolate cake very much.
I/You pass the test driving test.
I fly to Sabah every month to meet my sister.
(Do) You fly to Sabah every month to meet your sister?
*(it would sound awkward if this was a statement)
I/You enjoy the performance.

Let’s try some of these exercises:

1) Simple Present Tense Quiz provided by EnglishClub.com.
2) ESL Quiz – Present Simple Verbs by Letitia Bradley.
3) Test Your Tenses by LEO Network.

For further reading, check out these websites:
- University of Victoria, Study Zone.
- The EnglishClub.com
- ENGLISH PAGE – Simple Present Tense

Good luck and have fun learning English! :)