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In this story you will find many examples of how the Present Simple Tense can be used. As you know we use the present simple for things that are true in general, or for things that happen sometimes or all the time:
- She likes black tea.
- I start work at 9 o''clock and finish at 5:30.
- Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
- We usually visit our friends on the weekend.
You probably remember that after
he/she/it an "s" is added to the verb as in these examples:
- She speaks excellent French.
- He sometimes calls her "my darling".
- It makes perfect sense to me.
When we want to make a negative sentence we use the following structure:
subject
(I/you/we/they) + auxiliary verb
(don''t) + main verb
(infinitive)
subject
(he/she/it) + auxiliary verb
(doesn''t) + main verb
(infinitive)
Examples:
- I don''t speak Chinese.
- You don''t work very hard.
- She doesn''t call me every day.
When we want to make a question we also use
do after
I/you/we/they and
does after
he/she/it:
- Do you speak Chinese?
- Does she work here?
- What do you do for a living?
- How do you usually get to work?
Now enjoy the following story and find the present simple in
italics.
"It never gets you anywhere"
Andrew Smodley
is a natural worrier. It
is something he has inherited from his father — the king of all worriers. But then there are those who are never happy unless they
have a problem to solve. Andrew worried about the weather, the state of the pound, his health, the cost of living and once he even worried because he thought he wasn''t worrying enough. But that was in the past. Things have changed because something happened to him exactly two years ago.
It was in the spring when leaves
appear on trees and nature
prepares herself for renewal. Other things
happen too — people often
fall in love. Now Andrew
doesn''t have a romantic disposition. He never
looks up at the leaves starting to grow,
sighs and
says: "Ah here
comes the spring!" He simply
thinks to himself: "I
live in a small village by a little stream and around this time of year lots of creatures
start to wake up and
make a lot of noise." In London, which
stands on the River Thames, people
make a lot of noise all the time."
I
apologize for the simplicity of these statements but I
want to illustrate the unimaginative nature which Andrew possesses. Towards the end of this story I
give examples to show the extent of the change that he underwent.
The other character in this anecdote
is a young woman called Sally Fairweather. She too
lives in this tiny and remote village where Andrew
has his cottage. Now Sally
is an entirely different kettle of fish. Her philosophy
runs as follows: "Worrying never
gets you anywhere and life
is too short to waste time imagining the worst."
In a word she
is the complete opposite in temperament of Andrew. Here
comes another cliche: Opposites attract. But you
must remember that two years ago the two main characters hadn''t met, which was surprising when you
consider the proximity of Andrew''s cottage and Sally''s flat. If you
take the first left after the post office, you
come to Sally''s place and if you
take the second turning to the right after that you
come to the cottage where Andrew
lives.
The next participant in this village drama
is the weather, which
plays a very significant part in English life. It was late April and the sun had disappeared behind dark heavy rain clouds but Andrew had already set off for the local pub. Naturally he had his umbrella with him and a heavy coat following that aphorism his mother always used: "Never cast a clout (remove an article of clothing) before May
is out."
Fortunately he made it to the pub before the storm broke. The moment he crossed the doorstep an old schoolfriend
comes up to Andrew,
offers to buy him a drink and
tells him not to look so worried. Andrew showed him the newspaper headlines: "Petrol prices
rise again." — "But you
haven''t got a car" said his friend. — "I
know", retorted Andrew, "still it
means everything else will go up in price, too."
Everyone in the pub
looks suitably depressed at this remark and begins to think of all the price increases that will follow. The gloom
is palpable. Then suddenly the door
bursts open and in
walks our heroine, Sally looking like a drowned rat. Most people in the pub
think to themselves: "What a pretty girl!" Andrew
sees her as someone who
is drenched and needs help. He
walks over to her and
asks if she is all right. For probably the first time in his life Andrew actually transferred his worry from himself to someone else and he
mixes her a special drink to protect her from a possible cold. The conversation went as follows: "I
hear you
live in this village, too" — "How
do you
know?" asked Andrew.
But Sally changed the subject. "This drink
tastes delicious. How did you make it?" — "I
put a drop of ginger ale and a piece of lemon in the alcohol and then
stir thoroughly. I always
keep those two ingredients with me when I
go out at night." Suddenly Sally looked at her watch: "I
must fly. My train
leaves in ten minutes." — "
Don''t forget to take those tablets I suggested and
let me know how you
are." — "I''ll let you know as soon as I
come back from London." And then she went.
Immediately Andrew started to worry. He didn''t know her name, he didn''t know her address and he felt strange. He
checks his pulse. He
tests his mental faculties: "Two and two
make four." It was a different sort of worry that was almost a concern. He
wants to see her again. Within seconds he rushed out of the pub leaving his coat behind, ran into the pouring rain with no umbrella. What was happening to him? He saw Sally standing on the platform getting into the train and the train leaving the station. He
jumps down from the platform onto the track and
waves at the train driver to stop. The train
stops and Andrew
gets onto it.
Six weeks after this extraordinary episode Sally got married. Andrew
doesn''t worry any more now. He
stays calm. The obvious time when people expected him to start worrying was during the wedding ceremony in the village church just over two years ago. As he
says, "I
know what everyone was thinking. They thought I would go to pieces. But I was perfectly relaxed and I
owe it all to Sally. She
is certainly a wonderful wife. She smiled at me when we were standing at the altar and I stopped worrying from that moment on. You
can see me looking relaxed in the newspaper pictures especially that one with the caption:
ANDREW SMODLEY
HANDS THE RING TO SALLY FAIRWEATHER''S FUTURE HUSBAND."
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Now, you should be able to take these tests:
Simple Present
Simple Present (2)
Simple Present (3)
Simple Present (4)
Simple Present (5)
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