PRACTICE SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT IN THE PRESENT TENSE

Click the links below to practice verbs in the simple present tense:

LINK: Subject-verb agreement

LINK: Simple present, 3rd person singular practice

LINK: More simple present tense exercises

Do Yourself a Favor--Check Out These Lessons on Simple Present Vs. Present Progressive Tense

If you follow my suggestion below, you will get lots of instruction and practice in correctly using the simple present and present progressive tenses. Just beware of clicking on anything that says "Download" or anything listed under "Ad Choice" (which is in tiny print)--doing that will waste your time by taking you to advertisements.

My suggestion: Click on the link below and explore the explanations and exercises listed on the right.

LINK: Simple present and present progressive lessons and exercises at grammarbank.com

Listen and Write the Verb You Hear

We don't have time to do a lot of listening practice in class. However, the Listening Lab at the website learnamericanenglish.com has many listen-and-write exercises. You can pick an easier or a harder grammar level (blue is the easiest, and there are seven levels in all).

After you click on one of the links below, click on the arrow next to the teacher's picture. He will dictate (read something for you to write down) a sentence. You have to listen for the verb and then write it down. When you write down the words you hear, you are transcribing those words.

At the blue (easiest) level, you listen to a sentence and then fill in the verb you hear (the rest of the sentence is already typed for you). Click on one of the following links to practice listening and writing at the blue level:

LINK: Listening practice--present tense verbs


LINK: Listening practice--present continuous verbs


LINK: Listen for the correct helping verb: be or do?

Third Person Singular Present Tense Verbs--That Pesky "S"

Last week we reviewed spelling rules for adding the final -s to 3rd person singular verbs in the present tense. English language learners have a lot of trouble with that final -s. Grammarbank.com has some good exercises on the 3rd person singular of simple present tense verbs. Again, beware of clicking on buttons which are actually links to downloads or advertisements, not grammar lessons or quizzes. Instead, scroll down to the numbered questions.

My suggestion: Click on the links below to practice using the correct person and number of present tense verbs. You'll also get a little practice with questions and negative statements in the present tense.

NOTE: If the sentence is a negative statement or question, type in the complete verb, including what is in parentheses, not just do or does, or your answer will be marked incorrect. Also, use a capital letter if the blank is at the beginning of the sentence. 

Example: ______ (Mark/like) cookies?
Correct answer: Does Mark like
Incorrect answers: Does, does, does Mark like, Do, do, Do Mark like

LINK: Practice simple present tense, 3rd person singular

LINK: More practice with simple present tense

Remember, simple present tense is used to give information (facts) or to talk about usual habits or activities. If you need to review the grammar of the simple present tense, click this link:

LINK: Review of simple present tense with frequency adverbs

Practice Short Answers in the Simple Present and Simple Past Tenses

Today in class we did a quick exercise on answering yes/no questions with the "short answer" form. If you want more quick practice--

My suggestion: Click on the first link below to go to a short answer practice page at Englishgrammarsecrets.com. When you type your answer in the box provided, remember not to begin with a space. Make sure you type only one space between words in your answer, or the computer may read your answer as wrong even if you get it right.  Click on the second link to practice matching questions with their correct short answers. For both of these exercises, you can either check your answers as you go or check them after you've finished all of the questions.

LINK: Short answer practice (present tense) at Englishgrammarsecrets.com

LINK: Drag the answers at right to the questions they match (various verb tenses) 

Click on the link below to practice short answers in the simple past tense:

 LINK: Short answers in the past tense

Practice Simple Negative Present Tense Verbs

Click the link below to practice choosing the correct negative verb to complete each sentence:

LINK: Practice simple present negative statements

Deciding Whether to Use Present or Past Tense of "To Be"

Sometimes it's important to use the same verb tense for your whole paragraph. For instance, if you write a paragraph about your morning routine, use simple present tense in each sentence of the paragraph. Here is an example of a paragraph written completely in the simple present tense (verbs are typed in red):

Every morning I awake at 7:00. First, I take a shower and dress. Then I eat breakfast and brush my teeth. After that I drive to work. I arrive by 9:00 a.m. and work for four hours. At 1:00 p.m., my work day is over. Sometime I run errands before I drive home. 

In some paragraphs, however, you have to change verb tenses now and then. If you are telling about your life, you will probably write about events in the past as well as information about your present life. Here is an example (present tense verbs are typed in red, but past tense verbs are in green):

My name is Pedro. I come from Mexico. I was born in Mexico City and lived there for 30 years. I came to the United States five years ago. I work part time at a grocery store and part time at a nursing home. In Mexico, I didn't complete high school. I want to return to school, and I plan to be a nurse.

Try this exercise from Englishmaven.org. Decide whether to use the present or the past tense of the verb to be. How do you decide? Look for time words in the sentence that show something happened in the past, such as yesterday, last night, when I was young, etc. These words or phrases are clues that you should use the past tense of to be. Use the present tense of to be to state facts and to refer to things that happen regularly (like habit or routine). Time words such as now and today also tell you to use the present tense.

My suggestion:  Click on the link below and try the exercise on the past and present tenses of the verb to be.

LINK: Deciding Whether to Use Present or Past Tense of "To Be"

You can also click on the following link for more information on using present versus past tense when writing.

LINK: Using Present or Past Tense in Narration

Quiz on Do, Does, or Did

This week we practiced asking questions with do, does (present tense), and did (past tense). Today's quiz at the Daily Page for ESL students gives you practice in using these words correctly, but in statements, not in questions.

My Suggestion: Try the quiz at this link--

LINK: Quiz for the Day: Do, Does, or Did

Writing a story or article in simple present tense.

We normally use the simple present tense to talk about a fact (a piece of information) or a regular habit (something that happens repeatedly or regularly) For example:

     I work at a grocery store. (fact)

     I speak English and Spanish. (fact)

     I eat breakfast at 7:00 a.m. every morning. (habit)

     My brother and I play basketball every Saturday morning. (habit)

However, we can also use the simple present to tell a story or a joke. We use present tense or present progressive to tell the story or joke in an active manner, as if it is happening at the moment. We can even tell about past events using the simple present, to create the feeling we are watching events as they unfold.

My suggestion: Click on the link below and read about using present vs. past tense in narration and about telling jokes or stories with active wording. Then do Practice 1 and Practice 2.

LINK: Using present vs. past tense in narration