General English Pre-Intermediate Modules 1-4 Teacher's Guide (2.1 ...

Language Reference
Module One
The present simple
We use the present simple for:
1. Repeated events.
• I eat dinner at 7pm.
• She plays football on Saturdays.
2. Things that are true for a long time.
• They live in Mandalay.
• We like fishpaste.
Positive statements
subject verb
I/You/We/They live
work
lives
She/He/It
works
in Sittwe.
Spelling
Third person singular positive statement verb forms:
For most verbs we add -s.
When the verb ends in -ch,
-sh, -s, -x or -z we add -es.*
When the verb ends in a
consonant + -y remove the
-y and add -ies.
When the verb ends in a
vowel + -y, add -s.
* Also: do —does, go—goes
Negative statements
subject auxiliary base
I
You
We
They
He
She
It
don’t
(do not)
doesn’t
(does not)
live
work
read
cost
watch
mix
study
fly
buy
stay
here.
reads
costs
watches
mixes
studies
flies
buys
stays
NOTE: After do/don’t/doesn’t, we always use the
base form of the verb.
• She doesn’t live here
not: She doesn’t lives here.
Questions and answers
1. yes/no questions
auxiliary subject base
Do I/you/we/they
live here
Does she/he/it
2. Short answers
Yes,
No,
I/you/we/they
she/he/it
I/you/we/they
she/he/it
do
does
don’t
doesn’t
live here.
3. wh- questions
These have the same word order as yes/no
questions. The question word goes at the beginning.
• Where do you live
not: Where you do live
• When does she go to work
not: When she does go to work
to be in the present simple
Statements
I ‘m
He
She
It
We
You
They
positive
‘s
‘re
married.
I
He
She
It
We
You
They
negative
‘m not
isn’t
aren’t
NOTE: ’m = am, ’s = is, ’re = are, n’t = not
Chinese.
Questions and answers
To make yes/no questions with to be, we put the verb
before the subject.
1. yes/no questions and short answers
statement: He is from Singapore.
question:
Is he from Singapore
answer: • Yes, he is. not: Yes, he’s.
• No, he isn’t.
statement: You are a student.
question:
Are you a student
answer: • Yes, I am. not: Yes, I’m.
• No, I’m not. not: No, I am’t.
Language Reference
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