Chapter+1

Chapter 1: Simple and continuous tenses
**Continuous and Simple** The grammar in the English language has itself fundated onto eight tenses and two aspects, creating sixteen different "time"-styles for use in the sentences. In this summary, we'll be focussing on the aspects. Altough not in the book, we will include the tenses too, to be seen in the table below. - Aspect - ↓ || Present || Past || Present Future || Past Future || Present Perfect || Past Perfect || Present Future Perfect || Past Future Perfect || Continuous __ || I am waiting || I was waiting || I will be waiting || I would be waiting || I have been waiting || I had been waiting || I will have been waiting || I would have been waiting || Table 1 - Tenses and Aspects.
 * - Tense →
 * __ Simple __ || I wait || I waited || I will wait || I would wait || I have waited || I had waited || I will have waited || I would have waited ||
 * __

**__Simple__** The English present simple is the equivalent of the Dutch "tegenwoordige tijd". This tense includes parts of the sentence as "I read", "you eat", "he drinks", "we like" and "they think". The past form is equivalent to the Dutch "verleden tijd", and is recognizable as "I read", "you ate", "he drunk", "we liked" and "they thought".


 * __1.1 How to form the Continuous tenses.__**

This form is officialy not used in the Dutch language. It's most comparable to "Ik zit te werken", or "Hij is bezig met werken". The English language uses just one additional suffix - the ING suffix. You will get "I am working", and "He is working".

The continuous tenses always consist of a form of "to be", followed by the verb, then the suffix -ing placed on this verb:

- I __am working,__ - You __are swimming,__ - We __are eating,__

Besides a form of __"to be"__, a form of __"to come"__ , __"to go"__ , __"to lie"__ , __"to sit"__ and __"to stand"__ is occasionally used to form the continuous tense.

For example: - "He loudly came running to my house" - "The girls have gone playing volleyball".


 * __1.2 When to use a continuous tense.__**

The continuous tense is used to show that an action or a happening is (or was) going on at a particular moment or during a certain period of time. The action and/or the happening are **always** of __limited duration!__

For example: - I __am waiting__ for the bus. (limited duration, since the waiting will be over once you get into the bus) - The kids __are swimming__ in the sea. (limited duration, since the kids won't be swimming anymore when they get out) __//Some verbs are excluded from the generals rules of "being in progress" and "limited duration", those can be found on page 13 of "An English grammar for students in higher education".//__

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
 * __To summarise__**



The Simple tense is used when "being in progress" and "limited duration" are absent or irrelevant and when talking about a habit/routine, a job, characteristics or a general truth.
 * __1.3 When to use a Simple tense.__**

For example: - He plays tennis every Friday. (habit) - We work in the cinema on Saturdays. (talking about work)

__To make things a bit easier, here you are able to see when to use the Simple tense.__ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓




 * __1.4 Spelling changes before -ing__**

In order to add the continuous form, a slight change in the word has to be made. There are four different forms. > - like → liking > - create → creating > except at: > age → ageing (but it's aging in American English), > canoe → canoeing, > dye → dyeing, > hoe → hoeing > If a verb ends in IE, IE will always change into a Y when suffixing -ing. > - die → dying > - tie → tying > When **one** stressed vowel is in front of the final consonant, the final consonant is doubled to fit in the -ing. > - __stop__ → stopping > - ad__mit__ → admitting > > > So, there is **no** doubling in: > - stoop → st__oo__ping (because of two stressed vowel letters) > - develop → de__ve__loping (because the preceding vowel is not stressed) > except at: > - __kid__nap → kidnapping > - __wor__ship → worshipping > - __for__mat → formatting > - __pro__gram → programming > > > //Note 1: Focus is the only verb with two spellings: Focusing or Focussing > Note 2: The consonant L is special in only British English. With **one** vowel preceding, whether stressed or unstressed, the consonant receives a double, **except at the combination IA and UE**. Those two get a double L either. Both are not the case in American English.// > - panic → panicking > - picnic → picknicking > - traffic → trafficking
 * 1) **The E is left out to create the -ing form.**
 * 1) **IE will transform to a Y.**
 * 1) **The final consonant is doubled**
 * 1) **C becomes CK**


 * __EXERCISES:__ (fixed a little bit by JD)**


 * 1. Which of the following sentences are wrong? Correct them and give the grammar rule.**

1. Do you want to go out with me? No, thanks, I wait for my boyfriend. 2. driving in that car. 3. Are you feelling as bad as I am? 4. I am agreeing with your point of view 5. She thought about what she sees yesterday 6. I am refuelling the car 7. As expected, she is again arriving way too late 8. Wow! This triple chocolate cake tastes great! 9. The appointment is depending on my schedule. 10. This barrel is containing oil after they have filled it.

2. Give the correct British spelling of these continuous verbs: //__Answers:__ 1. "I'm waiting for my boyfriend" (Continuous instead of simple: in progress, limited duration) 2. Correct sentence. 3. "Are you feeling" (without the L because of the double vowel) 4. I agree with your point of view. (exception on page 13) 5. sees = saw - Wrong tense: Present simple word in a past sentence. 6. Correct sentence (spelling of refuelling) 7. "every week" tells us it's a habit --> simple present --> she arrives. 8. Correct sentence. 9. "The appointment depends on my schedule" Depending is in the list of "normally unused in continuous form" verbs 10. "This barrel contains oil after they have filled it". It's a fact, that makes it present simple.//
 * = think ||= vomit ||= die ||= please ||= succeed ||
 * = picnic ||= dial ||= occur ||= boil ||= kidnap ||
 * = thinking ||= vomiting ||= dying ||= pleasing ||= succeeding ||
 * = picnicking ||= dialling ||= occurring ||= boiling ||= kidnapping ||

__Bronvermelding__ P.L. Koning and Dr. P.J. van der Voort; An English Grammar for Students in Higher Education, pages 11 to 14; Wolters-Noordhoff; Groningen; 1997. Anonymus; Pedgrammar Wikispaces Summaries Chapter 9; LINK

Nils Stiekema & Max Strieder, © 2009.