Hello, and welcome to today's Grammar Gameshow
I’m your host, Will
– not going to!
And, of course, let’s not forget Leslie,
our all-knowing voice in the sky
Hello, everyone!
Tonight we’re going to ask three questions about…
The present simple and present continuous tenses
OK! Now, let’s meet our contestants!
Hi, everyone. I’m Sarah!
Contestant number 2?
Hi, Will. I'm Jim!
Let’s get going
and don’t forget, you can play along at home too
Our first round is a quick-fire round so
get those fingers on those buzzers
I’m going to show you a sentence
and I want to know
if it’s in the present simple tense
or the present continuous tense
One point for every correct answer
Ready? Let's go!
‘I never work very hard’
Present simple!
Correct!
‘I’m sitting at home.’
Present continuous!
Correct!
‘Are you having dinner?’
Present continuous!
Correct!
‘He doesn’t know.’
Present simple!
Correct!
‘Do you live here?’
Present simple!
Correct!
‘She isn’t coming home today.’
Present continuous!
Correct!
Tell them Leslie!
Well done!
The present simple is used for habits,
permanent situations and truth
and is formed using an –s on the verb
in the third person affirmative,
and do or does in questions and negatives
The present continuous talks about
actions happening now or around now
and is formed with be + ing
Good work. Let’s count out the points!
That’s one for you and one for you,
and two for you
and one, two for you
and three for you
and one, two, three for you
So...
Sarah has three
and Jim has six
But…
Let’s move on to our second round
True or false?
Both the present continuous and
the present simple can be used to talk about the future
False!
Only the present continuous can be used for the future
For example,
'I’m playing tennis tomorrow.'
Leslie?
Sorry, not quite right!
Jim, would you like to give it a try?
She said false and was wrong, so…
Errrrr…….True?
Leslie?
That’s right!
The present continuous can be used for
future arrangements, such as
‘I'm having dinner tomorrow.’
But the present simple can also be used for
the future for timetabled events,
such as aeroplanes
For example,
‘My flight leaves at 6.30 tomorrow.’
Good job Jim!
Have 30 points!
30 points!
What?
OK. It’s time for our final question.
Fingers on the buzzers.
When can the present simple be used
with a present continuous meaning?
Sorry, I got overexcited!
I know, I know! When you use a state verb!
Leslie?
Well done, Sarah.
State verbs - for example, need -
cannot be used continuously
You cannot say
'I am needing...', but only 'I need...'
– even if we mean right now.
Well done Sarah! Good answer.
You can have one point!
Oh come on….
how about two?
Alright, two then,
but no ice cream.
Well, that brings us to the end of today’s
Grammar Gameshow
Let’s count out the points
And the winner is….
Sarah with 31 points
Well done! Here’s what you’ve won!
I've won a holiday!
No, no!
You've won
a picture of a holiday
But I went there last year and it was lovely
And how did you do at home?
We’ll see you again next week,
where you can play for an even bigger prize
And Jim?
You tried hard,
but lost.
How do you feel?
Well...
not too bad to be honest…
Release the dogs!
It looks like we’ll need another contestant!
Thanks for joining us
Say goodbye, Leslie
Goodbye Leslie
See you next time