Present Simple and Present Continuous: The Grammar Gameshow Episode 1

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