Smart ways to use the PRESENT SIMPLE and CONTINUOUS in IELTS Speaking | Keith's Grammar Guides

- Hello, my friends and welcome.

So I'm starting a series of videos about grammar.

And today we're gonna be looking at four grammatical tenses,

I'm gonna show you how to form them and how you can use

them in the IELTS speaking test.

Let's do it!

(bright upbeat dramatic music)

Hi, my name is Keith and I run the Keith Speaking Academy,

and I'm here to help you speak better English,

give better answers and get a higher score

on the IELTS speaking test.

So I wanted to start a series of videos about grammar.

A lot of people have asked me about grammar,

but specifically grammar for the IELTS speaking test.

Did you know that written grammar,

and spoken grammar are a little bit different?

So today we're gonna look at four different tenses

all around the present time.

So we're gonna look at present simple,

present continuous, present perfect,

and the present perfect continuous, right?

The four tenses in the present time,

or so we think.

So when it comes to grammar,

it's really important, I think, there are two things,

two things we should look at.

One is the rules of grammar.

So being able to understand, know

and follow grammatical rules is important.

But that's only half the story.

The other 50% is about creating meaning.

So what do I mean by that, is that when we use different

tenses we create a certain meaning.

And very often it's not about it's right or it's wrong,

it's about what do you mean?

So for example, right?

Some people say to me, Keith,

when the examiner asks me where do you live?

Do you, do I say, I live in London or I am living in London?

Well, the thing is grammatically they're both correct.

But each one creates a slightly different meaning.

And it's important that you understand the meaning

you are creating to have good communication, right?

In fact, you could say,

I have lived in London or I have been living in London.

All of them are correct, but what's the meaning?

So we will focus on grammatical rules,

but also creating meaning, it's really important,

especially when we're speaking, right?

Okay, great, just as we begin to let you know,

if you're interested I do have an online course.

It looks at IELTS speaking in depth,

different questions and topics,

part one, two and three,

gives you lots of language

and pronunciation to help you as well as ideas actually,

to help you do better in IELTS speaking.

It's on Udemy somewhere up here, go and check

it out, if it's right for you, go for it.

Now, then let's get into that really interesting

world of grammar.

Right, so let's begin!

Oh, actually I've just noticed you can see my Zoom shirt.

(chuckles)

My zoom shirt, do you know what a Zoom shirt is, right?

Do you know in the times of COVID-19,

more and more people are working online?

So the survey was done

and discovered that most people walk around the house

in summer wearing very little, maybe nothing.

And when it comes to the meetings

they take the shirt off the back of the chair,

they put on the shirt,

they get all dressed up and then they have their official

serious professional meeting, right?

(laughs)

And well, who knows if they're wearing trousers,

boxer shorts, one sock, odd coloured socks,

nobody knows, it's the, it's called the Zoom shirt.

So I'm gonna get rid of this, 'cause I've already got

my shirt on.

Right, let's get down to business.

I'm gonna look today at the present tenses.

Let's begin with the present simple, right?

Now, the presence symbol,

is used to talk about states,

things that are fairly permanent, right?

I live in Santander, right?

For example, here, I live in Santander.

I work in a university.

My brother studies law.

Actually, those are not entirely true.

I live in Santander, that's true.

I don't work in a university, I work from home,

and actually my brother doesn't study law,

he studies, he doesn't study.

What am I saying?

(laughs)

He's older than me.

He works, he works in the finance field.

So these are different states, right?

We can say, I live in Santander,

my, well, let me tell you, my dad lives in Manchester.

My brother lives in Chorlton.

My sister lives in the North of England too.

Me and my family we live here in Spain.

So let's have a look at the form here.

So we will say, right?

I, you, we, they plus the verb.

So I live, you live, right?

Or in the negative, I don't live in England, right?

I live here!

So it's I, you, we, they plus don't plus the verb, okay?

For example, I want to talk,

but you don't want to listen, common scenario.

(laughing)

Now, with he and she it's different,

and this is what is the real challenge, right?

'Cause you probably know this but you forget it.

So we use, he, she or it plus the verb plus S,

or sometimes ES when you're spelling it.

But the S sound,

the negative doesn't plus the verb, no, S, right?

So he wants to talk,

but Jane doesn't want to listen, right?

Notice the S disappears in the negative.

So that's the form how we make it.

We've said we can use it for states, right?

I live, so the kind of questions clearly at the beginning

of IELTS speaking,

the typical questions like where do you live?

What do you do?

What do you study, right?

These are typical questions.

And of course you can use the present simple,

I live in Santander,

I work from home, I'm a teacher,

I teach people English.

What do you study?

Well, actually, I study,

if I'm at university, I study geography

or I study English, right?

These are states,

and we can use the present simple tense,

we can use, right?

That doesn't mean you must use, okay?

Remember we talked about creating meaning,

so when I use the present simple, I study English,

it gives a sense of a permanent state,

we're creating that meaning.

What else can we use the present simple for?

Well, we use it for routines, right?

For example, I go to work by bus.

It's not true, actually, 'cause I don't go to work,

but I walk around the park most mornings, that is true.

I usually drink tea when I get up, I don't drink

coffee, partly true.

(air whooshing)

But you can see the routines that I have, right?

I get up in the morning,

I brush my teeth, blah, blah, blah!

So the kind of question you may use

this could be, do you take public transport?

Yes, I go to work by bus.

What do you do in the mornings?

I get up, I go for a walk in the morning,

I drink coffee, what do you like to drink?

Well, I drink coffee in the mornings,

or I drink tea in the mornings,

because I don't like coffee,

all in the present simple,

so we can use it, the present symbol for routines as well.

Now, similarly, but a little bit different,

we use the present simple for habits that we have, right?

So for me, I do cook,

I cook now and again, but actually in my house

my wife usually cooks at home, right?

Other habits I have, I read the newspaper in the morning,

I drink tea or I drink coffee.

I think I drink too much coffee actually.

It's a bit of a bad habit.

So for habits, we can also use present simple.

So coming back to the questions

you may have similar questions, right?

Do you cook?

Yes, I cook at the weekends,

I cook now and again, but my wife

usually does most of the cooking,

present simple, right?

What do you do in the mornings?

What are your habits?

Well, I go for a walk,

I have a cup of coffee, I have breakfast,

all in the present simple.

Okay, so it's similar to routine,

but also we can talk about negative habits, right?

I think I drink too much coffee.

I don't do enough exercise,

or maybe, or I smoke too much.

I don't, by the way!

And finally, the present simple is really good for stories,

telling a story,

maybe a film that you've watched

or a book that you've read,

any kind of a story.

For example, you may get questions

like, tell me about a film that you liked,

or describe a book you read recently.

This could be in the present simple,

we often use it for example.

So in this film, right?

This girl travels across America,

and in the end she finds her family.

We can use the presence simple,

it makes the story feel very alive

and here, and it's very powerful.

And so it's a really nice way to create a vivid

and kind of present feeling towards the story.

Great, so that is the present simple tense,

different ways that we can use it.

Let's move on!

Now, number two is the present continuous tense, right?

Now, by the way, do you like my new lamp?

This one, it's lovely, right?

Actually my wife put it there.

I think sometimes it's nice to have the female touch,

just to make things a little bit more 'alegre' (Spanish).

What's that, happy, yes!

(laughs)

Lovely touch, so thank you for that!

Now, present continuous!

For example, right?

I'm living in Santander.

(air whooshing)

Hang on, Keith, you just said I live in Santander, right?

So I am living in Santander,

present continuous, is also a state

but it's a temporary state.

I'm creating meaning or a feeling of being temporary.

What is temporary?

Part-time, for a short time, not forever.

No, for a short time, not permanent.

(air whooshing)

So it's a temporary state.

So I'm living in Santander,

sounds like I'm here for a while, but I may move

on to another place later, right?

Whereas I live in Santander,

sounds like this is my home from now until the day I die,

it's very permanent.

Can you see the difference?

So for example, if I said to my family in England,

well, I live in Santander,

they might not be happy,

'cause it sounds like I'm gonna stay here.

But if I say I'm living in Santander,

they may think, oh, that's good 'cause it's temporary,

and you will be coming back to England,

making them happy,

or maybe not.

(laughs)

Yes, I'm sure it would.

But, so can you see the difference, right?

Both are correct, but there's just a difference

of meaning creating a different meaning, okay?

For example, temporarily I'm living in London,

I'm staying with my brother for a few weeks, right?

For a short time.

Whether it's a week, a month or a year it doesn't matter,

it's the idea of a short time.

Another example, right?

I'm working from home.

Now, I guess, people who normally work in an office,

but during COVID-19 might say,

well, this month I'm working from home.

But I would say I work from home, why?

That's right because for me it's my job,

I permanently work here, I work from home, right?

It's a permanent state, I always work from home.

But somebody who does it temporary might say,

well, I'm working from home for the month of August.

Okay, that's the difference.

Now, when it comes to study,

we may say my brother is studying law at university,

or my brother studies law at university,

they're both correct but one is slightly a feeling

of more permanent and one is less permanent, right?

So for example, how can you create meaning?

If I go to a job interview,

and I want to make the interviewer,

feel I want to work there, I want to go there, right?

I might say, well, I'm studying law at university,

'cause it sounds temporary for a short time,

and that I'm really keen to come, to stop studying

and come to work for you.

So we can create this nice meaning, right?

With the present continuous.

Let's have a look at the form.

So we will use the subject plus BE plus the verb with ING.

So I am watching TV now.

Of course, I'm not, I'm talking to you now.

You are listening to me, right?

She is living in London right now, okay?

That's the format!

With the negative we use the subject plus BE plus

not and the verb ING, right?

I am not listening to you.

I'm not listening to you anymore!

You are not talking to me anymore.

And worth noting, when we speak

we usually make the contraction.

So I am listening, I'm listening,

your listening, she's listening, okay?

That contraction is very common in spoken English.

I'm not listening, you're not listening,

or you aren't listening.

She's not listening or she isn't listening,

that's in the negative.

Good, so the kind of questions we may use

this, again, at the beginning of IELTS, right?

Where do you live?

What do you do?

What do you study?

Depending on the meaning you want to create,

you could say, well, I'm living in Santander,

I'm working as a teacher,

and I'm, or I'm studying,

I'm studying photography in my spare time,

and the feeling of it being temporary, okay?

In daily conversation, we would emphasise the now, right?

Imagine you meet up with an old friend,

and they say, well, what are you doing now?

What are you doing these days or recently?

Well, I'm married, I'm living in Santander,

I'm working as a teacher online,

I'm doing this, I'm doing that, right?

We can use the present continuous tense.

The present continuous is used a lot for new habits.

So remember the present simple we use for habits, right?

But if they're new habits,

so again, temporary at the moment,

we would use the present continuous, right?

For example, I'm now really into plants.

So I'm growing some plants at home now.

I'm growing some basil and some flowers.

Also during COVID-19, right?

We had the confinement,

and so I'm not getting out so much, I'm eating

too much these days, bad habit.

I'm not doing enough sport, bad habit.

So these are new habits, present continuous.

So you can imagine for the kind of questions

like, do you know much about plants?

Of course, you can say, yes, I do!

But you could also talk about the new habit.

I'm planting some flowers in my garden right now,

or I'm growing some herbs on my balcony.

What about the question,

do you eat healthy food?

Well, I usually do, but nowadays I'm eating

too much fast food,

because of the confinement, right?

Or what about, do you lead a healthy lifestyle?

Well, I like to walk in the morning,

I usually go for a walk in the morning,

but these days,

due to the lockdown,

I not doing as much sport as I would like.

In fact, I'm not doing any sport at all these days.

I'm not doing, see, present continuous.

Good, and there's a curious use of the present continuous,

which is about annoying habits,

irritating habits, right?

Habits you don't like that other people have, right?

For example, let's imagine your boss,

and he's always making you work late, right?

We often use it with always,

he's always doing that.

It means I'm creating the feeling, right?

That this is a habit and I don't like it.

My boss is always making me work late, right?

He's always giving me too much work.

He's always talking to me when I'm trying

to get things done.

(air whooshing)

My wife is always telling me to do more exercise, right?

That her telling me is the annoying habit, right?

She's always nagging,

she's always going on about doing more exercise,

or maybe, right?

You've got a newly born baby.

Well, recently my baby is not sleeping,

so I have to stay up.

My baby is not sleeping,

so it's a habit of the baby,

it's a bit annoying

with all respect to babies around the world,

but when you're trying to sleep, right?

My baby is not sleeping,

I need to stay up and look after him or her.

So we can use it for this new, for new habits

or annoying habits.

But that theme of being temporary

is the key thing for the present continuous tense.

Great, guys, I hate to do this but I'm running out of time,

and this is not gonna get finished this week,

so I'm going to stop here and split this video into two,

part one and part two.

This is part one, right?

We've looked at the present simple

and present continuous tense,

and how they can compare.

I'm gonna stop here and next time in part two,

look at the present perfect and present perfect continuous,

and how all four tenses are connected.

But for now I'm afraid I'm leaving you with a cliffhanger.

(air whooshing)

(laughs)

What's gonna happen?

Okay, listen, I hope this helps you so far.

Look out for part two next week.

Thank you very much for watching.

Please do like this, subscribe, turn on notifications.

Look out for that part two video.

Take care everybody, bye, bye!