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Meaning and use

We use the present simple for:

things that we do regularly

facts and truths

habits

permanent situations

We often use adverbs of frequency and time expressions like every day, once a week, on Fridays.

I check my email every day. (regular activity)

Sheryl works at the bank. (permanent situation)

We use the present continuous for:

things that are happening now - at the time we are speaking,

temporary situations

activities that are in progress

We often use time expressions like at the moment, today, this week.

Just a minute. I'm checking my email. (now)

She usually works in London, but she's working from home this week. (temporary situation)

Form - Positive

The present simple has the same form as the infinitive without 'to'' for I, you, we and they. For he, she and it, we add -s or -es to the infinitive.

Julian starts work at nine o'clock and finishes at five.

Can I call you back later? We're having dinner right now.

Form - Negative

Form - questions

The present simple question form is do/does + subject + infinitive without 'to'.

the news online every day?

The present continuous question form is am/is/are+ subject + verb-ing.

Is it raining?

Take note: spelling changes

In the present simple, regular verbs end in -s or -es, but -y changes to -i.
marry - marries study - studies
In the present continuous, all verbs end in -ing, but sometimes the spelling changes.

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BBC Learning English - Course: lower intermediate / Unit 2 / Grammar Reference

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Meaning and use
Adverbs give us more information about a verb. Adverbs of frequency tell us how often an activity happens. There are many adverbs to choose from. Here are some of the most common ones, listed from most frequent to least frequent
They usually arrive late. My father often forgets his birthday. He sometimes wakes up early. I rarely drink tea in the morning. You hardly ever say you love me. Jenny never drinks coffee in the evening.
We can use adverbs of frequency with the verb to be.
This time of year is usually the coldest.
We can use modal verbs with adverbs of frequency. For example, we can use the auxiliary verbs can, should and might, which express ability (can), obligation (should), and possibility (might).
Laura can sometimes hold her breath for over a minute. You should always put on suncream when it's very sunny. We might never see each other again. Form
Adverbs of frequency go before the main verb.
subject + adverb + main verb They sometimes take a taxi.
They go after the verb 'to be'.
subject + to be + adverb + main verb I am always late for work. He is often ready for work at 6 am. We aren't usually hungry in the morning.
They go between a modal and the main verb.
subject + modal + adverb + main verb You should always wear a helmet. I can sometimes hear my neighbour's TV. Positive I always take the bus into town. Jenny is often late for work. Negative
The adverb of frequency goes between the auxiliary and the main verb.
We don't usually watch TV after lunch. They can't always wait for you.
It goes after 'to be'.
I am not always this organised. They aren't usually late. Question
For questions, the order is auxiliary + subject + adverb of frequency + verb.
Take note: negative adverbs
Negative adverbs such as never, seldom, rarely and hardly evercannot be used in negative sentences. The following sentence is incorrect, because it has a double negative.
WRONG: Take note: sometimes The weather isn't never sunny. We sometimes go fishing. We go fishing sometimes. Take note: adverbs of frequency and the present continuous
Sometimes can go before the subject, before the main verb, and after the main verb.
She's always losing her phone. Spoken English
We usually use adverbs of frequency with the present simple, but they can also be used with the present continuous. The adverb comes between the auxiliary and the main verb.

Some people pronounce the /t/ sound in often; other people pronounce often with a 'silent t'. Both are acceptable.

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BBC Learning English - Course: lower intermediate / Unit 4 / Grammar Reference

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Meaning and use Adverbs give us more information about a verb. Adverbs of frequency tell us how often an activity happens. There are many adverbs to choose from. Here are some of the most common ones, listed from most frequent to least frequent They usually arrive late. My father often forgets his birthday.

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Past simple - Meaning and use

We use the past simple when an action or situation happens and finishes in the past. We usually say or know when it happened.

She called me at the office yesterday.

I worked in London in 2010.

Steve went to the US three times last year.

We often use the past simple in stories, when one thing happens after another in the past.

I stopped working in London and I looked for another job.

Past simple positive

For regular verbs, the past simple ends in -ed. Irregular verbs have a different past form. The past simple form is the same for all persons ( I, you, he, she, etc.)

I finished university in 2010 and I started a job in a bank.

Then he left that job and went to live in Japan.

We lived there for a year.

Past simple negative

We make the negative form with didn't (did not) + infinitive without 'to'.

I didn't like working in a bank.

He didn't go to the US. He went to Japan.

Past simple questions

Past simple wh-word questions are made from question word + did + subject + infinitive.

Where did you go last night?

The question word how is usually combined with other words when asking for information, such as size, time, or the price of something.

How long did it take to cook dinner?

Past simple yes/no questions are made from did + subject + infinitive without 'to'.

Did you like living in Japan?

What did your children do there?

We can use short answers:

Did you go to Anjali's party last night? Yes, I did. / No, I didn't.

Take note: spelling changes

Some regular verbs end in -ed, but have some spelling changes in the past simple.

Take note: time expressions

We often use the past simple with time expressions like yesterday, last month, six years ago, when I was a child.

Did you travel a lot when you were young?

He married Sonya three years ago.

Irregular verbs
Infinitive - Past simple - Past participle
fall - fell - fallen

feel - felt - felt

get - got - got

go - went - gone/been

have - had - had

hurt - hurt - hurt

keep - kept - kept

put - put - put

run - ran - run

take - took - taken

tell - told - told

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BBC Learning English - Course: lower intermediate / Unit 6 / Grammar Reference

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We use the past simple when an action or situation happens and finishes in the past. We usually say or know when it happened. She called me at the office yesterday. I worked in London in 2010. Steve went to the US three times last year.

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Meaning and use
We use the past simple for something that happened and finished in the past. We use it when we say or know the time when something happened. It is often used in stories, when one thing happened after another.
Last year, we travelled by jeep across the Sahara.
We use the past continuous for something that happened in the past but was not finished at a particular time. This can be an exact time in the past (12 o'clock, etc.) or the time when another thing happened.
It was 12 o'clock and we were standing in the midday sun. Mick was checking the engine when the rescue helicopter arrived.
We also use the past continuous to describe a scene or situation in the past or for an action that continued for some time.
The stars were beginning to come out. The dog was barking loudly.
Form
Past simple: positive
For regular verbs, the past simple ends in -ed. Irregular verbs have different forms. The past simple form is the same for all persons ( I, you, he, she, etc).
Suddenly the jeep skidded and stopped. Jake thought that we had a puncture. Past continuous: positive
The past continuous is subject + was/were + -ing form. There are no short forms of was/were.
Fortunately, we were carrying a toolkit.
Past simple: n egativeWe make the negative past simple with didn't + infinitive.

We didn't stay inside the jeep because that was even hotter.

Past continuous: n egativeWe make the negative past continuous with wasn't/weren't + -ing form
Despite the heat, Jess and Debs weren't wearing hats.
The past simple question form is did + subject + infinitive for all persons. The short answers are Yes, I did. / No, I didn't.
Past continuous: q uestion How were you feeling when it arrived?
The past continuous question form is was/were + subject + -ing form. The short answers are Yes, I was. / No, I wasn't.

Take note: spelling changes

In the past continuous, all verbs end in -ing, but sometimes the spelling changes:

Take note: verbs we don't use in the past continuous

There are some verbs that we don't usually use in the continuous form. They are often verbs related to the senses and thinking, for example: hear, see, smell, hate, know, understand, believe, notice, want, need, seem, wish.

WRONG: Were you knowing Jess when you were living in Madrid?

CORRECT: Did you know Jess when you were living in Madrid?

Spoken English

In the past simple and the past continuous, we usually use a contraction with the negative auxiliary verb:

didn't (= did not) wasn't (= was not)
He wasn't looking when his team scored a goal.
We usually say the positive and negative auxiliary verbs quickly and without emphasis. We don't usually pronounce the final 't' in 'didn't', 'wasn't' or 'weren't' in the flow of speech.
They were delayed, so they didn't arrive on time.
But when the word following the contraction begins with a vowel sound, we pronounce the final 't':

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BBC Learning English - Course: lower intermediate / Unit 7 / Grammar Reference

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Meaning and use We use the past simple for something that happened and finished in the past. We use it when we say or know the time when something happened. It is often used in stories, when one thing happened after another. Last year, we travelled by jeep across the Sahara.

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Finn
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I'm Finn...

Alice
And I'm Alice. In today's show we're going to look chunks of language.

Finn
Yes, and by chunks of language we mean groups of words that naturally go together. And we're going to do that by listening to Kirsten, a student from Germany, talking about her typical morning.

Alice
We'll look closely at the chunks of language Kirsten uses...

Finn
We'll have a quiz to see what we've learnt...

Alice
And we'll bring you a top tip for learning vocabulary.

Finn
But before all that, we're going to hear from Kirsten, who's studying right here in London.

Alice
She's talking about her typical college day. Now, two questions for you to think about while you listen. First, why does Kirsten have to leave?

Finn
And second, why do you think Kirsten's English sounds a little bit unnatural?

Alice
Let's find out.

INSERTMy typical morning? Well, I never go out on an unfilled stomach, so before class, I usually have a complete English breakfast - I love it.Getting to class can take a big time because it is the rush period. But when I get to class it is a lot of enjoyment because my classmates come from all over the earth. Anyway, I must go into class right now, but I'll be back in a period.

Alice
So, why does she have to leave?

Finn
She has to go to class. Well done if you got that. But why did Kirsten's English sound a little bit unnatural?

Alice
Well, we understood her, but she did make some unusual word choices.

Finn
Yes. And that's because she made some mistakes when she tried to use English fixed expressions, or chunks of language.

First she said she doesn't like going out on an unfilled stomach. The normal way to say that you are doing something without eating first is to say you're doing something on an empty stomach.

Next she said she likes to eat a complete English breakfast. The usual way to describe eggs, bacon, sausage and tomato is a full English breakfast.

Ooh, feeling a bit hungry now. Then she said that going to college takes a big time, but the chunk is to take a long time.

And it takes a long time because it is the rush period - but the usual expression is the rush hour.

Kirsten told us that class is a lot of enjoyment. But we usually say a lot of fun.

It's fun because Kirsten's friends come from all over the earth - normally all over the world.

Finn
And let's listen to the last sentence again.

So she'll return soon to talk more, but the usual way to say this is back in a bit. Or back in a minute.

Alice
Great stuff. So, let's listen to Kirsten again, this time with all the correct chunks of language.

My typical morning? Well, I never go out on an empty stomach, so before class, I usually have a full English breakfast - I love it. Getting to class can take a long time because it is the rush hour. But when I get to class it's a lot of fun because my classmates come from all over the world. Anyway, I must go into class right now, but I'll be back in a bit.

Finn
Well done Kirsten. It sounded much more natural that time.

IDENT
You're listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

Alice
Well done if you got that.

Finn
That brings us almost to the end of today's show.

Alice
But before we go, here's today's top tip - instead of learning lists of vocabulary word by word, try picking up natural chunks of language that you hear people using. Learning these chunks will make your English sound much more natural.

Finn
Great advice. There's more about this at BBC learning English dot com. Please join us again for six-minute vocabulary.

Both
Goodbye!

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BBC Learning English - Course: lower intermediate / Unit 4 / Session 1 / Activity 5

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Finn Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I'm Finn... Alice And I'm Alice. In today's show we're going to look chunks of language. Finn Yes, and by chunks of language we mean groups of words that naturally go together. And we're going to do that by listening to Kirsten, a student from Germany, talking about her typical morning.

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to do something on an empty stomach

to do something without eating first     You shouldn’t go swimming on an empty stomach.

a full English breakfast

a cooked breakfast, usually with bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes, toast and tea
I usually have cornflakes in the morning, but on Saturdays I have a full English breakfast.

to take a long time

to happen slowly
It takes a long time to learn to play the piano.

the rush hour

the period of time in the morning and evening when the traffic is very busy with people going to and from work
Don’t travel by train during the rush hour. You’ll have to stand up all the way.

a lot of fun

very enjoyable
That party was a lot of fun.

all over the world

everywhere around the earth
I travelled all over the world when I was in the military.

(I’ll be) back in a bit

(I’ll) return soon
I’m just going to the shops. Back in a bit!

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Welcome to my kitchen. Today I'm going to try and talk you through making my favourite dish - a traditional full English breakfast - or what we sometimes call a fry-up - can you guess why we call it that? Well maybe you will when you listen to this!

So we've got to have some meat in a fry-up so I'll start with my sausages so I'm going to put those in the frying pan carefully - the cooking oil's quite hot so you can already hear them sizzling away - and sounding delicious as well. We sometimes call them bangers simply because they ' bang' and ' pop' when they're cooking. Like that!

And let's quickly stick in the bacon too - trying not to splatter myself with hot cooking oil - I should be wearing an apron - there it goes crackling away in the pan. Listen to that! It makes your mouth water, doesn't it?

Now a fry-up usually includes baked beans - so I have a bowl here to heat some up - I'll just plop the beans in there and heat them in the microwave - stirring them occasionally so they don't burn.

Ah, we can't forget the eggs so in another frying pan, I'm just going to gently crack open an egg and fry that too - lovely!

And I need a few mushrooms, so I'm going to chop those up into small slices - and fry those up in the pan too.

Of course, I need some toast to accompany my breakfast, so I'm going to slice some bread with the bread knife - put that in the toaster - and hopefully when it pops up it will be nice and crunchy and I can smother it in butter.

Ah, there's the ping of the microwave so the beans are ready now, let's get those out.

And finally, you've always got to have a big mug of steaming hot tea to slurp - something to wash down all that lovely greasy food. Cooking is thirsty work.

OK the toast has popped up so I'm about ready to serve up and munch on all this tasty food. I just need to put it on the plate now and smother it all with tomato ketchup and sprinkle on some salt. Now it's time chomp away and gulp down my tea - ahhh!

So that's my perfect meal - I'm sorry you're not here to join me.

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BBC Learning English - Course: intermediate / Unit 15 / Session 4 / Activity 1

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Welcome to my kitchen. Today I'm going to try and talk you through making my favourite dish - a traditional full English breakfast - or what we sometimes call a fry-up - can you guess why we call it that? Well maybe you will when you listen to this!

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Here is a video with verbs used for cooking

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Cooking Vocabulary in English - Cooking Verbs

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Countable vs. Uncountable FOOD in English | Food and Drinks Vocabulary