5th-grade students (Present Simple vs Present Continuous Tense)

Form

Simple Present	Present Continuous
infinitive (3rd person singular: infinitive + 's') I speak you speak he / she / it speaks we speak they speak	form of 'be' and verb + ing I am speaking you are speaking he / she / it is speaking we are speaking they are speaking
Exceptions
Exceptions when adding 's' : For can, may, might, must, do not add s. Example: he can, she may, it must After o, ch, sh or s, add es. Example: do - he does, wash - she washes After a consonant, the final consonant y becomes ie. (but: not after a vowel) Example: worry - he worries but: play - he plays	Exceptions when adding 'ing' : Silent e is dropped. (but: does not apply for -ee) Example: come - coming but: agree - agreeing After a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled. Example: sit - sitting After a vowel, the final consonant l is doubled in British English (but not in American English). Example: travel - travelling (British English) but: traveling (American English) Final ie becomes y. Example: lie - lying

Use

In general or right now?

Do you want to express that something happens in general or that something is happening right now?

Simple Present	Present Continuous
in general (regularly, often, never) Colin plays football every Tuesday. present actions happening one after another First Colin plays football, then he watches TV.	right now Look! Colin is playing football now. also for several actions happening at the same time Colin is playing football and Anne is watching.
Signal words
always every ... often normally usually sometimes seldom never first then	at the moment at this moment today now right now Listen! Look!
Note: The following verbs are usually only used in Simple Present: be, have, hear, know, like, love, see, smell, think, want Now, dear students, visit the following links to practise the two tenses.  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex02  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex03  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex04  http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex05 http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex06