tefl – The Life and Times of Ben Weinberg

English Corner – Simple Future Tense

In the past couple of editions of the ‘English Corner’, we’ve gone from the past to the present in terms of understanding and using the grammar structures that encompass these lengths of time. Now, we’re going to take our knowledge of English grammar into the future by going over and analyzing the ‘Simple Future’ tense. If you have a good basis of understanding when it comes to the past tense and the present tense, you should have no trouble with the future tense, especially the ‘simple’ version of the tense to start out with.

In order to master the simple future tense, we need to use the word ‘will’ and implement that word into the correct order of the sentence. This is why the simple future tense is sometimes known as the ‘will tense’ instead due to the importance of this particular word. In order to create the correct form of the simple future tense, we need to get the structure down without any problems.

As always in the English language, we are going to want to start our sentence even in the simple future tense with the ‘subject’ at the beginning whether it is ‘I, You, They, We, He / She, It, etc. After the subject comes the auxiliary verb first which in this case you are going to put the future indicator ‘will’ right after the subject. Once you have the subject and the auxiliary verb set up, you can then put the main verb after that to fill out the third part of the sentence. Lastly, you’re going to finish the sentence with the action taking place and the object that is being referred to. Overall, the structure of a ‘simple future’ tense sentence should be ‘subject + auxiliary verb + main verb + action (object).

Here are a few examples to consider:

I will go to the store today.
He will do his homework before tomorrow.
We will attend the theater musical later tonight.
They will finish the job as necessary.
She will study mathematics for her test tomorrow.

Sometimes, you’re going to want to make the simple future tense from its’ usual, positive form into the negative form which isn’t that much different except for one important difference. In order to make this grammar tense negative, you’re going to want to put the word ‘not’ between the auxiliary verb, which is the word ‘will’ and the main verb, which could be any number of verbs to express what you would like to be doing in the future.

If you want to go ahead and put the simple future tense into the question form, you’re going to want to exchange the usual placement of the subject for the auxiliary verb and switch them around with each other. In order to get a better understanding of the negative and question forms of the simple future tense, let us take a look at some examples that I have listed below:

Negative

I will not go to the store tomorrow.
He will not beg to keep his job.
You will not get a promotion unfortunately.

Questions

Will you do your homework please?
Will she go out with you to the dance this weekend?
Will we win the match if we practice hard today?

Another thing to be aware of when it comes to the simple future tense is that you don’t need to use ‘will’ in the auxiliary verb part of the sentence all of the time. To express the future, you can exchange ‘will’ for ‘shall’ in order to get your point across.

Examples

I shall not waver from this decision that I must make tomorrow.
I shall work my hardest to ace this job interview on Wednesday.

Beyond just writing correctly in the simple future tense, when it comes to the spoken form, you can be much more informal with your choice of words. If you’re speaking to someone about the future, you’re going to want to contract both the subject and the auxiliary verb. You should push them together to become one word with the help of a well-placed apostrophe. You don’t have to speak or write in the contracted form but you can do so if you’re being informal and don’t feel the need to sound everything out for the other person or for the audience.

Examples

I will –> I’ll

I’ll be sure to call you back after I’m done cooking.

You’ll need more time to study tonight since your exam is tomorrow.

In addition to contracting the positive form, you can also contract the negative form of ‘will’ with a slight difference in its’ wording. Instead of ‘will’ being contracted into ‘I’ll’, it becomes something else entirely.

Examples

I will –> I won’t

We won’t stop the strike until our demands are met.

They won’t stop playing their awful music in the house next door.

Now that we have the structure of the simple present tense down to a science, let’s focus on the ways in which we can use this grammar form to the best of our ability.

More often than not, the main reason we choose to use the simple future tense is because we have no plans or obligations ahead of us so we can choose to do things spontaneously instead without putting much thought into it. Sometimes, as human beings, we do things without much planning so using ‘will’ in a sentence to express a spontaneous action is quite useful. The decision that you make or the action that you take can occur right away or within a short notice.

Examples

I’ll bring you a drink.
We will go see the new Star Wars movie tonight.
They will leave after dessert is served.

It should be kept in mind that there are a few known exceptions where ‘will’ is actually the main verb in a sentence and the auxiliary verb is another word that can take its’ place to express a future action to take place. The primary example of this exception is the word ‘think’, which can exchange places with ‘will’ to become the auxiliary verb and to express what the subject may do in the future with regards to their plans or obligations.

Examples

I think I’ll buy a bike later today.
We think they’ll do the right thing and return the money.
She doesn’t think that you are guilty.

Another main use of the simple future tense is to try and predict the future. While these predictions aren’t foolproof and could end up being wrong, we try to be as certain as possible before using ‘will’ in a sentence to prove its’ inevitability. As human beings, we are prone to make mistakes but we try to predict the future as if it is set in stone.

Examples

It will snow heavily tomorrow.
He said the Yankees will win the World Series this season.
We will be victorious in the spelling bee next week.

Lastly, without changing the structure of the simple future tense, you can add the verb ‘to be’ after the important auxiliary verb ‘will’ to create some additional sentences with the same grammatical form. It is not necessary to use ‘be’ in a sentence with ‘will’ but it can help you to create additional examples such as the ones below.

Examples

I will be waiting for you outside the doctor’s office when you finish.
Will we be meeting at the ice skating rink at 8 PM?
They won’t be able to come tonight to dinner, should we reschedule?

Oftentimes, you can use ‘going to’, the present progressive (continuous) tense to express what plans or actions you have for the future. However, for now and for the next edition of ‘English Corner’, we are going to continue to focus on how to use ‘will’ to express the future including its’ continuous form, which we will review next month. Until then, keep studying your English and please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

English Corner – Past Progressive Tense

Now that we have covered both the Simple Past Tense and the Present Progressive tense in the past few months, we will be able to move forward with our summary and analysis of this month’s ‘English Corner’ focusing on the underrated yet important ‘Past Progressive Tense.’ If you want to express your sentiments or observations in English regarding something that was happening in the past as a continuous action or movement with no clear end date, you’re going to want to utilize the past progressive tense in order to make the grammar of your sentence work properly.

While not as popular as the simple past tense, it’s an important concept to grasp in order to fully understand the past tense as a whole. Both the simple and progressive forms of the past tense tend to overlap quite a bit, sometimes in the same sentence or paragraph, making it necessary to know when and where to use both or either grammar tense to talk about actions and happenings in the past. Compared to most grammar tenses that you will learn in the course of your English studies, the past progressive tense tends to be one of the simplest and easiest to grasp.

To form the ‘past progressive’ tense is quite simple and is very similar to the present progressive tense in how the structure works. In order to make this grammar tense function, you need to put the ‘to be’ verb in the past tense. There are two different ways for accomplishing this method. If it is a singular action that was occurring, you’re going to use the word ‘was’ before the main verb if you’re referring to one person or thing. However, if it is a plural action being described, you’re going to use the word ‘were’ before the main verb if you’re referring to more than one person or thing.

The actual main verb is going to be in its’ present progressive form with –ing being added to the end of each verb after ‘was’ or ‘were’ that will make it a past progressive tense sentence. It is very important that you follow this structure, otherwise, your sentence won’t make much grammatical sense and you’ll need to re-order the structure in order for your sentence to be understood by the reader. Don’t stress about it if you don’t get the concept at first.

Here are some examples with the basic form of the past progressive tense using ‘was’ or ‘were’:

I was riding on the train when lightning struck the tracks nearby.
We were going to go to the movies on Saturday night but you canceled on me.
They were talking about us at the lunch table today as we walked by.
He was not doing the job like his boss wanted him to do it.

If you are thinking of making the past progressive tense negative, all you need to do is to put the word ‘not’ between the ‘to be’ verb in the past form and the actual action that was taking place at the time. If you’re struggling with forming a sentence by using the past progressive tense, you should look to these examples in order to help you in the future as an English student.

When it comes to the past progressive tense, you are often describing an action or an occurrence that is happening within a limited time frame while something else in the past was going on at the same time. When you write a sentence in the past progressive tense, you should be aware that most sentences with this grammar tense would be describing two actions in the past and not just one action. Here are some examples of past progressive sentences where two actions are being described simultaneously:

1) John lost his wallet while he was dancing salsa at the club.

2) Jane found her keys while she was watching her favorite television show.

3) We ate a lot of tapas dishes while the bands were playing Spanish music at the restaurant.

As you can see, it is quite easy to form the past progressive tense in a sentence if you are able to describe two actions occurring within the same timeframe. The major difference between the simple past tense and the past progressive tense that any student of English grammar should be aware is the fact that the simple past tense describes a completed action from the past while the past progressive tense describes an incomplete action from the past that is still playing out. If you’re still confused, here are some examples that highlight the difference between the simple past tense and the past progressive tense:

I slept throughout the night while the rain was coming down heavily. (Simple past tense and Past progressive tense)
I drank too much juice yesterday, which made me sick. (Simple past tense)
He was dancing all night long to the wonderful music of Michael Jackson. (Past progressive tense)

As highlighted in the examples above, the simple past tense and the past progressive tenses can be used together in the same sentence without any problems. However, it is possible to use them in separate sentences as well, which will make the sentence a lot simple to create. Be aware that the word ‘while’ is a way to connect a sentence together that uses the two forms of the past tense together in a seamless manner.

Lastly, it’s important to note that the subjects ‘I, He, She, It’ should be used with the singular word ‘was’, which is the past form of ‘to be’ before describing the past action that was happening. For the subjects of the past progressive tense which are ‘You, We, They’ should be used in conjunction with the plural word ‘were’, which is the past form of ‘to be’ before describing the past actions that were happening. Here are a few examples to clarify the difference between ‘was’ and ‘were’ in the past progressive tense:

Singular: I was playing, He was playing, She was playing, It was playing.

Plural: You were playing, They were playing, We were playing.

Overall, the past progressive tense is a lot simpler and straightforward when compared to other grammar tenses such as the simple past tense. As long as you remember the rules, study the examples, and practice writing sentences using this verb form on your own, you should be just fine. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment for me and I would be happy to answer them for you. Good luck and look out for next month’s English corner!

English Corner – Simple Past Tense

For this edition of ‘English Corner’, we’re going into the past to figure out and understand the ‘Simple Past Tense.’ In order to successfully master the English language, you need to be able to use the simple past tense correctly. Whether it’s talking about what you did yesterday or last week or even five years ago, the structure and formation of the simple past tense should not be overlooked. As we discussed previously with the simple present tense and the present progressive tense, having a good grasp of these basic grammar forms will help you to get better in English really quickly.

In this blog post, I’ll go over when and how we should use the simple past tense and you will be able to see a few examples of how to put this grammar tense into action. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them for me below the article, as I am happy to help anyone out who needs additional assistance with the simple past tense. After going through this grammar tense for this post, be on the lookout for the next edition of ‘English Corner’ when we go over the past progressive tense.

If you have heard about the ‘preterite tense’ but don’t know about the ‘simple past tense’, then you can be at ease knowing that they are one in the same. While there are different forms of the past tense, the ‘simple past tense’ has become the most commonly used form and is quite easy to master if you are able to understand and apply the structures and the different ways you can use the grammar tense in a sentence.

When it comes to creating the simple past tense, the structure is quite simple. There are three types of sentences that you can form with the simple past tense: positive, negative, and questions. For positive sentences, you’ll put the ‘subject’ first and then add the ‘main verb’, which will be in the simple past tense. For negative sentences, you put the subject first and then an auxiliary verb with the verb ‘to do’, put into the past tense, which becomes ‘did’ followed by the word ‘not’ afterwards to indicate the negation in the sentence. The last part of the ‘negative’ sentence with simple past is the ‘main verb’ so the structure should be ‘subject’ + ‘auxiliary verb and ‘not’ + ‘main verb’ to complete the sentence fully. The question form of the ‘simple past tense’ is very similar to the negative form but there’s one exception that makes them different from each other.

The ‘auxiliary verb’ comes first before the ‘subject’ and then after the subject comes the ‘main verb’ and the ‘object’, which completes the sentence’s overall purpose. Positive sentences for the simple past tense do not have any auxiliary verbs as the negative and question sentences do reply upon. The verb ‘to do’ is the most important one when it comes to forming the simple past sentence regardless if its’ a positive, negative, or question form of the grammar tense. Lastly, the negative sentences you create must have the ‘not’ word after the auxiliary verb and before the main verb in order for it to make grammatical sense.

Examples

Positive Sentences:

I did go to the mall last weekend. (to go)

I did play with my friends at the park yesterday. (to play)

Negative Sentences:

I did not think you were polite at the lecture on Monday. (to think)

I did not believe you when you said the stock market crashed. (to believe)

Question Sentences:

Did you do your homework last night? (to do)

Did you tell her you were late for class? (to tell)

When it comes to the verb ‘to be’, there is a different structure for the simple past tense that the average ESL student should be made aware of. In order to put ‘to be’ in the past tense form, it’s either going to become ‘was’ or ‘were’ depending upon what subject is being used at the beginning of the sentence. For the positive form of the was/were usage of ‘to be’ in the past tense, you start with I/He/She/It (subjects) and then the verb, which in this case for singular subjects would be was, followed by the object of the sentence.

For sentences with subject plurals like We/They/You, you are going to change ‘to be’ from was to were to reflect the change followed by the action / object again. For the negative form, you’re just going to add ‘not’ between the main verb and the object at the end of the sentence. ‘Was or were’ are going to be placed at the beginning of a question sentence followed by the subject and the actions that are involved in the sentence.

Examples

Positive Sentences:

He was here yesterday evening at the dinner table. (to be)

You were in Istanbul last weekend for a friend’s birthday. (to be)

Negative Sentences:

I was not at the park last night because I had work to do. (to be)

They were not at the party because they were not invited. (to be)

Question Sentences:

Was she nice to her date last Thursday night? (to be)

Were you happy with how you did on the Spanish exam? (to be)

Compared to the verb ‘to do’ in the simple past tense, ‘to be’ has no auxiliary verbs at all even for the question and negative forms of the verb tense. However, it is the same in that ‘not’ always comes after the main verb for a negative sentence. The subject also becomes the past tense form of the verb ‘to be’ while the main verb moves to the middle of the sentence and is actually the subject words such as he / she / they, etc.

If you simply would like to use the past simple tense with most of the verbs you’ll be using in your sentences, you will add the letter ‘d’ or ‘-ed’ to the end of the verb in order for it to make sense grammatically. There are a couple of examples we should take a look at it when it comes to forming the simple past tense of the verb with ‘d’ or ‘ed.’

Examples

After school, he walked home in the rain.
He danced really well with his date at the senior prom.
She planned to go to Europe this summer but she couldn’t save up enough money.
Because his mother was sick, he baked a chocolate cake.
We went to the movies after we ate at a Mexican restaurant.

It’s important to note that there may be some irregular verbs that are formed differently when it comes to the simple past tense. For example, ‘go’ in the simple present tense will become ‘went’ when it comes to being grammatically correct in the simple past tense. Another verb like ‘eat’ will become ‘ate’ and ‘drink’ will also change slightly to become ‘drank.’ While most of the verbs only need a ‘d’ or an ‘ed’ to be properly simple past, there are a few irregular verbs that should be memorized for the fact that they are exceptions to the rule when it comes to going from present to past in terms of how the word is written and pronounced.

Now that we know how to use the structure of the simple past tense, you’ll also want to be aware of what kinds of uses do we have for this particular grammar tense. The main purpose of the simple past tense is to talk about the past meaning that we want to shed light about a thing, an action, or a situation that happened in the past. These events can be as recent in the past as in they happened last night or they can be events that occurred long ago such as discussing a sports championship that happened over a decade ago.

Examples

I played my violin last night for my parents and brother. (short time ago)
I had a great time living in Istanbul, Turkey back in 2015. (long time ago)

When we use the simple past tense, you cannot refer to events or actions that are happening currently in the present or are slated to happen anytime in the future. The simple past tense only focuses on those events and actions that were completed sometime in the past. It simply doesn’t matter if the event was finished ten years ago or ten seconds ago. The fact is that it’s still in the past and the sentence structure should reflect the grammatical tense that fits the place and time.

Lastly, it should be noted that the books you’ve read or the movies you seen who occur in the past are mainly going to use the simple past tense. The present perfect and simple present tense may be used in stories or movies as well but you’re going to want to pay attention and listen to the sentences with the simple past tense because they are going to be the most common.

If you want to practice your simple past tense after reading this article, I recommend listening to songs, reading books, watching movies that take place in the past. Besides speaking or writing about the past, participating in the active listening and / or reading about events or moments in the past will help to take your English language skills to the next level. I hope you enjoyed this ‘English Corner’ post and please leave a comment if you have any questions, queries, or comments.

English Corner – Present Progressive Tense

As a student of the English language, once you’re able to understand and use the ‘Simple Present Tense’ with proficiency and are ready to move on to the next grammar step, it would be wise to start learning about the ‘Present Progressive Tense.’ This particular grammar tense can help you to describe a number of different topics and can be used in a variety of ways. By studying the examples listed in this blog post and knowing when to apply the present progressive tense, you’ll be able to advance and get better in your study of English grammar rules.

The ‘Present Tense’ is divided into two kinds: the ‘Simple’ present tense and the ‘Continuous’ or ‘Progressive’ present tense. In order to fully understand the present tense grammar form, it’s important to understand both the ‘simple’ and ‘progressive’ aspects to this concept. Please follow along and read through this blog post if you’re a student of English grammar and want to better understand the ‘Present Progressive Tense.’ We will start by looking at a couple of examples regarding how this grammar tense is supposed to be structured. I would recommend that you copy these particular examples so you have some idea on how to use the present progressive tense in a sentence.

Examples

I am going to the store today.
We are planning on coming to your wedding tonight.
What are you doing for dinner later this evening?

For the actual structure of the Present Progressive tense, it’s a little bit different when compared to the Simple Present tense. It’s necessary to begin the sentence with the ‘subject’ word whether it is “I, You, We, They, He / She, etc.” and you can also use the question form as well with “What, When, Where, Why, etc.” at the beginning of a sentence. The auxiliary verb, which is supposed to be conjugated in the Simple Present tense would come next and is modified depending upon which ‘subject’ word is used at the beginning of the sentence.

The auxiliary verb “to be” is the most popular form when it comes to the present tense so it is meant to be used often when it comes to creating the sentence. When you conjugate “to be” in the simple present form, you’ll end up with “is, are, am, etc.” depending upon the subject word. The auxiliary verb is always followed by the main verb, which is supposed to be displayed in present participle form. When we mention the present participle form, it basically involves the verb such as “do” and adding an “ing” to the end of the verb.

For negative sentences, the form of the present progressive sentence is a little bit different compared to regular sentences. It’s necessary to put the word ‘not’ in between the auxiliary verb and the main verb in order for the sentence to make grammatical sense.

Examples

I am not dancing at the ball tonight.
You are not playing basketball tomorrow.

If you’re thinking about making a question sentence with the present progressive tense, there’s a clear step that you need to take in order to make it work. The ‘subject’ at the beginning of the sentence must be exchanged for the ‘auxiliary verb’ due to a necessary change in the structure of the sentence in order to make the question work.

Examples

Am I doing the right thing?
Are you playing the piano for the recital?

As you can see, the ‘am’ which is the auxiliary verb comes at the beginning of the sentence this time and the ‘I’ word comes after and becomes secondary in terms of its’ placement. The positive and negative forms of the present progressive tense are quite similar to each other with the only difference being that the ‘not’ is added into the structure of the sentence in order to create that difference but the actual structure of the present progressive tense does not change at all. When it comes to the question form however, there is a change in the actual structure of the present progressive tense with the fact that the ‘subject’ and the ‘auxiliary verb’ essentially change places in order to form the actual question.

Now that we know the structure of the present progressive tense in its’ main forms of usage, how do we know when to put this grammatical tense into action? Well, it’s quite simple actually. There are some fundamental principles that guide the use of the present progressive tense in formal sentences. The present progressive tense can describe actions that are happening in real time and are continuing into the near future.

These could be actions or occurrences that are happening right now and have not been finished yet. These are actions that are in progress and have not reached the completion stage yet. This is why we add the –ing to our verbs to indicate that the action is ongoing and hasn’t reached an end yet.

Examples

The wheels are spinning.
The tables are turning.
The guns are firing.

In addition to those actions that are occurring right now, there are also actions that have no set time frame or completion date yet but are ongoing and will require some time to finish. This is the most popular use for the –ing form and there are a lot of examples that can be construed from it.

Examples

John is taking Salsa lessons.
Martha is learning how to cook.
Bob is starting a new job.

Despite being known as the ‘present progressive’ tense, this grammatical tense can also be used to describe actions or habits that will be occurring in the near future. In order to make this work though, you must add a word to indicate that something will happen in the future. Some examples of these words include ‘tonight, tomorrow, next week, this weekend, two days from now, etc. Usually, you are describing something that has been planned out to occur in the future with a specific date or timeframe in mind. People are long-term planners and thus, we are able to talk about actions that we will take in the future having made the plans ahead of time.

Examples

I am going to attend university next August.
I am planning to go to Mexico this winter.
We are thinking about having our honeymoon in Hawaii next month.

The plan has already been set in motion and that’s why you’re discussing what you’re going to be doing but at a future time and place. It’s vital to remember that the present progressive tense does not exist without adding -ing to any verb regardless of which verb it is. The present progressive tense may not be the most popular grammatical tense but it is extremely important to practice, create examples, and master it both in its’ written form and its’ spoken form. Before you can go on to the ‘past’ and ‘future’ grammatical tenses, I believe that it’s necessary to have a good handle on the present progressive tense first before moving on to something else. Keep my explanations and examples in mind and look out for another ‘English Corner’ coming to you all soon.

English Corner – Simple Present Tense

wordle1 — “Hobbies, routines, and daily habits are key actions that are described by the simple present tense.”

If you’re a student of the English language, chances are good that you’re familiar with the ‘Present Tense’ grammar form. In order to form basic sentences in your writing or to make yourself understood verbally when speaking to a native speaker, it’s important to learn the ‘Present Tense’ especially before moving on to the ‘Past’ and ‘Future’ tenses which is slightly more advanced and complicated to master.

The ‘Present Tense’ is divided into two forms: the ‘Simple’ present tense and the ‘Continuous’ or ‘Progressive’ present tense. In order to fully understand the present tense grammar form, it’s important to understand both the ‘simple’ and ‘continuous’ aspects to this concept. Please follow along and read through this blog post if you’re a student of English grammar and want to better understand the ‘Simple Present Tense.’ For next month’s edition of English Corner, we will focus on the ‘Present Continuous Tense’ and how that grammar tense is formed correctly.

The Simple Present tense is regarded as being the easiest to learn and most vital tense to master in order to the basics of English grammar down. For example, the simple present tense uses verbs like “to be” and changes the form into singular or plural depending on if you are referring to one more person or more.

For Example:

He is on his way to the store to pick up some fruits and vegetables.
They are at the ballpark tonight to watch the baseball game.

We can see from these examples how the verb “to be” is put into the simple present tense using the word ‘is’ or ‘are’ depending on if the subject of the sentence is singular or plural. For the subject ‘He’, the corresponding simple present tense form of “to be” would be is which is singular. For the subject ‘They’, the corresponding simple present tense form of “to be” would be are which is plural. With the subject word ‘I’ which is singular, we will use the word am which is singular but is different from the word ‘is’ which is used for ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘it.’ The subject words of ‘they’, ‘you’ or ‘we’ would be used for the word ‘are’ as mentioned before.

The structure of the present simple tense is quite easy to form correctly when compared to other English tenses. You simply need to put the subject and the main verb together to form the basis of a sentence. This goes for positive sentences which don’t have a negative connotation or which form the basis of a question.

For Example:

1) I do like to swim with my friends at the lake.

The subject for this sentence is the word ‘I’ and the verb form is ‘do’ and it is possible sometimes to follow one verb with another verb or two verbs, as is the case with this sentence. ‘Do’ and ‘like’ can be together as well as ‘to swim’ and then to finish off the sentence with ‘my friends’ who are the objects and ‘at the lake’ which is the location along with a prepositional phrase.

The first verb in a sentence when there are other verbs after is known as the auxiliary verb, which comes before the main verb(s). Once again, it’s important to note that ‘I do’ can change form into becoming ‘He does’ or ‘She does.’ It is a common rule that the verb must be modified to change depending on which subject word in English is being used.

If you need to make a simple present sentence negative, it’s important to add the word ‘not’ after the auxiliary verb of ‘to do.’

For Example:

1) I do not like to dance because the basic moves are hard for me.

2) He does not want to go to work because he does not like his boss.

Regardless of the subject word being ‘I’ or ‘He’, there will always be a ‘not’ after the auxiliary verb. You can have multiple verbs being used in a simple present sentence as well. There is no limit to the amount as long as the sentence makes grammatical sense to the audience.

In order to form a question using the simple present tense, the order of the sentence needs to change slightly in order to reflect this shift. Instead of the ‘subject word’ leading off the sentence, the auxiliary verb of ‘to do’ must be at the beginning. You can either put ‘do’ or ‘does’ at the beginning of a simple present tense sentence. After that, you can place the subject word whether it is ‘I’ or ‘you’ right after the auxiliary verb. In this case, after the auxiliary verb and the subject comes the main verb and then finally the object which is wrapped up with a question mark to finish the sentence.

For Example:

1) Do you like to go skiing?

2) Does he know who you are?

It’s important to remember that the positive form of a simple present tense sentence doesn’t have an auxiliary verb in it while there is one in both the negative and the question form of the sentence. With the main verb for the positive form, it’s important to add an ‘s’ to the end of the word especially if it’s a third-person subject like ‘it’, ‘he’ or ‘she’ in order to make the sentence grammatically correct.

For Example:

He likes to dance salsa on Saturday night.
She knows that it’s important to study for the Chemistry exam.

When it comes to the negative and question forms of the simple present tense, certain rules must be observed. The auxiliary verb form must be used in both cases and also needs to be conjugated. The main verb form does not change and often comes in its’ normal form which is ‘to ____’. For negative sentences, the word not must come between the auxiliary verb and the main verb for the sentence to be coherent. Lastly, The auxiliary verb has to come at the beginning of a question sentence while the subject comes afterwards which is a reversal of what you would see in a positive or negative form of the simple present tense.

In terms of using the simple present tense correctly, it’s best usage comes in terms of describing general times and situations. Action verbs like ‘to do’, ‘to eat’, ‘to work’, ‘to dance’, and ‘to swim’, etc. are apart of the simple present tense umbrella of usage. This grammar tense is instrumental in describing a statement, which is always true as well as describing actions, which are continuous, habitual, or come from a routine. The simple present tense is most often associated with the verb ‘to be’ which can describe whom somebody is, what they do, where are they going, and why they are unique. The simple present tense can describe those actions, which happen in all forms of time whether it is the past, present, and future.

Out of all English grammar forms, the ‘Simple Present’ tense forms the base of a simple sentence. For any Basic English language student out there, it’s a necessity to master this concept before moving on to other forms of the present tense. After successfully understanding the methodology and the usage behind the simple present tense, an English learner will be ready to move on to the next challenge: The ‘Present Continuous’ tense.

English Corner – Conjunctions

This ‘English Corner’ on the subject of conjunctions is a continuation of an ongoing blog post series with a new post every month to help English language learners to better understand the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax in order to better develop their own proficiency. I have over two years of experience of teaching the English language to non-native speakers, both online and in person.

I hope to use these posts to help you, the reader, improve your understanding of English, and also develop your fluency. If you have any questions about this ‘English Corner’ post, please leave a comment and I will answer them to the best of my ability. Any constructive feedback is appreciated and I hope that this will become a popular series of posts within my website. If you enjoy my ‘English Corner’ series, you can also request private English lessons with me through the WordPress message system.

Second only to ‘Prepositions’ in terms of grammatical importance, ‘Conjunctions’ play a vital role in the formation of sentences in the English language. Conjunctions do the important job of connecting words and phrases together to form a complete sentence. Examples of conjunctions include although, and, because, but, etc. Instead of forming simple sentences such as: “I like to play sports”, we can then add on to this sentence by adding the word ‘and’ to create a complete sentence which could be “I like to play sports and hang out with my friends on the weekends.”

Having a good grasp on conjunctions can make writing complete sentences a lot easier and give you the ability to form paragraphs and even entire essays by adhering to the sentence structure by adding a conjunction or two. When it comes to grammar topics like conjunctions, it’s important to be able to remember the correct words that fit into the category and to know when to apply them in your sentence.

The word ‘And’ is the most popular conjunction because it can be used for three different functions. Not only can it connect words but clauses as well as phrases. ‘And’ is also used to describe more than one person in a sentence by grouping them together such as “Tim and Tina went to the movies together last time. In addition to the word ‘and’, other popular conjunctions that are commonly used to connect sentences are ‘although, since, but, unless, or, yet, so, etc.’

Contrary to popular belief, conjunctions can be used in the beginning of a sentence rather than just in the heart of a sentence. For example: “Although he was tired from working late, James still decided to go out for a drink with his friends.” A conjunction is a part of speech that can also be more than one word. Examples of conjunctions that make up more than one word include ‘so that, in order to, as long as, etc.’ By clearing up the confusion and misleading information regarding conjunctions, beginner students of English will better be able to handle this important grammar subject.

part-speech-nounb — “Conjunctions: Successfully joining words **and** phrases together **in order to** form complete sentences.”

Learners of the English language often forget that conjunctions can be divided into two categories: coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions are known for connecting two parts of a sentence or phrase together to form a complete sentence. This first type of conjunctions is usually used in the middle of a sentence and is supposed to connect words and clauses together along with two parts of a sentence.

An example of a sentence where a coordinating conjunction would be used could be “John picked up Tim after his soccer practice in the park and then they went to the movies together.” There are many different coordinating conjunctions but the most popular ones are ‘and, but, for, or, so, yet.’

Subordinating conjunctions have a more specific purpose than their coordinating counterparts. The main purpose of subordinating conjunctions is to join the dependent clause of a sentence to its’ independent clause to form a complete sentence. The main clause is also known as the independent clause and the conjunction is placed in between the two clauses in order to create the grammatical structure of the sentence.

For example, a sentence with a subordinating conjunction would look like “I had to study hard last night because we have an important English test today. Some examples of subordinating conjunctions include ‘although, because, since, unless.’ It’s important to remember that a subordinating conjunction will always come at the beginning of the subordinate clause, which could either be before or after the main clause. This means that there is some flexibility when it comes to inserting your subordinate conjunction in that it can come in either the beginning or middle of a sentence.

Lastly, in addition to conjunctions that are subordinate or coordinate and are one word usually, there are other types of conjunctions that can be a few words in all when forming a sentence. These two other types of conjunctions are known as compound or correlative.

Compound conjunctions often end in the words ‘that’ or ‘as’ and some examples of these conjunctions include: ‘as long as’, ‘provided that’, ‘because of that’, ‘in order to.’ Remember that a compound conjunction does not always end in ‘as’ or ‘that’ but it’s usually true in most instances. For example, a sentence with a compound conjunction would be like; “You can eat ice cream later as long as you eat your vegetables first.”

Correlative conjunctions are often made up of pairs of two corresponding words such as ‘neither…nor’, ‘either…or’, ‘both…and’, which serve to balance the sentence and the two clauses. For example, you could write a sentence like “We could either go to Spain or Italy for vacation this summer.” When using correlative conjunctions, remember that there needs to be two words that relate to each other in the overall meaning.

Like our previous topic of ‘Prepositions’, learning about ‘Conjunctions’ will help a beginner in English to gain confidence in developing both grammar and vocabulary. Both of these topics are important to review and go over with a student in order for them to correctly form a sentence by adhering to the necessary structure.

By knowing about the different types of conjunctions, some key examples, and their varied uses, students of English reading this post will gain a better understanding of this vital grammar topic. If you have any questions or comments about this ‘English Corner’ post, please feel free to write me a message. In the mean time, good luck with your continuing studies of the English language! I promise that there will be a new post next month focusing on another key topic.

A Short Guide to Teaching English Overseas

Teach English Abroad! I promise that you won’t regret it.

This past year, I had my first teaching English as a foreign language overseas experience. I would like to give my loyal readers some insight into what it was like and I can also give you some tips/advice that I could have used when I first signed up to teach English in a foreign country.

First of all, there’s a lot of different options when it comes to getting your teaching certificate. I would recommend taking either an online TEFL/TESOL course which would take about ten to twelve weeks and cost between $1,000-$1,500. If you want to go full-time and get it done quicker, you can most likely take an in-class course for about forty hours a week and be finished in about a month or so but it will cost you closer to $2,000.

I got my TEFL/TESOL certificate through the International TEFL Academy which is a great organization and you can find out more information about them through a simple Google search. I’ve had friends of mine sign up for a course both online and in-person and it paid off for them with real, good-paying jobs.

Now, don’t be fooled because there are some organizations out there that are not legitimate and will try to rip you off. Between my Bachelor’s degree and my TEFL/TESOL certificate, I was good to go though and ready to apply to schools around the world. Be ready to work hard and do a decent amount of homework, and in-class training in order to achieve your TEFL certificate. It’s really easy to get good grades in your course as long as you put the effort and hard work in to earn your qualification. I believe the CELTA certificate is more advanced and could lead to more opportunities but I’m not sure how big of a difference it makes really.

For example, if you’re an English teacher who is interested in teaching in Spain, the program that is sponsored by the Spanish government is a great option if you would like to teach English in Europe. Honestly though, besides Spain and Italy, not many Western European countries are going to pay you very well to teach English. If I were you, dear reader, I would look into Poland, Czech Republic, and/or Hungary if you’re feeling more adventurous.

There’s also Latin America, Southeast Asia, and other Eastern European countries but they don’t really pay too high if that is your main concern. China, Japan, and the Middle East are the biggest payouts even if you have just a TEFL Certificate and a Bachelor’s degree but the cultural differences are large and the living standards vary from country to country. I can’t tell you where to teach but if you do your research and talk to others about their experiences, you may have a better idea of where you want to go. It depends on your lifestyle and your cultural preferences.

I chose to teach over the past year in Istanbul, Turkey because I was already familiar with the country and culture due to a previous experience living here a few years ago for my studies. I knew the language and the locals relatively well and I got a really good job offer to come here. Some schools will pay for your living accommodations which can help you in terms of saving money and being able to travel around Europe and elsewhere. Please make sure that you research about the school’s reputation and try to interview with them in person or through Skype before signing any paperwork/contracts. Be sure to look over the whole contract before signing on legally to a school for a year or more.

There have been many young people who have been screwed over in the past because they did not read the fine print. Always make sure to know what you’re getting into in terms of salary, work permit, visa help, accommodations, etc. I was pretty happy with the choice I made although there were hiccups and missteps along the way. I had competing offers to work in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and elsewhere but I am content with where I chose to go. Lastly, eight weeks of paid vacation a year is a really good deal compared to most jobs out there on the market internationally.

There are downsides to this lifestyle though in that the working culture can be quite different than you are used to and things often are done at a slower pace than Americans / Westerners are used to. Upper management at some schools can be frustrating to deal with at times and will have different work policies than the ones you’re used to in your native country.

Teaching English is a job like any other and it can be quite stressful and to teach children, you will need to develop patience and a lot of understanding. It’s not entirely a vacation from the real world as some folks make it out to be. I worked 40–45 hours a week and had to prepare lesson plans and help create exams. However, I had a great experience in getting a deeper understanding of Turkish culture, meeting new people, making new friendships, traveling when I could to different countries, and becoming a more mature and confident person. I lived comfortably on my local salary and I had free enough time where I could go out and socialize with my friends.

For someone in their early 20’s, I think it’s a great thing to do and you’ll learn a lot about yourself and the world around you. Just do your research, think about what country fits you best, learn the language, and reap the benefits. It’s not easy moving and living in another country. It’s not for everyone too but if you’re adventurous and want to explore new places, I highly recommend it to all of you reading.

If you have any other questions about teaching English as a foreign language, please feel free to message me or reply to this post. For more resources on getting a TEFL/TESOL certificate or finding a teaching English job, I would go to these websites, some of which I mentioned to you already above:

http://www.internationalteflacademy.com
http://www.tefl.com/
http://eslcafe.com/
https://www.teachaway.com/
http://www.tfchina.org/en/index.aspx
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listing…road.shtml

Happy Hunting!