3. Paco reads the quotations on the wall

Icono IDevice Writing activity

After enjoying the rest, Paco thinks it's time to go to bed and leaves the bar. A long corridor leads him to his room. He notices that there are some pictures on the wall. He is very curious and gets closer to them. Click on the pictures to read what is said in them!

 

A B C

Try to explain what they mean in your own words.


Icono de iDevice Solved exercise
In the quotations above, two are the main tenses used, the Present Simple and the Present Continuous or Progressive. Read the quotations again and say the difference between both tenses.
Icono IDevice Further knowledge

Watch the following video in order to check the main uses and differences between both tenses. Pay attention to pronunciation and intonation, too!

 

 


Icono de iDevice AV - Actividad de Espacios en Blanco

Fill in the blanks of this song, entitled Tom's diner, by Suzanne Vega, with the Present Continuous or the Present Simple of the verbs in brackets.

 

I (sit)
In the morning
At the diner
On the corner

I (wait)
At the counter
For the man
To pour the coffee

And he (fill) it
Only halfway
And before
I even argue

He (look)
Out the window
At somebody
Coming in

'it (be) always
Nice to see you'
(say) the man
Behind the counter

 To the woman
Who has come in
She (shake)
Her umbrella


And I look
The other way
As they (kiss)

Their hellos

I'm pretending
Not to see them
Instead
I (pour) the milk

I open
Up the paper
There's a story
Of an actor

Who had died
While he was drinking
It was no one
I had heard of

And I (turn)
To the horoscope
And looking
For the funnies

When I'm feeling
Someone watching me
And so
I (raise) my head


There's a woman
On the outside
Looking inside
she (see) me?

No she does not
Really see me
Cause she (see)
Her own reflection

And I (try)
Not to notice
That she's hitching
Up her skirt

And while she's
Straightening her stockings
Her hair
(get) wet

Oh, this rain
It will continue
Through the morning
As I'm listening

To the bells
Of the cathedral
I (think)
Of your voice...

 

If you any problems, after submitting it, you will be able to listen to the song and complete it again!

  

Icono IDevice Important
By betsyjean79. C. Commons

Remember that there are verbs which cannot be used in Continuous tenses. They are known as Stative verbs. Click here to remember what they consist in and learn the main ones.

At the same time, you should avoid associating Spanish tenses with English ones, since in Spanish, for example, when we want to know where a person is going at the moment of speaking, we say ¿Dónde vas?, and in English, we need the Present Continuous tense: Where are you going? Something similar occurs with questions such as Ella lleva puesto un jersey rojo, since the action is also taking place at the moment of speaking, so the present continuous tense is used in English: She is wearing a red sweater.


Now you have remembered the form and uses of two important tenses in English, it's time to pay some attention to pronunciation and phonetics. Go to the last section of the topic to learn some important things about English diphthongs and triphthongs.
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