VERB FORMS in «A Squash and a Squeeze»

• PRESENT SIMPLE• «There’s not enough room…»

• «My house is a squash…»

• «The hen pecks the goat…»

• PRESENT CONTINUOUS• «I’m tearing my hair out…»

• «My house is beginning to feelpretty big»

• PAST SIMPLE• A little old lady lived…

• A wise old man heard her…

• The hen laid an egg…

• PRESENT PERFECT• «Thank you for the work you

have done»

• IMPERATIVE• «Take in your hen»• «Just look at my house»

• INFINITIVE• «Take in my hen?»

• FUTURE FORMS• «What shall I do?»

• «won’t you help me please?»

• «But then I’ll be back where I first began.»

THIS WEEK

➢ GRAMMAR: PRESENT PERFECT• present perfect vs. past simple (4A, 4B)

• (The singular They)

4B4A

PAST SIMPLE

We use the past simple to talk or to ask about

finished actions in the past

when the time is mentioned

(e.g. yesterday, last year)

or understood

The past in relation to the present: the

PRESENT PERFECT

1. We use the present perfect to talk about actions and experiences that happened at a non-specified time in the (recent) past (→ sometime between the past and now):

• “Have you travelled a lot, Jane?”“Yes, I’ve been to lots of places.”

• “Have you driven an automatic car (before)?”“No, I haven’t.”

• “Have you ever been to Canada? ““No, I have never been to Canada.”

• She hasn’t attended any English class so far.• I haven’t seen anything similar in (all) my life.

We can use expressions of frequency like often, once, twice, several times to say how often:

• I’ve eaten in that restaurant several times.• My parents have visited Canada twice.

4B4A

The events or actions occurred at a non-specified time in the (recent) past may have some relevance for the present:

• I have lost my keys. I can’t get into the house.

• Jenny has found a new job. She works in a supermarket now.

• «Where are they?» «They’ve gone out» (and they aren’t here now)

• He told me his name but I’ve forgotten it (and I can’t remember it now)

• «What happened?»«I’ve broken my leg» (maybe one month ago, but it is still in plaster)«I broke my leg last week»

• Mike has been to Paris vs. Mike has gone to Paris(he went and came back) (he is in Paris now)

• (giving news) Mary’s had her baby!• (giving news) A new exhibition has opened in London…• (news) Julian has passed his driving test. (details) He took it on Monday.

The past in relation to the present: the

PRESENT PERFECT

2. To refer to the recent past, with adverbs such as already, just, yet, lately/recently (tra l’ausiliare e il verbo)• Have you done your homework yet? [?] / I haven’t finished yet. [-]

• “Are you coming to the cinema?” “I’ve already seen that movie” [+]

• “Are you coming with us?” “No, I’ve just had lunch, thank you” [+]

• Have you been to the cinema lately/recently?

3. Actions occurred at a time in the past which is not over yet / in a period of time that continues from the past until now:• I've drunk four cups of coffee today.

• We have got up early this morning (said at 10am)vs. We got up early this morning (said at 4pm)

• We haven’t taken any exam this year.

• I’ve made a lot of new friends in the last few days.

• We haven’t had dinner together for a long time.

The past in relation to the present: the

PRESENT PERFECT

Conversations often begin in the present perfect

(with a general question; you don’t know whethersomething has happened in the past)

and then change to the pastsimple

to ask for or give specificdetails (e.g. when, what, where, who with etc.)

PRESENT PERFECT – PAST SIMPLE

PRESENT PERFECT vs. PAST SIMPLE - summing up

Exercise 4Aa GB p.133

Exercise 4Ab GB p.133

Exercise 4Bb GB p.133

Exercise 4Bc GB p.133

Exercise 4 p.32-33

The singular «THEY»

«A survey has shown that one person in four invents details about

their weekend because they want to impress their friends»

The grammatical subject – one person in four – is singular, as is theverb invents, but the following pronouns (their, they) are plural.

The pronouns they, them, their, themselves can be used to refer back to subjects that are grammatically singular:• WHEN: after words such as each, every, any, anyone/anybody, everyone/

everybody, nobody/no one, someone/somebody, whoever, that are used to make indefinite or general statements, without specifying the individual concerned.

• WHY: to refer to someone of an unknown gender, or to avoid referring to a specific gender• using masculine forms (he, him, his) to refer to men+women can be considered

sexist

• to avoid using he/she, him/her, his/her which can be distracting, especially if they have to be repeated several times in the same sentence or paragraph

Exercise 4 p.32-33

NB: the PRESENT PERFECT inBritish vs American English

OVER TO YOU

• Units 4A, 4B (pp. 28-31)

• Grammar bank pp. 132-133 (4A, 4B)

HOMEWORK

1. Exercises in next slides

2. Write a short text (150-200 words) about things you have

already/never done:

• going abroad (if you did: where, when, etc.)

• trying extreme sports (if you did: which one, where, when etc; if you

didn’t, say why)

• eating in a fast food restaurant

• buying/selling something online (if you did: what did you buy, was

everything fine upon delivery, etc.; if you didn’t, say why)