simple present

THE PASSIVE VOICE

This is one of the most difficult topics in English language. There are many ways to say one same thing, so, some people apply it in order to avoid the repetition or to seem very polite. Today I am going to explain it to you use it as well, HERE WE GO!!!

Before starting I have to leave clear that ACTIVE VOICE is the normal way to use the language, I mean, the use of SUBJECT+VERB+OBJECT, (remember that every tense has its own variation). So in PASSIVE VOICE the original OBJECT will be the SUBJECT of the sentence, in other words it would be something like this OBJECT+BE+VERB PP+SUBJECT.  It is easy and you will understand it.

The first thing you have to know is that the verb to be is so necessary; you are going to need it. You can make passive voice sentences in any tense conjugating that verb in the time you want to speak.

Another thing you must know about this topic is that the main verb must go in its past participle conjugation, if you want to know more about conjugations click here.

And the most important thing about this is… the object of the sentences will be the subject. If you don’t get it, don’t worry, we will see some examples in order to understand it. The original subject in the Active Voice is not necessary in the Passive Voice sentence, if you want to put it, it’s up to you. In my opinion, I prefer to put it because it gives more information and it is clearer.

And finishing, when you turn an ACTIVE VOICE sentence into a PASSIVE VOICE one, you have to think that the normal conjugation rules also apply to the new SUBJECT. Let’s see the examples to get it.

Here a little chart where you can see all the possible conjugations of it.

Let’s see some examples.

1. Active Voice:  “Sammy Plays tennis”. As you can see that sentence is in Simple Present, so the passive voice must go in Simple present as well but this time using the verb to be and the verb in PP (Past Participle), something like this “The tennis is played by Sammy (or ´her´ if you don’t want to write the name again)”

2. Active: The soldiers are running in the field (sentence in Present Progressive “ing”)

PASSIVE: The field is being run by the soldiers (They)

3. ACTIVE: I have ridden the same motorcycle (Sentence in Present Perfect “have”)

PASSIVE: The same motorcycle has been ridden by me

The Tenses

The tenses allow us to move through time and express our ideas, actions, desires and wishes whenever we want. We should keep in mind that time is divided into three main time groups: the past, present and future.

Each group has 4 tenses in the English grammar: simple, continuous, perfect simple, perfect continuous.

That is 12 tenses in total. Let’s see how tenses are easily divided and understood. In order to comprehend them better we are going to divide the four tenses of each group into 2 similar groups. We will name Simple Tenses all the simples and continuous ones and Perfect Tenses the perfect simple and the present continuous.

The Simple Tenses

Tenses always talk about a moment in time. Our first group the simple tenses talk about one moment in time. Therefore the simple present and continuous talk about one moment in present, the past simple and continuous about one moment in the past and the future simple and continuous about one moment in the future. They do not connect different time groups but remain within their own time group.

All these tenses use key or signal words in sentences to show us the moment in time that they talk about. Remember that signal words are one of the main indicators of time in a sentence other than meaning so it is very important to look for these signals words in sentences before making your final decision about tense.

The perfect tenses

In contrast to the simple tenses, this group connects two moments in time. Perfect means completed therefore one moment included in all perfect tenses is the past. Depending on the tense we can find the second moment in time connected to the past. In this way the present perfect tenses connect a moment in the past with a moment in the present, the past perfect tenses connect two moments in the past, and the future perfect tenses connect a moment in the past with a moment in the future.

We must keep in mind that perfect means the verb: HAVE, so in present perfect tenses the verb uses its present form (have), in the past perfect tenses it uses its past form (had) and in the future perfect tenses it uses its future form (will have). We add the past participle form of the main verb to complete the perfect simple tenses. The continuous tenses have to follow the rule of all the continuous tenses (be + ing) and the rule of all the perfect tenses (have/had/will have). In order to form the perfect continuous tenses we combine the verb have + been + main verb ing.

Hello everyone, here D, today I bring a iconic story, I hope you like it. Don't forget to share it. Have a nice day 

Alice in Wonderland

Once upon a time there lived a little girl called Alice. One day Alice was listening to her history lesson.

“Alice! You are not paying attention,” her sister scolded.

“But it is dull!” Alice moaned. “The book needs pictures.”

“Nonsense!” her sister said.

“In my world, every book would have pictures,” Alice replied. “And everything would be nonsense!”

Later, Alice was resting in the soft grass. She thought about her special world and she began to fall asleep. Suddenly a white rabbit ran by. “I’m late, I’m late!” He cried. It was a talking rabbit! In a coat! With a pocket watch! “Mr. Rabbit, wait!” Alice called after him. “I’m late for a very important date. No time to talk! I’m late!” he answered. Then he disappeared down a rabbit hole.

Alice was curious, so she followed the rabbit into the hole. It was dark. She crawled forward.

Then the ground disappeared! Alice fell, but she fell slowly. Strange objects passed by her: a lamp, a mirror, a rocking chair, and still she feel. “Perhaps I’ll fall right through the earth and out the other side,” Alice thought. Finally, Alice reached the bottom. There she saw a little door.

“Pardon me,” Alice said. “May I enter?” “You are too big,” the doorknob said. “Try the bottle.”

Alice saw a little bottle marked “Drink Me.” So she did it. Suddenly she shrank! Now Alice was small enough to fit through the door. But it was locked.

“You forgot the key!” The doorknob said. Alice saw the key on top of a table, but she was too small to reach it.”

“Now try the box,” the doorknob said. Inside the box was a cookie saying “Eat Me.” Alice ate it. She grew into a giant!

“Oh, no!” Alice sobbed. She cried and cried. Her giant tears filled the room with water. “The bottle!” the doorknob cried. Alice drank more and shrank again. This time she became so small, she feel inside in the bottle! Suddenly she was swept through the door on an ocean of tears.

Alice saw a strange dodo and other birds floating along beside her. “Mr. Dodo! Help me please!” She cried, but he did not hear her.

Alice soon washed ashore, where she saw the dodo again. “Run with the others,” the dodo instructed her, “or you will never get dry,” but Alice ran after the white rabbit instead.

Alice followed the rabbit into a forest, where she met Tweedledee and Tweedledum. “I am looking for the white rabbit,” Alice told them.

“Why?” asked Tweedledum. “Well, I am curious.” Alice answered. “AH!” The twins replied. “The oysters were curious too!” Then they told Alice the story of the curious oysters.

One day the walrus and his friend the carpenter were walking on the beach. The carpenter saw something very interesting below the water.

“Walrus!” The carpenter called. “You must see this!”

Under the water there was a group of young oysters. “Come with me,” the walrus said to the oysters. “We will see many things: shoes, ships, sealing wax, cabbages, and kings!”

The curious oysters followed the sneaky walrus. The walrus led them to a restaurant with only one thing on the menu- oysters! He ate all the curious oysters! He did not even share with his friends. “How sad!” Alice commented. “Yes!” sobbed Tweedledum. “Now, there is a lesson to learn!”

As the twins cried, Alice quietly slipped away. Alice wandered farther into the forest. Soon she met a big blue caterpillar. “Who are you?” the caterpillar asked. “I hardly know, sir,” Alice. “I have changed my size so many times!”

The caterpillar stood up and he began to spin around and around. When he stopped, he had turned into a beautiful butterfly!

“Here is a tip,” he said. “One side will make you larger; the other side will make you smaller.”

“Other side of what?” Alice asked.

“The mushroom, of course!” He shouted as he flew away.

Alice was tired of being there inches tall. She broke off a piece of mushroom from each side. She ate one, and… shoom!

She grew taller than the trees! “Oh dear!” Alice cried. “Will I ever get the hang of this?” she gently licked the other piece. Alice shrank back down to normal size. “Now, that is better,” she said.

Alice continued her search for the white rabbit, but soon she was lost. Then she heard a voice up in a tree. “Diddledeedum… Duddledaadidle… caddledeedum,” sang the voice.

Alice looked up. She did not see anything. Then a smiling face magically appeared “why, you are a cat!” Alice said.

“a Cheshire cat,” he replied as his body appeared from nowhere. “I am looking for the rabbit” Alice said. “where should I go?” “where do you want to go?” the Cheshire cat asked.

“Well I do not know” Alice answered. “Then it does not matters!”

“If I were looking for a rabbit, I would stand on my head!” the silly cat said. “You could ask the marsh hare; he is to the left. I would ask the mad hatter; he is to the right”

“He really is mad, but most everyone here is! As you can see even I am not all there!” Then the Cheshire cat disappeared.

Alice walked to the mad hatter’s house she heard voices singing. It was the mad hatter, the March hare and dormouse. They were having a tea party, Alice sat down.

“You cannot sit! It is rude,” the March hare said. “I am sorry,” Alice replied. “But I liked your singing.”

“you did? Really?” the mad hatter asked. “Then you must join us!” “yes, join our un-birthday party,” the March hare added. “Un-birthday?” Alice asked. “Yes,” there are 365 days in a year. You have one birthday and 364 un-birthdays!”

“I see,” Alice said. “But I am looking for the white rabbit. The cat said…”

“CAT?!” shouted the dormouse, who had been sleeping in a teapot. He jumped out and ran around the table.

“You see what you did?!” the mad hatter yelled at Alice. “I am sorry, but I really do not have time for this silliness.” Alice said.

“Time? I have no time! I am late!” it was the white rabbit!

“No wonder!” the mad hatter cried. “Your watch is two days late! I will fix it.”

The mad hatter fixed the watch with butter, cream, sugar, and, of course, tea. “Oh, my poor watch!” The rabbit cried, running off.

Alice grew tired of the mad tea party. She left. “What a silly nonsense!” she said. “I had enough nonsense. I am going home.”

Alice walked farther into the forest. She came to a sign marked “Tugley Wood” and followed it. Soon Alice was surrounded by all kinds of strange, nonsensical animals.

“Oh, no!” Alice cried. “I cannot take any more. I wish I had never dreamed of a world where everything was nonsense!” then Alice heard a familiar song. “Diddledeedum… Duddledaadidle… caddledeedum.”

“Oh, Cheshire Cat, it is you!” Alice called. “I have had enough. I want to go home, but I have lost my way.”

“That is because all ways here are the queen’s ways,” he replies. “Queen? What queen?” Alice asked. “You have not met her?” The cat asked. “Oh, you must! She will be mad about you!”

Then a doorway opened in the tree. Alice entered. Soon she heard three playing cards singing about painting roses red.

“Why are you doing that?” Alice asked the three playing cards. “We planted white roses by mistake!” the two of clubs replied. “The Queen of Hearts likes red. If she finds out, she will chop our heads!”

Alice hurried to help them. Suddenly the sound of drums and trumpets blared! “It is the queen!” the cards cried. “The queen is coming!”

Alice and the cards got down on their knees. “Announcing her Royal Majesty, the Queen of hearts!” the white rabbit proclaimed. “Oh, and the king, too,” he added. “Why, you are a little girl!” the Queen said, looking at Alice. “What are you doing here?” “I want to go home,” Alice answered. “But I have lost my way.”

“Your way?!” the Queen roared. “Every way is my way! Remember that!” Then the queen invited Alice to play a game of croquet. But what a game! Instead of a ball, the Queen used a hedgehog! And instead of a mallet, she used a flamingo!

The queen finished her shot. Then it was Alice’s turn. Alice tried, but the flamingo would not play along! “Do you want us both to lose our heads?” Alice asked the silly flamingo. Alice got angry. She grabbed the bird and whacked the ball as hard as she could! The shot was better than the Queen’s. The Queen was furious!

“Off with her head!” she screamed. “Uh, should not we have a trial first, dear?” asked the king. “Oh, very well!” the Queen replied angrily.

Everybody gathered around the Queen in her court. “Hear ye!” the white rabbit cried. “Court is now in session!”

“But what I have done?” Alice pleaded. “Silence!” the Queen demanded. “Oh, forget the trial! Let’s just cut off her head.

Alice struck her hands into her pockets. She found a piece of mushroom. She quickly ate it and she grew into a giant! “Now, see here,” Alice said to the shocked queen. “You have no right to treat me like this. You are not queen. You are a nasty, bad-tempered old tyrant!”

But the mushroom’s effect was wearing off. Alice shrank back down to her regular size!

Oh, no! Alice was in trouble, she ran! Soon Alice saw the small door she had used to enter this nonsense world. Alice grabbed the doorknob. “I must get out!” she cried. “you are out,” the doorknob said. “See it for yourself.”

Alice looked through the keyhole. She saw herself sleeping under the tree. “Wake up! Wake up!” she yelled. “Alice!” “Alice! Alice!” Alice woke up. She was back. “Alice!” her sister said. “You were dreaming. What nonsense!”

“Yes, it was nonsense,” Alice agreed. “It was fun, but I have enough nonsense to last me for quite some time! Shall we go home now?”

Hello everyone, today some interesting information about the innovation and creativity, this may be functional for people that are looking for fresh ideas. Don’t forget to share it. Have a nice day

Creativity is more than just a Word; it is the secret of success for many businesses. The word “innovation” and “creativity” are frequently mentioned by executives and business owners. Many use them, but just a few know how to promote it in their work places, and even fewer executives actually practice them. In a recent survey, executives of successful companies in the U. S. A. were asked what was needed to survive in the 21^st century. The most common answer was “innovation and creativity”. But few of them considered that they were doing it well.

Many companies create a stimulating working environment, but some promote more innovation than others. Creativity may be improved by a process called positive alteration. It shakes up the way things are and pushes companies into renovation. Companies and individual adapt to changes as they take advantage of the crisis.

It is believed that creativity, the ability to express new and valuable ideas is mysterious that only fewer very intelligent people have it. That is not true! Recent research shows that everyone has more or less the same creative potential. There are four kind of abilities that make us more creative:

• OBSERVATION: look for new ideas, even if they don’t seem important at the time. Artist and inventors keep a notebook handy and they write down ideas when they occur to them.
• CHALLENGE: though situations and difficulties might be scary, but they are also wonderful creative opportunities to have new ideas or recycle old ones.
• EXPANDING HORIZONS: learning about other topics not related to your actual job, also keeps you be more creative.
• SURROUNDINGS: multiple ideas are usually obtained by visiting diverse and interesting social and sport places. A static atmosphere, the same desk, the same co-workers day after day can be suffocating.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

IT’S TIME TO PUT YOUR CREATIVITY TO WORK!!

Source: Navigators 10 teaching resourcing 2011

Hello, D says “Hi” again. Today I bring some facts about an important singer of our century. I hope you like it, please, don’t forget to share it with friend or with people who may need this info. Have a good day.

The culture of a place is an integral part of this society whether that place is a remote village in Brazil or a highly industrialized city in Europe. The cultures around the world fascinate us, at first glance, because they seem very dissimilar. Japanese people, for example, bow. They do not shake the hands because they consider it inappropriate. Arabian men kiss each other on the check when they meet.

On the other hand, teenager in U. S. A. leave home when they finish high school. They think that to live with their parents is unconventional. You might think that a driving system in which people left on the right is impossible; but, the citizens of fifty-nine places all over the world do it. This custom is from countries like Hong-Kong, Jamaica, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, United Kingdom and others.

If you are an immigrant in Indonesia and you want to marry a woman, don’t be impolite! Tradition prohibits newly-married couples from clearing their bowels or urinating for three days and nights, or from leaving the house during this time.

Finally, Asian people have the habit of saying words just before they start to eat meals and finish their meals. If they come over to a friend’s house for dinner, they do the same thing. If they do not say these words, the other people would think that they are discourteous.

In conclusion, we can easily see from these few examples how different the world we live in is.

Source: Navigators 10 teaching resourcing 2011

Hello, D again here. Today I bring some facts about an important singer of our century. I hope you like it, please, don’t forget to share it with friend or with people who may need this info. Have a good day.

Sting, one of the most famous English singers started his solo career in 1985. His first album The Dream of the Blue Turtles reached triple platinum in the U. S. A., and included important hits like: “If you love somebody set him free” and “Russians.”

After two years of this successful album, Sting released his second record titled Nothing like the sun which included the hit song “Englishman in New York.”

The song is the story of an Englishman living in New York. The man realized the remarkable differences that exist between these two cultures. For example, in the first verse when the singer says: “I don’t drink coffee, I take tea… I like my toast on one side”. Other simple comparisons that the singer points out are in the accent, physical appearance, and even manners. The man in New York feels like a stranger in a society that really differs from his.

This song is a reflection on the simple but significant differences between two ways of life.

HERE THE LINK IF YOU WANT TO HEAR THE SONG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27gTrPPAyk

Source: Navigators 10 teaching resourcing 2011

El verbo To Be es un verbo irregular que posee su propio modo de conjugación en el  simple present, él normalmente es usado para hacer descripciones o para mencionar la ubicación de un lugar, persona o animal, aquí vamos a usar mucho los adjetivos.

          IS                            ARE                             AM

He               It              You           We                     I

         She                            They

Estructuras:

(Para hacer descripciones)

(+)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  Adjective

(-)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  not  +  Adjective

(?)  aux verb  +  Pron  +  Adjective?

Ex: 

You are little

You are not (aren't) little

Are you little?

* La negación puede ser contraída de esta manera (isn't - Aren't) pero la recomendación es ponerla por separado ya que es la manera más formal.

(Para mencionar ubicaciones)

(+)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  in  + compl

(-)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  not  +  in  + compl

(?)  aux verb  +  Pron  +  in  + compl?

Ex:

He is in the school

He is not (isn't) in the school

Is he in the school?

Hello, today I bring a very useful information about a topic that is very used in this beautiful language, I hope you enjoy it, don't forget to share it with your friends or with people who may need it.

The verb to Be is an irregular verb that has its own way to conjugate in simple present, it is normally used for making descriptions or for mentioning the location of a place, person or an animal, here we are going to need adjectives.

          IS                            ARE                             AM

He               It              You           We                     I

         She                            They

Structures:

(For making descriptions)

(+)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  Adjective

(-)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  not  +  Adjective

(?)  aux verb  +  Pron  +  Adjective?

Ex: 

You are little

You are not (aren't) little

Are you little?

* The negation could be contracted in this way (isn't - Aren't) but the recoomendation is to put them separately, because it is more formal.

(For mentioning location)

(+)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  in  + compl

(-)  Pron  +  aux verb  +  not  +  in  + compl

(?)  aux verb  +  Pron  +  in  + compl?

Ex:

He is in the school

He is not (isn't) in the school

Is he in the school?

The simple present is used mainly for mentioning actions in present but in a simple way, basically it is necessary to define  who makes the action (subject), the action (verb) and the complement (object). there are two auxiliar verbs that when those are auxiliar verbs they lose their puctual meaning. those are DO and DOES, And their use depends on the pronoun.

                   DO                                           DOES

     I       You    We    They                      He     She   It

Its structures are:

(+)  suj  +  verb  +   compl

(-) suj  +  aux. verb   +  not  +  verb  +  compl

(?)  Aux, verb  +  Suj  +  verb  +  compl  ?

Ex: 

(+) You read a book

(-) You do not (don't) read a book

(?) Do you read a book?

*in negative, the suggestion is to use the auxiliar verb and the negation by themselves  (do not) but depending on your own decition you can contract the two words (don't)

Exceptions:

In this grammar tense there are 4 exceptions that they must be learnt to a proper manage of the foreign language.

1. The final -S: the rule says that all the verbs next to a singular third person pronoun (He, She or It) it must finish with the letter -S, this doesn´t change its meaning, it is just a grammatical rule.

EX:  

He listens to music

Mary jumps in the bed

2. when the verb finishes with the letters  SH, SS, CH. X y Z: the exceptions work only when the main verb in the sentence is next to the pronouns He, She and It. In this case, the verb must finish in  -es

Ex:

she kissES  a boy

Pedro watchES the bad movies.

3. When the verb finishes with the letter -O: It works in the same way with the previous exception. If the verb finishes in -O it must finish in  -es

Ex:

The tree doES exercise each monday.

Peppa goES to UK.

4. When the verb finishes with -Y: when the -y is next to a consonant, the "Y" is replaced by -ies, but you have to be careful because if the "Y" is next to a vowel, you only have to put a simple -s

Here I bring a good reading for practicing the simple present tense. I hope you enjoy it. The idea is to make you read and understand the reading, Teachers and other people may use it for different purposes, like teaching or whatever.

Robert Hughes lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He lives with his wife, Patricia. They live with their two children, Sam and Lana. Robert loves his family.

Robert works as a police officer in Atlanta. He likes his job. He is a good police officer. Robert is a police officer because he likes to help people.
Robert protects the citizens of Atlanta. He solves crimes and catches criminals. He keeps the citizens safe.

Sometimes he visits the schools. He talks to students. The students like Robert. Officer Robert Hughes is a hero in Atlanta.