2. Choose one tense and
tell us why
I ....... breakfast every morning
The kids ....... up very quickly
Hurry up! We ....... for you!
The River Amazon ........ into the
Atlantic Ocean
3. Hurry up! We ........ for you!
Rooney ........ the balls and scores a
penalty
Mr. and Mrs Shaw ....... in Bristol
Have I told you I ....... a cookery course?
You (always) ....... cauliflower!
4. Action verbs
They describe an action, and they can be
used both in the present simple or
continuous:
He runs a mile every day
He’s running the New York marathon
5. State verbs
They describe a state, not an action, so
they do not normally appear in the
continuous form. Typical examples are:
• Verbs of the senses: see, hear, feel,
taste, smell, look, sound. (e.g. This cake
tastes delicious.)
6. Verbs of perception: know,
believe, remember, forget,
recognise, think, expect,
understand, notice, realise,
seem, sound, etc. (e.g. I don't
know his name.)
7. • Verbs which express likes and
dislikes: love, like, hate, dislike, enjoy,
etc. (e.g. Shirley loves jazz music.) (BUT:
I’m loving it!
• Other verbs: Include, matter, need,
belong, cost, prefer, mean, own, appear,
believe, want, have (=possess), etc. (e.g.
That jacket costs a lot of money.)
8. Some verbs have t wo different
meanings: a stative one (always in the
present simple) or an active one
(present simple or continuous)
9. Examples:
STATES (simple tenses) ACTIONS (simple or continuous)
I think you're right. (= believe) I'm thinking about the problem.
We have three cars. (=own) We're having lunch. (= eating)
I come from Sweden. (= live in) I'm coming from Sweden. (=
travelling)
I see your problem. (=understand) Mark is seeing his boss. (=
meeting)
This perfume smells nice. (= has a He is smelling the milk. (= is
nice smell) sniffing)
10. She appears very nervous. She appeared in a film.
(= seems)
The bag weighed five kilos. They weighed / were weighing
my bag.
The coat fits. (= is the right I'm fitting a lock to the
size) window.
The food tastes delicious. He is tasting the food.
(= has a delicious flavour) (= is testing the flavour of)
