This document provides an overview of verb tenses and aspects, including simple present, present continuous, simple past, and past continuous. It defines each form, provides examples of usage, and discusses how to identify and use each one properly. A learning activity asks students to write example sentences using the word "finish" in each tense. Overall, the document serves as a grammar lesson on basic verb forms and how they relate to time and continuity.

1. Grammar 101
Verbs – Tenses and Aspects

2. Learning Objectives
To understand tenses and aspects of
simple and continuous verb forms
To use them in sentence-construction.

3. Introduction
● Grammar covers the rules of language use.
● Without grammar, we can use language in
whatever fashion we like.
● Without rules, everybody is correct. It'll be
quite scary as we might not be able to
understand one another.
● This topic describes one important part of
grammar – verb form changes.

4. Verb Forms
● Four types of Tenses will be introduced for
the purpose of our course.
1) Simple Present
2) Present Continuous
3) Simple Past
4) Past Continuous

5. Simple Present
● Timeline:
● Characterised by: 's' or 'es' behind all verbs
(or unchanged if they are plural verbs)
1) He likes to kicks football. (singular verb -
likes)
2) They like to kick football. (plural verb - like)

6. Simple Present
● It is used for something that's the generally
accepted as the truth – it could be a
general truth, a habit or a physical event.
1) He is always late for school. (habit)
2) The sun rises in the east. (physical event)
3) My father is a well-known businessman.
(general truth)

7. Present Continuous
● Timeline:
● Characterised by:'am' , 'is' or 'are' + verb
ing
1) He is studying.
2) They are revising.
3) I am revising.

8. Present Continuous
● As the name implies, it is used for
something that is still going on (continuous)
presently (present). Hence, the name,
present continuous.
1) Shawn is having dinner now.
2) I am preparing for my presentation
tomorrow.
3) Fiona is sitting for an examination
currently.
Q: Why do the highlighted words show?

9. Simple Past
● Timeline:
● Characterised by:'ed' for past tenses
1) I received a phone call just now.
2) David married his childhood sweetheart.

10. Simple Past
● It is used for an event that happened for a
single moment in the past.
Given that example earlier,
E.g., David married his sweetheart.
It referred to the specific moment in time
when David and his sweetheart was
pronounced man and wife. Further examples,
2) The kids enjoyed the outing at the zoo.
3) When I was a kid, I collected stamps.

11. Past Continuous
● Timeline :
● Characterised by: 'was' or 'were' + verb + ing
1)They were singing in the karaoke for two hours.
2) The fans were waiting for their idol when it
rained.

12. Past Continuous
● Like present continuous, it is used to show
a continuous action but in the past. Hence,
the term past continuous.
1) The children were dancing in the dance
hall.
2) We were having our dinner when the bell
rang.
3) My parents were napping when I reached
home.

13. Learning Activity
● Using the word 'finish', write 4 sentences for
1) simple present,
2) simple past,
3) present continuous and
4) past continuous.

14. Learning Activity Suggested Answers
● The possible answers are:
1) simple present – David likes to finish his
homework early.
2) simple past – Alex finished his homework
late at night yesterday.
3) present continuous – Please don't disturb
mother as she is finishing her cooking now.
4) past continuous – We were finishing our
run during PE lesson when it rained.

15. Discussion
● What are the 4 verb forms discussed in this
lesson?
● What method can we use to remember
these verb forms

16. In Summary
● We discussed Simple Present, Simple
Past, Present Continuous and Past
Continuous.
● We can use the timeline to imagine how
these verb forms are.