Lesson 1:    Do and the Present Simple

He does.

Look at the verb forms below. Notice how be is not used, so 
with the Present Simple we don't say I'm, he's and so on. We 
use I, he, she, it, we, you and they without be. 
Instead we use do.

Notice that he, she and it use does. It is very different from be.
For now it is important to try and feel the tense. Let's practice a simple exercise.

Exercise 1    Use the correct form of do with the 
sentences. SPEAK!

1. He ___. 2. She ___. 3. I ___. 4. They ___. 5. Tom ___. 
6. Veronica ___. 7. The children ___. 8. We ___. 
9. My sister ___. 10. You ___.

Answers

1. does 2. does 3. do 4. do 5. does 6. does 7. do 8. do 9. does 10. do

As with be we invert the order to ask questions.

Do you?  Do they?  Does she?  Does he?

1. ___ he? 2. ___ she? 3. ___ I? 4. ___ they? 5. ___ Tom? 
6. ___ Veronica? 7. ___ the children? 8. ___ we? 
9. ___ my sister? 10. ___ you?

Answers

1. Does 2. Does 3. Do 4. Do 5. Does 6. Does 7. Do 8. Do 9. Does 10. Do

Do is basically a component of English grammar, and is absolutely necessary with the Present Simple. Students often ignore this, 
but it is important.

Lesson 2:    Verbs II

She gets up early every day.

Practice saying the verbs below.

	wait, cook, shop, run, get up
	clean, begin, finish, leave, look for
	stay in, go out, buy, visit, take a shower

Look at how verbs are formed in the Present Simple.

Again notice how he, she and it are different. The ending of the verb is 's' or 'es'.

	I cook.  She cooks.  I shop.  He shops.
	I wait.  He waits.  I finish.  She finishes.

Exercise 3    Use the verbs cook, begin, finish, get up and shop to 
complete the sentences.

Lesson 3:    Routine Action

He eats toast in the morning.

The Present Simple is routine action. We use the Present Simple to talk about daily, repetitive events. Remember that the Present Continuous is used to express action at the moment.

We often use a time expression when we use the Present Simple - every day, in the morning, in the evening, etc.

Exercise 4    Reading

Alan's Day

 Alan gets up every day at 7:30. He shaves, takes a shower and gets dressed. Then he has breakfast. He usually eats cereal in the morning.  Alan leaves for work at 8:30. He usually gets to work at 9:00. He's an accountant. He works for the Schafer Insurance Company.

Alan leaves for home at 5:00. Sometimes he goes to the supermarket. Sometimes he goes to a restaurant. He usually gets home at 6:00. In the evening he likes to watch TV or read. He 
usually goes to bed at 12:00.

Exercise 5    Look at the pictures below and try to make sentences about your typical morning. Use the verbs in the box.

First I ....	Next I ....
After that I ....	Then I ....

First I get up at 7:20.

Next I take a shower.

After that I get dressed.

Then I eat breakfast.

Notice the connecting words First, Next, After that and Then. These words are useful for explaining a process or instructions.

Lesson 4:    Time Expressions I

I go to the gym twice a month. 

Let's review some time expressions.

	in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening
	every day, every night, at night
	all morning, all day, all night
	once a week, twice a month, three times a year
	on Saturday, at 5:00, on the weekend, in December
	early, on time, late
	before, during, after

Practice the sentences.

	I go to the gym once a week.
	We eat lunch in the afternoon.
	She studies English every night.

Lesson 5:    Adverbs of Frequency

He always plays basketball in the afternoon.

Now it's time to memorize some adverbs of frequency.

always, often, usually, sometimes, rarely, never

Practice the sentences.

Notice that the adverb is placed directly after the subject pronoun.

It would sound strange to say I eat breakfast always, or We go often to the movie theater. People sometimes place the adverb at the beginning of the sentence, and this is not wrong in some cases. But for now practice using the adverb directly after the subject pronoun
or noun.

Check here for more on the use of adverbs.

Exercise 6     Place the adverb of frequency correctly into 
the sentences.