Lingua inglese

PRESENT SIMPLE OF ‘TO HAVE

In this lesson you are going to master one of the most important verbs in the English

language. And that’s the verb ‘to have’.

It is so important because we use it as a:

- basic verb to show possession (1), to talk about features (2), to talk about

relations (3) or to talk about actions (4):

(1) I have a car.

(2) She has nice hair.

(3) They have children.

(4) I have a shower every morning.

- helping verb in perfect tenses:

(1) I have done my homework.

(2) He has had a lot of meetings today.

To have is the infinitive; have is called ‘base form’.

TO HAVE

Positive Negative Interrogative

I have I don’t have Do I have?

You have You don’t have Do you have?

He has He doesn’t have Does he have?

She has She doesn’t have Does she have?

It has It doesn’t have Does it have?

We have We don’t have Do we have?

You have You don’t have Do you have?

They have They don’t have Do they have?

don‘t < do not Wh-word + interrogative

doesn‘t < does not ex. What do we have?

See pag.11 and focus your attention on the forms (affirmative, negative and

interrogative) of the present continuous tense (chart on pag.11). Use it to talk about

events happening now or around now. To form it, use the auxiliary verb to be in the

present with the –ing form (= gerund) of the main verb.

Do exercises n.1-2 pag.12-13;



Present simple vs present continuous

a) Use present simple to say what you usually do and with the expressions like

once a week/month/year (=una volta alla settimana/al mese/all’anno) and the

frequency adverbs; with questions and negatives, the auxiliary verb is

DO/DOES.

b) Use present continuous to say what you are doing now and with expressions

like: at the moment, now, right now, today; with affirmatives, questions and

negatives, the auxiliary verb is to BE

See pag.15. Have is used in several different ways:

- As an auxiliary verb;

Have you heard about Tom and Mary?

(Hai sentito di Tom e Mary)

- To talk about possession, relationships, illnesses, characteristics of people and

other states: have (got). Got forms of have are informal and most common in

the present.

Do is not used in questions and negatives with got.

They have three cars. (Hanno tre automobili)

Have you got any brothers or sisters? (Hai dei fratelli o delle sorelle?)

- To talk about actions and experiences: have + object (look at the list on pag.16)

I’m going to have a bath. (Sto per farmi un bagno).

Do exercises n.1-1-2 pag.16-17



LET’S RECAP

In order to revise and to consolidate what you have just studied; you can do now the

exercises in the section All in one revision on pag.17-18-19.

LESSON 3. PAST TENSES (1)

SIX DIFFERENT TENSES

In English, six different tenses are used to talk about the past:

the simple past.

 the past continuous.

 the simple present perfect.

 the simple present continuous.

 the simple past perfect.

 the simple past continuous.



The differences among these tenses are quite complicated. Some English tenses

express meanings which are not expressed by verb forms in all the other languages,

and this can make the use of tenses difficult to understand.

Progressive forms

Progressive forms (or continuous) are used especially when we describe a past events

as going on or continuing.

Perfect forms

Perfect forms are used especially when we want to suggest a connection between a

past event and the present, or between an earlier and later past event.

PAST SIMPLE – AFFIRMATIVE FORM

Take your book and see pag.20; focus your attention on the word-order of the

interrogative forms. Do exercise n. 3 pag.21.

Then focus your attention on the affirmative form of the simple past tense on pag.21.

For most regular verbs, add –ed to the verb for the past simple.

To work > worked To call > called

Spelling of regular affirmative past tense forms

most regular verbs: help → helped start → started

add –ed rain → rained stay → stayed

verbs ending in –e: hope →hoped

add –d decide → decided

verbs ending in one stressed vowel + stop → stopped

one consonant (except w or y): plan → panned

double the consonant and add –ed refer → referred

verbs ending in consonant + -y: cry → cried

change y to i and add –ed study → studied

PAST SIMPLE – NEGATIVE & INTERROGATIVE FORMS

Look at the chart on pag. 293. There you can find the list of the most common

irregular verbs. It means that these verbs (and many others) have a different

affirmative form in the past simple.

Both regular and irregular verbs follow the same rules

For negatives, use the auxiliary did and did not (didn’t) and the infinitive.

John phoned in sick → John did not (=didn’t) phone in sick

For questions, use the auxiliary did. REMEMBER: put the auxiliary before the subject

and the base form after the subject.

Did John phone in sick?

PAST SIMPLE – TIME EXPRESSIONS

See pag.28. Use the following expressions with the simple past tense: yesterday, last

night/week/year/summer/Monday, in +year/month (in 1980)

These expressions go at the beginning or end of a sentence.

I went to the bank last week.

Yesterday I met Jane.

With the simple past tense, we also use periods of time + ago and it generally goes at

the end of the sentence.

I met Jane two months ago.

I went to the bank one week ago.

PAST SIMPLE CONTINUOUS

See pag.12 Focus your attention on the forms (affirmative, negative and interrogative)

of teìhe past continuous tense.

Use it to say that something was in progress (going on) around a particular past time.

To form it, use the auxiliary verb to be in the simple past with the – ing form of the

main verb.

PAST SIMPLE VS PAST CONTINUOUS

We often use the past continuous together with a simple past tense. The past

continuous refers to a longer “background” action or situation; the simple past refers

to a shorter action or event that happened in the middle of the longer action, or that

interrupted it.

As I was walking down the road, I met Bill.

The phone rang, while I was having breakfast.

The past continuous, like other progressive forms, is used for temporary actions and

situations. When we talk about longer situations, we use simple past.

Compare:

It happened while I was living in London last year.

I lived in London for ten years when I was a child.

AUDIO-LESSON

In order to improve and to consolidate what you have just studied; you can do now the

exercises in units 5-6.

In addition, to better revise the main ideas presented in this lesson, you can listen to

an audio lesson on Past Simple Tense. An extra slide is provided to enhance your

listening: listen to the audio lesson and follow it focusing your attention on the next

slide.

LESSON 3 VOCABULARY CHECK

These are the important words that you have studied in Lesson 3. You should make

sure that you know these words before going on to the next lesson.

ago__________________

go________________

happen__________________

in 1981___________________

last year/month/summer/autumn/winter /spring/week/night_____________

meet_____________

phone in sick______________

ring_____________

today_____________

tomorrow_____________

walk down the road_____________

yesterday_____________

Revise the paradigms of the irregular verbs.

LESSON 4. I TEMPI DEL PASSATO

Read the text and enter the following questions:

How has snowboarding evolved from its origins to its current global success?

Have you ever tried a snowboard?

The word in boldface in the tests are examples of simple present perfect verbs. We

usually USE the simple present perfect tense:

a) to say that a finished action or event is connected with the present in some way. If

we say that something has happened, we are thinking about the past and the present

at the same time. We could often change a simple present perfect sentence into a

present sentence with a similar meaning.

I can’t go on holiday because I have broken my leg. (= because my leg is broken

now). (NOT I can’t go on holiday because I broke my leg.)

Non posso andare in vacanza perché mi sono rotto una gamba (=perché la mia

gamba è rotta)

b) for past events when we are thinking of a period of time continuing up to the

present (when we use indefinite time adverbs that mean ‘at some time/any time up to

now, like ever, before, never, yet, already).

I am sure, we have met before. (Sono sicuro, ci siamo già incontrati un’altra

volta)

c) when we are thinking of a period of ‘time up to now’, even if we do not mention it.

You have done a lot for me. (... up to now)

(Hai già fatto tanto per me… fino adesso)

See pag.36 and focus your attention on the chart. The new tense is the simple present

perfect and it is formed with the auxiliary have/has followed by the past participle.

There are two kinds of past participle in English:

Regular (ends in –ed) such as, visited, received, opened.

Irregular (different form) such as spoken, eaten, me.