The Simple Present Tense - cont.


Welcome to the ESL HELP! Desk, where all activities and exercises are authentic English, from learners of English.

In today's lesson we continue our unit on verbs.  We continue with the Simple Present Tense - Negative Action Verbs.

To study the prior lesson, click here, on "How do we form the simple present tense? Positive Action Verbs"

2.  Negative be verbs

In the simple present tense, the negative be verb simply adds the word not after the "be" verb.

There is also a contracted form.  See the chart below.


Chart

Positive be Verbs

be Verbs - Simple Present Tense


The be verb is highly irregular. See below.

  Positive Negative Contracted Negative
1st person singular I am I am not I'm not
2nd person singular you are you are not you're not
you aren't
3rd person singular he/she/it is he is not

she is not

it is not		 he's not
he isn't

she's not
she isn't

it's not
it isn't
1st person plural we are we are not we're not
we aren't
2nd person plural you are you are not you're not
you aren't
3rd person plural they are they are not they're not
they aren't


Contractions in Conversation

Contractions of subject nouns with the 2nd person singular verb "is" is common in conversation.  It is generally not acceptable in formal discourse writing. However, in dialogue in a work of fiction, which attempts to capture real speech, contractions with nouns are acceptable and common. 

  • My sister is going to buy me shorts and shoes. -->
    My sister's going to buy me shorts and shoes.

  • Mt. Merendon is the highest mountain in Honduras. -->
    Mt. Merendon's the highest mountain in Honduras.

  • John is in love with Madge. -->
    John's in love with Madge.


Next... The Simple Past Tense

We continue this unit with our next lesson, The Simple Past Tense.

So now from the ESL Help Desk, thanks for dropping by for this lesson and remember to email us your questions about English grammar by way of our blog. 

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