Monday, February 21, 2005

Present simple Grade 4 kids

My summary of the present simple and how to use it...

The verb only changes in the
third person
- you just add an "-s"

My examples:
I play football
My brother plays football
I don't like Maths
My brother doesn't like maths!

Spelling rules:
add -es:
- kiss-kisses
- wash-washes
- go-goes

cut '-y' + add -ies:
- study-studies
- try-tries

Pronunciation:

which verbs do you pronounce /IZ/?
examples :-
- washes, watches, finishes, teaches...

2 comments:

Elizabeth H-S said...

Paddy--

You left out the most important part of the simple (?) present--its usage.

Present is for "eternal" ever-present action:

Elizabeth knows how to swim.This is the house that Jack built.It is also used for most "school" writing, the "generic present," e.g., in reporting, science, critical thinking, etc. (See the next sentence for an example.)

Most confusion about the present comes from its usage, not its form. Now this may be hard to get across to younger kids, but I think it's essential to teaching grammar. (The latter is another example of the generic present, too.)

Cheers--
--Elizabeth

PaddyG said...

Thanks Elizabeth, but I'm dealing with 10-11 year olds and just want to focus on form for now.