Intro:   Watch the following Youtube video clip from the Christmas movie “Elf,” in which a real-life elf working at a department store confronts a fake Santa Clause.   Intro Discussion Questions: Why is the elf so upset? How does Santa react? What do you think of department-store Santas? Did […]

Celebrations and Holidays Conversation Lesson

The simple present tense in English is used to describe actions that are repeated, habitual, true, or factual. Despite the name, you can also use simple present for things that are about to happen in the near future. We also use the simple present when describing states of being or […]

Simple Present Tense

English verbs can be categorized into three different types: normal verbs, stative verbs, and mixed verbs. Normal Verbs Also known as “event verbs” or “actions verbs,” these are words for actions that we mean to take and usually have very visible results. Verbs like “run,” “swim,” “jump,” “break,” “eat,” “read,” […]

Stative Verbs

Like the present perfect tense, the present perfect continuous tense (also known as the present progressive) can refer to either the present or the past time. Generally, it refers to actions that happened over a period of time and recently stopped. Sometimes it can be used interchangeably with the Present […]

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

The present continuous tense, also known as the present progressive, is most often used to talk about actions that are happening right now, temporary situations, and annoying habits. Like the simple present, it can also be used to talk about definite future plans. It is formed by using the present […]

The Present Continuous Tense

Generally, the present perfect tense talks about actions that happened at an unspecified past time and uncompleted actions or events in the present time. It can be tricky because it refers to present time in some contexts, and past time in others. Unlike the simple past tense, the present perfect tense […]

Present Perfect Tense