Your five sentences
Read out the five job sentences you copied, and say whether each is simple or continuous. Then say why.
One prediction before you read anything.
1. Can you say I am knowing the answer?
Twelve sentences, and two that break
Read all twelve. Ten are natural English. Two would make a native speaker stop.
Which two are wrong?
1. I am writing a report this week.
2. I am knowing the answer.
3. She is learning Portuguese at the moment.
4. I want a coffee.
5. We are moving offices in March.
6. He is wanting to leave early.
7. I understand what you mean.
8. They are building a new wing.
9. I like this job.
10. She is training two new people.
11. I need the file by Friday.
12. We are getting busier every month.
Say each one aloud before you answer.
1. Which two are wrong?
2. Look at sentences 4, 7, 9 and 11 — want, understand, like, need. What tense are they in?
3. What do know, want, understand, like, need, believe have in common?
4. And what do write, learn, move, build, train, get have in common?
Say each verb and ask: could somebody interrupt you halfway through doing it? Then match.
The list, and the test that replaces it
State verbs — the ones that matter at A2
| Group | Verbs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Thinking | know · understand · believe · remember · forget · mean | I know what you mean. |
| Feeling | like · love · hate · prefer · want · need | I want a coffee. |
| Senses | see · hear · smell · taste | I hear something. |
| Having | have (own) · own · belong · cost | It costs forty euros. |
Do not memorise the table. Use the test.
Could somebody interrupt you halfway through doing it?
If yes, it is an action and takes the continuous. If no, it is a state and does not. You can be interrupted while writing. You cannot be interrupted while knowing.
Two verbs that go both ways.
I have two brothers. (own — state) · I am having lunch. (an action — you can be interrupted)
I think it is a good idea. (opinion — state) · I am thinking about it. (a process — you can stop)
Five sentences, five state verbs in the continuous. Rewrite each in full.
1. I am knowing the answer.
2. She is wanting to leave early.
3. I am not understanding this part.
4. He is having a new car.
5. I am liking this job a lot.
Choose, at speed
Write the verb in brackets in the present simple or the present continuous.
I (not / understand) the new system at all. My colleague (train) me this week, but she (not / know) it very well either. We (both / want) the old one back. The company (spend) a fortune on it and everybody (hate) it. It (cost) about four hundred euros a month, apparently.
Put the parts in order to make one present-continuous sentence.
This week versus every week
Task card · Speaking
Your work or study, in two halves.
Two minutes. First minute: what you do every week, present simple. Second minute: what you are doing this week that is different, present continuous.
- The switch between the halves should be audible. Say it: But this week is different, because…
- Use at least three state verbs, all in the simple: I know, I want, I need, I prefer.
- Your teacher stops you every time a state verb appears in the continuous.
Two decisions.
1. You want to say you do not understand the new system. Which?
2. You want to say your team is building something this month. Which?
How many stops
Answer about the two minutes.
1. How many times were you stopped for a state verb in the continuous?
2. Which state verb caught you?
Before the form
One question.
1. What is the test for whether a verb takes the continuous?
Before Lesson 3. Watch one episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine with English subtitles. Note three sentences in the present continuous and three in the present simple.
Next to each, write why — permanent, temporary, or happening right now. That is the whole homework.