SIMPLE PRESENT EVERYDA ACTIONS
1. Read the following statements. Which do you think are true for your country? a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) k) l)
People are working longer hours than in the past. Watching TV is the most popular leisure time activity. Most people read a newspaper regularly. The majority of women work full-time. Women do the main share of the housework. People are eating more and more ready meals and takeaways. The majority of young people have a full-time job by the time they are twenty. Young people these days spend more time socializing than doing homework. Pensioners are more physically active than teenagers. Regular Internet users are often keen on sport as well. The majority of people take part in a sport at least once a week. People waste a lot of time at work
2. Read the text quickly. Which country (or countries) does each of the statements in Which are true all over the word?
exercise 1 refer to?
How we really spend our time Time, it seems, is what we're all short of these days. One reason perhaps, why there are thousands of studies every year into how we spend our time and how we could spend it better. Some of the results are startling. Do you know for example...? * Although people all over the world are working longer and longer hours, we also have more leisure time than ever before. * After sleeping and working, watching TV is by far the most popular leisure activity over the world. The British watch more TV than any other nation in Europe, but they also read more. The vast majority, eighty-five percent, regularly read newspapers, and fifty-four percent regularly read books. * Although up to two thirds of modern European women work full-time, they still do the main share of the housework, too. Husbands help in the house more than they did in the past, but in the UK for example, men do an average of just six hours a week compared to their wives, who do over eighteen hours. No wonder that the vast majority of working women in the UK say they are stressed and exhausted! * According to the latest research by supermarkets, the average British family spends just eleven minutes preparing the main evening meal, and prefers 'ready meals' and takeaways
to home-cooked food. Almost half of all families in the UK eat together only once a month or less. * More than half of young people in the UK have a full-time job by the age of nineteen, but the majority of young Spanish and Italian people do not start full-time work until they are twenty-four. * The average American fourteen-year-old spends only half an hour a day doing homework, and less than a fifth of young people participate in sports, clubs, music or other traditional hobbies. Instead, sixty-five percent say they spend their time chatting on their mobiles and hanging out with their friends in shopping malls. * In the UK, pensioners are almost twice as active as teenagers, according to recent research. People over sixty-five spend nearly two hours a day doing physical activities such as walking, cycling, gardening or sport, while teenagers spend only seventy-five minutes. However, surprisingly, people who use the Internet regularly do more sport than people who never use it.
* The Swedes and Finns are the sportiest nationalities in Europe. Seventy-three percent do some kind of sport at least once or twice a week. * People may spend more time at work these days, but are they always working? The latest
research reveals that each day the average British employee spends fifty-five minutes chatting, sixteen minutes flirting, fourteen minutes surfing the Internet and nine minutes sending emails to friends!
3. Underline four things in the text that you think are surprising or interesting. 4. Mark the following phrases S (if they both mean the same) and D (if they are different). a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i.
two thirds / sixty-six percent S the main share of the work /most of the work an average of six hours /exactly six hours over eighteen hours / less than eighteen hours the vast majority / ninety percent almost half / fifty-two percent more than half / forty-five percent a fifth / twenty percent at least twice a week / two times a week or more
5. Are you happy with the way you use your time? What would you like to spend more/less time doing? ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY Adverbs of Frequency answer the question "How often?" or "How frequently?" They tell us how often somebody does something.
a With most verbs, we put the adverb before the main verb. We never go out at lunchtime. b With the verb be, we put the adverb after the verb. He's always late for class.
1. Choose the correct alternative. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h.
In the morning, the sun always/ never / sometimes comes up in the east. Sharks never / sometimes / often kill people. Children never / don’t often / usually like sweets. In the game of chess, black always / never / usually starts. People with brown hair don't often / never / often have brown eyes. Monday always / often / usually comes before Tuesday. A year always / never / usually has 364 days. Spiders always / often / sometimes have eight legs.
2. Put the words in brackets in the correct places in the sentences, as in the example. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h)
I have dinner at my friend's house, (sometimes) Caroline eats fish, (never) I often eat in a restaurant, (don't) I get up late on a Sunday morning, (usually) It's very hot in August in my city, (always) The Brown family usually to Italy on holiday, (go) The weather always cold in January, (is) The bus is late, (often)
3. Write about yourself. What do you do everyday? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________
GRAMMAR 1. Present simple: Question words To ask about a thing a time a place a person the way you do something the reason for doing something a period of time the number of times you do something
We use What's that under the table? Which is your coat? When's your next holiday? Where do you go at Christmas? Who's your favourite film star? How do you make bread? Why do you always wear black? How long does the programme last? How often do you see Maria?
the cost of something How much does it cost?
2. We use the Present simple for: a. habits or things we do regularly. / go for a run before breakfast. b. Things that are generally or always true. They live in a small village. These are the spelling rules for he / she / it. Verb ends in a consonant + y(fiy) ends in -s (miss) -x (fix) - ch (catch) -sh (wash) do and go all other verbs
Rule
Example
change - This airline flies to Hong y to -/es Kong. She misses him. Mike fixes old cars. add -es He catches the train. She washes her hair every day. He does all the add -es shopping. My sister speaks add -s French.