Grammar Simple Present Tense ( the Verb “Be”)

  We use the simple present tense of the verb “be” to talk about:

(1)   things that are true now, e.g. My name is Susie. I am twelve years old.

(2)   how often we do things, e.g. Susie and Betty are home every evening. He is often absent from classes.

(3)   Things that are always true, e.g. The Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth.

We form positive and negative statements in the simple present tense with the verb ‘to be’ (is/am/are) like this.

Subject	verb ‘to be’
	Positive (+)	Negative (-)
I	am (‘m)	am not (‘m not)
	e.g. I am twelve years old.	e.g. I am not twelve years old.
We You (singular) You(plural) They	are (‘re)	are not (aren’t)
	e.g. We are very good students. You are a handsome boy. You are my friends.	e.g We are not very good students. You are not a handsome boy. You are not my friends.
He She It	is (‘s)	is not (isn’t)
	e.g. He is the class monitor. She is my sister. It is a lovely dog.	e.g. He is not the class monitor She is not my sister. It is not a lovely dog.

Questions

Am	I	right?
Is	he	here?
Is	she	a nurse?
Is	it	second-hand?
Are	we	wrong?
Are	you	Alan Parker?
Are	they	American?

Exercise 1. Fill in these sentences using the correct form of the verb ‘to be’ and the words in the brackets.

1. I_____________ happy.(not) 3. You _____________ Japanese.(not) 5. They ____________ busy.(not) 7. Cheung Chau __________ in Kowloon.(not) 9. We _______ good friends. 11. You ______ the monitor. 13. He ______ 2 years old.(not)

2. He _________ sad. 4. We __________ Chinese. 6. Tigers _________big cats. 8. His name ______ Billy.. 10. She ______ my mother. 12. I ______ thirteen years old. 14. They ______ good football players.(not)

Exercise 2. Fill in the blanks using “AM, IS, ARE, AM NOT, ISN’T, AREN’T”:

1. It ……………. an onion. (+)	11. Cardiff ………….. a city. (+)
2. Jasmine ……….. a student. (-)	12. He ……… a postman. (+)
3. We ……….friends. (+)	13. It ………. nine o’clock. (+)
4. I ………. hungry. (-)	14. Manhattan …………. an island. (-)
5. Mark ............. 20 years old. (+)	15. Mr. Richards …… a lawyer. (+)
6. A bee ……….. a big insect. (-)	16. I ………..ill. I …………. happy. (+ / -)
7. Newsweek ………… a magazine. (+)	17. London ……….. a big city. (+)
8. I …………. a professional football player. (-)	18. Dave and Adrian ………… sisters. They …….. brothers. (- / +)
9. I know you. You ……. in my class. (+)	19. New York ………. near to New Jersey. (+)
10.Cows ……… insects. They ……. mammals. (- / +)	20. Susan and I ……….. teachers. We ……….. students. (- / +)

Exercise 3. Fill in the blanks using “AM, IS, ARE, AM NOT, ISN’T, AREN’T”:

1. Germany, England, and Spain ………… cities.

2. A lemon ……….. sweet. It …….. sour.

3. Copper ……….. cheap. Diamonds ………… expensive.

4. Airplanes …….. slow. They ………. fast.

5. Ice cream and candy …….. sweet.

6. Today ……… cloudy. It …….. bright.

7. My brother ……… married. He …… single.

8. I ……… from Russia. I …….. from Canada.

9. Maths ……… hard. It ……….. easy.

10. Mariah … a beautiful girl. She ……… ugly.

Exercise 4. Rewrite the sentences by using “ IS, ISN’T, AM, AM NOT”:

1. London aren’t a country. …….London isn’t a country……………..

2. The United States aren’t a city. …………………………………………….

3. An elephant am not a small animal. …………………………………………….

4. English and Turkish isn’t sister languages. …………………………………………….

5. Mercedes aren’t a bike. …………………………………………….

6. Is I a student ? …………………………………………….

7. Mrs. Stuart aren’t a poor woman. …………………………………………….

8. Cigarettes isn’t good for people. …………………………………………..

9. The North Pole am not hot. …………………………………………..

10. Simon are from United Kingdom. …………………………………………..