UNIT

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

8 Affirmative and Negative Statements, Time
Expressions: In/On/At, Like/Need/Want

UNIT GOALS OPENING TASK

atements using the simple present tense
Looking at Healthy
andinUnhealthy
ce the third person singular form of verbs the simpleLifestyles
present tense
ons

true
r need

MICHAEL

SAM

116 UNIT 8
 STEP 1
Look at the photos of Michael and Sam. Michael has a very healthy lifestyle. Sam has an
unhealthy lifestyle. Use your own knowledge of healthy and unhealthy habits. Imagine what
Michael’s and Sam’s habits are. Discuss their habits with your partner.

STEP 2
For each habit, write one statement about Michael and one statement about Sam.

HABITS MICHAEL’S HABITS SAM’S HABITS

1. FOOD

2. DRINK

3. EXERCISE

4. CIGARETTES

5. SLEEP

6. HOBBIES
or ACTIVITIES

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE Affirmative and Negative Statements, Time Expressions: In/On/At, 11
Like/Need/Want 7
 form

FOCUS 1 Simple Present Tense:

Affirmative Statements
SUBJECTVERB
I
You* We They work.
He She It
*Both sin

works.

gular and plural

EXERCISE 1
Read the true statements about Michael and Sam. Circle the
correct form of the verb in each statement.

1. Michael and Sam are friends. They (work/works) at the same

computer company.
2. Michael (love/loves) his job.
3. Sam (feel/feels) stressed at work.
4. They (share/shares) an office.
5. They (work/works) hard.
6. Michael (eat/eats) three healthy meals every day.
7. He (drink/drinks) a lot of water.
8. Sam (skip/skips) breakfast.
9. He (order/orders) take-out food from nearby restaurants.
10. Michael and Sam both (like/likes) sports.
11. Michael (get/gets) a good night’s sleep.
12. Sam has trouble sleeping at night. He (take/takes) sleeping pills to
help him sleep.
13. Michael and Sam (watch/watches) football on TV together on
weekends.
14. Sam (smoke/smokes) half a pack of cigarettes a day.
15. Michael and Sam (go/goes) out for dinner together on Friday nights.
16. Michael (exercise/exercises) three times a week.
17. Sam (spend/spends) his free time in front of the TV.
18. Michael and Sam (buy/buys) season tickets to baseball games.
 EXERCISE 2
Work with a partner. For each habit, find one thing about you and
your partner that is the same. Write a sentence in the WE column.
Then write two more sentences. Look at item 3 for an example.

HABIT WE YOU YOUR PARTNER

1. FOOD
2. DRINK
3. EXERCISE We botth like sportts. I play ttennis. He plays soccer.
4. CIGARETTES
5. SLEEP
6. HOBBIES
or
ACTIVITIE
S

FOCUS 2 Talking About Habits and Routines

use

EXAMPLESEXPLANATION
(a) Michael exercises Use the simple present tense to talk
several times a week. about habits or routines (things that
happen again and again).
(b) Michael and Sam eat
dinner together on Friday
nights.

EXERCISE 3
Match each occupation with what the people do. Use the correct verb
forms and make statements aloud.
Example: A doctor takes care of sick people.
1. a doctor a. repair cars
2. construction workers b. enforce the law
3. a mechanic c. greet people
4. air traffic controllers d. take care of sick people
5. a receptionist e. build houses
6. taxi drivers f. direct airplanes
7. police officers g. work in emergencies
8. a firefighter h. take passengers to
different places Which of these jobs are the most
stressful? Explain why.
 form

FOCUS 3 Third Person Singular:

Spelling and Pronunciation
BASE FORM OF VERB SPELLING PRONUNCIATION
1. The final sound of the Add s.
verb is “voiceless”
(for example:
f/k/p/t/s/th): Michael sleeps /s/
sleep eight hours a
night.
2. The final sound of the Add s.
verb is “voiced” (for
example: /z/
b/d/g/l/m/n/r/v or a He feels
vowel): feel This adds another
stressed. Add syllable to the verb.
3. The verb ends in /iz/
sh, ch, x, z, or ss: es.
watch
Sam watches
4. The verb /z/
ends in a TV. Change y to i
consonant +
y: and add es. /z/
worry
Sam worries about his
5. The verb ends in a job.
vowel + y: play
Add s.
Michael plays tennis on
Sunday.

6. Irregular
Forms: /z/
Michael has a healthy
hav /z/
lifestyle. He goes to the
e /z/
gym twice a week.
go
Michael does the
do
cooking.
 EXERCISE 4
The pictures of Lazy Louie and his wife Hannah are not in the
correct order. Number the pictures in the correct order. Then
write the number of the picture next to the sentences below.
Finally, circle all the simple present tense verbs.

a. Poor lazy Louie leaves the house and goes jogging.

b. He lies down on the bench and says, “Finally, I am
free!” Then he goes to sleep.
c. Lazy Louie hates exercise. He wants to sleep, but he
gets up. He puts on his clothes and sneakers with his
eyes closed. Hannah pushes him out of the house.
d. Lazy Louie loves to sleep. He dreams about sleeping!
But he snores all the time, and his wife gets no sleep.
Hannah is tired and needs to do something.
e. He runs to the park and finds his favorite bench.
f. Hannah finds a way to get Louie out of bed. She
wakes him at 6:45 every morning. He continues to
sleep. She shakes him. She shouts in his ear, “Time to
get up! You need your exercise, dear!”

122 UNIT
8
 EXERCISE 5
Here is a list of third-person singular verbs from the story about
Lazy Louie. Read the verbs aloud. Then check (✓) the sound you
say at the end of the verb. Compare your answers with a partner.

VERB /s/ /z/ /iz/

1. loves ✔
2. dreams
3. snores
4. gets
5. needs
6. finds
7. wakes
8. continues
9. shakes
10. shouts
11. hates
12. wants
13. puts
14. pushes
15. leaves
16. goes
17. runs
18. lies
19. says

EXERCISE 6
Work in groups of five. Sit in a circle. The first person in the circle
starts to tell the story of Louie and Hannah and the next continues,
and so on all around the circle. The pictures in Exercise 4 and the
verb list in Exercise 5 will help you.
 meaning

FOCUS 4 Frequency and Time Expressions

EXAMPLESEXPLANATIONS
every Frequency expressions tell how often
morning/afternoon/evening/nig we do something.
ht every day/week/year
every
summer/winter/spring/fal
l all the time
once a week
twice a
month three
times a year
in
the morning more Time expressions tell when we do
+ general the afternoon something.
the evening
1986
the
in
summer
June
+
Wednesday(s)
March
17 the
on weekend
7:30
+
night
noon more
specific
at

EXERCISE 7
Lifestyle of a College Student. Fill in the blanks with a frequency or
time expression.

Jay is a nursing student at a college. Jay gets up (1) 7:00

(2) day of the week. He leaves home (3) 8:00 and
gets to work (4) 8:45. He finishes work (5)
1:00. He attends classes at
the college (6) the afternoon three days a week. He
works at a local hospital two afternoons (7) .
(8) the evening, he cooks dinner and studies. He

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE Affirmative and Negative Statements, Time Expressions: In/On/At, 12
Like/Need/Want 3
 reviews his work and his experiences at the hospital (9) night.
He goes to bed late
(10) weekdays.
(11) Saturday, Jay works at his second
job. Jay is busy almost all the time, but (12) Saturday
nights, he goes out with friends.
(13) Sunday mornings, Jay sleeps late. (14)
the afternoon, he does the laundry and food
shopping. (15) the evening, he studies. Jay is typical of many
working students at colleges in the United States.

12 UNIT
4 8
 form

FOCUS 5 Frequency and Time

Expressions
EXAMPLESEXPLANATIONS
They cook dinner every night. Frequency and time expressions usually come at the end of a sentence.
Jay plays soccer twice a week.
They cook dinner every night at 7:00.
n there is both a frequency and
They a time
cook expression
dinner in onenight.
at 7:00 every sentence, the frequency expression can come before or after the time exp
nce a week, they go out to eat. (f ) On weekends, they stay in.

Frequency and time expressions can

sometimes come at the beginning of a sentence. Use a comma (,) after the expressions at the be

I work on Saturdays. With days and dates, on is not necessary.

I work Saturdays.
I work on July 4th.
I work July 4th.

EXERCISE 8
Make true statements about your habits or routines using the
time and frequency expressions below and the simple present
tense.
Example: once a week
You say: I go to the movies once a week.

1. once a week
2. every weekend
3. twice a week
4. on my birthday
5. once a year
6. at 7:30 in the morning
7. on Friday nights
8. in September
9. in the summer
10. all the time
11. on December 31
12. at 6:00 in the evening
 EXERCISE 9
Erika is a teacher at a community college. Look at Erika’s weekly
schedule. Then fill in the blanks in the exercise with the simple
present tense or a frequency or time expression.

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

7:00 wake up
7:30 eat breakfast at go out for
home breakfast
9:30 teach go jogging teach do teach
French French aerobics French
12:0 eat eat eat eat attend
0 lunch lunch lunch lunch meetin
at at at at gs
school home school home
3:00 play tennis prepa play tennis go clean
re food apartm
lesso shoppi ent
ns ng
6:00 meet a go to go to the take go out
friend for cooking movies dancing with
dinner class lessons friends
8:00 do the spend time read prepa
laundry on the students’ re
Internet papers lesso
ns
10:3 go to bed early
0
12:00 go to bed

1. Erika goes food shopping on Thursday

afternoon.
2. Erika cleans her apartment on Friday aftternoon .
3. Erika every day at
7:00.
4. She eats breakfast at home .
5. Once a week, on Friday mornings, she .
6. She three times a
week.
7. She does aerobics .
8. She eats lunch at school .
9. She attends meetings .
10. She eats lunch at home .
11. She goes to cooking class .
12. She reads students’ papers .
13. On Friday evening, she .
14. She goes to bed early .
15. She at midnight on
Friday.
16. She does the laundry .
17. She at 8:00 on Thursday
night. Now make three more statements about Erika’s schedule.
 form

FOCUS 6 Simple Present:

Negative Statements

SUBJECTDO/DOES NOTBASE FORM OF VERB

I
You* We They do not
Michael and Sam
He She It Erika don’t
*Both singular and plural.
work.
does not

doesn’t

EXERCISE 10
Refer to the Opening Task on pages 116 and 117. For each
verb below, make a true negative statement about Michael or
Sam.
Example: smoke
Michael doesn’t smoke.

1. drink soda
2. exercise a lot
3. skip breakfast
4. eat healthy food
5. order take-out food from restaurants
6. get a good night’s sleep
7. sit home and watch TV
8. drink a lot of water
9. feel stressed
10. take sleeping pills
 EXERCISE 11
Go back to the statements you wrote for the Opening Task on
page 117 and correct them, if necessary.

EXERCISE 12

STEP 1 Do you have a healthy lifestyle? Check (✔) Yes or

No.
Yes No
1. I smoke.
2. I exercise three times a week.
3. I eat fruit and vegetables.
4. I eat junk food.
5. I sleep 8 hours a night.
6. I skip meals.
7. I eat red meat almost every day.
8. I find time to relax.
9. I worry all the time.
10. I use sunscreen.
11. I overeat.
12. I drink 3–4 glasses of water a day.

STEP 2 Work with a partner. Look at your partner’s Yes and No checks. Tell the class why your partner
has a healthy or an unhealthy lifestyle.

Example: My partner has a very healthy life. He doesn’t smoke. He

exercises almost every day.
form

FOCUS 7 Useful Expressions

with Common Verbs
Try to remember these useful
expressions:

DO GO HAVE MAKE TAKE

homework home breakfa decision a vacation
 st s
the to school lunch money a test
housework
the dishes to the doctor dinner breakfas a nap
t
the to the beach a snack lunch a rest
shopping
the cleaning shopping/dancing a drink dinner a break
the cooking skiing/swimming/fis a party plans a trip
hing
the laundry hiking

EXERCISE 13
Work in groups of five. Write each of the expressions in Focus 7
on separate pieces of paper. Put the papers in a hat. Each
student takes a piece of paper and makes a true statement with
that expression.
Example: Student chooses “a party”: I have a party on my birthday
every year.
“the shopping”: In my family, my father does the shopping.
FOCUS 8 Talking About Things That Are
Always True use

EXAMPLESEXPLANATION
The sun rises in the
Use the Eastpresent
simple and setstoinmake
the West.
gener- alizations or statements about things that always happen
Exercise makes our bodies strong and healthy.
A healthy person doesn’t smoke.

EXERCISE 14
Fill in the blanks with the simple present affirmative or negative
form of the verb.

1. Workaholics (work) work all the time.

2. Vegetarians (eat) meat.
3. Couch potatoes (sit) in front of the TV all the time.
4. An alcoholic (drink) a lot of wine, beer, or liquor every
day.
5. An insomniac (sleep) at night.
6. A stressed person (worry) a lot.
7. An unhealthy person (exercise) a lot.
8. An optimist (see) the glass half full.
9. A pessimist (see) the glass half empty.
10. A carnivore (love) meat.
11. Busy people (have) a lot of free time.
12. A healthy person (go) to a doctor once a year.
13. Lazy people (do) a lot of activities.
14. Liars (tell) the truth.
EXERCISE 15
Fill in the blanks. Use the simple present affirmative or negative
of the verbs in parentheses.

Today, many Americans are

under stress. They (move) (1)
move
at a fast pace. They (work)
(2) long hours.
They often (work) (3)
overtime. Some Americans
(need)
(4) two or
three jobs to pay their bills.
People (have)
(5)
time for themselves or
their families. An
average worker (have) (6) too much work and (have)
(7) enough time to finish it. As a result, many
Americans (take)
(8) vacations.
Why are Americans so busy all the time? One reason is that they
(want)
(9) many things. They (believe) (10) that
money brings happiness. Another reason is modern technology.
Modern technology (keep) (11) us busy and (give) (12) us
stress. Technology (let) (13) us relax.
We (wear) (14) beepers. We (carry)
cell phones. We (use) (15) fax
machines to send messages fast. We even (check) (16) our e-
mail on vacation! We (take) (17)
time to rest. Even on Sundays, many stores (stay) (18) open
and people (go) (19) shopping. Today, stress is one of
the top reasons why Americans (get)
(20) sick.
 form meaning

FOCUS 9 Like, Want, Need

EXAMPLESEXPLANATIONS
like want need Subject + Verb + Noun
I coffee.

like want need Subject + Verb + Infinitive

I to drink coffee.

I li
(a)k e jazz. Like refers to something we enjoy.
I lo
(b) ve animals. I want a cat. Want expresses desire.
(c)
I ha ve a headache. I need medicine. ersref
Need to something that is necessary.

EXERCISE 16
Use the verbs like, want, and need. Write three sentences for each
picture.
Example:
1. She likes to play tennis. She wants to win. She needs a good tennis
racket.

PICTURE LIKE WANT NEED

1. a. play b. win c. a good tennis
tennis racket

2. a. cook b. be a good c. a cookbook

cook

132 UNIT
8
 PICTURE LIKE WANT NEED
3. a. sleep b. get up c. a cup of
the late in early strong
the today coffee
morning

4. a. the sun b. protect c. sunscreen

their skin

5. a. write b. write a c. peace and

book quiet

6. a. travel b. stay in c. a cell phone

touch
with
friends at
all times

EXERCISE 17
Correct the mistakes in the following sentences.
1. She is smile every day 6. They no work on Tuesdays.

2. He every day takes a walk. 7. English classes begin at

September.

3. He wash the dishes every night. 8. She need a pen to write.

4. He don’t cook dinner on Sundays. 9. He wants make a sandwich.

5. We are study in the library on Saturdays. 10. Erika plays tennis on

3:00.
 Use Your English

ACTIVITY 1 speaking

STEP Think of a person you admire. Tell your partner

about this person. Then answer any questions
1 your partner may have.
I admire my mother. She loves our family. She
Example: enjoys her work. She cooks great food. She
doesn’t get angry.
STEP Tell your partner about a person you are
2 worried about. Then answer any questions
your partner may have.
Example: I am worried about my roommate. He works 12
hours a day. He doesn’t eat healthy food. He
doesn’t exercise. He doesn’t sleep. He only goes to
work, then comes home and goes to bed. He
doesn’t have any fun.

ACTIVITY 2 writing/speaking

What do you and your partner have in common? Write

two affirmative statements and two negative
statements with like for each category below.
• music • movies
• books • cars
• food
Example: I like to listen to classical music. I also like
rock. I don’t like rap. I don’t like to listen to
opera.
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE Affirmative and Negative Statements, Time Expressions: In/On/At, 13
Like/Need/Want 3
 Share your sentences with your partner and find out what
you both have in common. Report your results to the class.
Example: I listen to classical music, but my partner likes hip-hop.

13 UNIT
4 8
 3
ACTIVITY writing/speaking

STEP Fill out your own daily schedule using only the base form of
the verb.
1
My schedule: (Name)
MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT. SUN.
Mornin 6:00 go
g jogging

Afterno 3:00 go
on tto tthe
library
Evenin 8:00 go
g bowling

STEP 2 Read your schedule to a partner. Take notes about

his/her schedule. Write sentences about your
partner’s habits and routines. How are your
habits different? Report to the class.
Example: My partner wakes up at 10:00 on Sundays.
My partner’s schedule: (Name)
MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT. SUN.
Mornin 10:00
g wake up

Afterno
on

Evenin
g
 4
ACTIVITY writing/speaking

Write ten statements about the habits of people in the

country you come from. Share your information with your
classmates. Compare the habits of people in different
countries.
Examples: 1. In Korea, women don’t change their names
when they get married. People eat rice every day.
2. In Italy, people eat pasta.

5
ACTIVITY listening

People in different countries have different lifestyles.

STEP 1 Listen to the descriptions of the lifestyles of

CD Track people in the United States and in France. Use
7 the chart and listen for specific information.
Take notes on what you hear.

THE UNITED STATES FRANCE

Work Week
Vacation Time
Eating Habits
% Obese
Health Insurance
Education

STEP 2 Which lifestyle is similar to the lifestyle in your native

country?
 ACTIVITY 6 writing/speaking

Switching
Lifestyles

STEP 1 Work in groups of six. Each person chooses to be

one of the people below. Write five sentences
about your lifestyle.

1. Hollywood
actress 2. firefighter

3. homeless person 4. dancer

5. farmer 6. millionaire

STEP 2 Talk to different people in your group, and describe your lifestyle.
Try to get another person to switch lifestyles with you.
Example: “Hollywood actress”: I have a fantastic
lifestyle. I make a movie every year. I make a
lot of money. I own three homes. I travel all
the time.

ACTIVITY 7 research on the web

STEP 1 Use a search engine such as Google® or Yahoo®

or Ask® to search the Internet for healthy habits
 to improve your life. Use the keywords healthy
habit improve life.

STEP 2 Then create a survey on healthy habits in the

chart on the next page. List a habit. Ask
students if they do or don’t do the habit.
 HEALTHY HABIT SURVEY YES NO
1. I wash my hands during tthe day.
2.
3.
4.
5.

STEP 3 Form a group. Survey your group members about

their healthy habits. Count up the responses and
share your findings with the class.

ACTIVITY8 reflection
Look at the list of activities for practicing English outside of
class. Use frequency and time expressions to say how
frequently you do each activity.

1. I watch television. I wattch ttelevision ttwo hours a nightt.

2. I listen to the radio.
3. I read a newspaper.
4. I try to speak to
people in my
neighborhood.
5. I go to the movies.
6. I use the Internet.
7. I chat online.
8. I review my lessons after class.
9. I write in a journal.
10. Add one of your own.
Do you think you practice English enough outside of school? Discuss
this in a group.