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Unit four – Present tenses “There are three different times in English (tense means time); the past, the present and the future. Each of these times has four aspects; simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. In this unit we will look at the four present tenses; the present simple, present continuous (sometimes called the present progressive), present perfect and present perfect continuous.” I would like to say while I understand the four of the “areas” used in this unit. Forms, usages, typical student errors and activate stage ideas. The latter two really make this unit heavy. I feel it would be much easier to “digest the material” if the unit simply focused on the forms and usages. This of course is just my opinion for whatever it is worth. Having said that, this is how I broke the unit down, using the KISS methodology + the verb, to work. Rules of forms: Present simple – subject + base form + s/es (when needed) *add do not/does not for negative form, for question form invert subject and aux verb Present continuous – subject + aux verb 'be' + verb + ing *add am not/is not/are not for negative form, for question form invert subject and aux verb Present perfect – subject + aux verb 'have' + verb + the past participle *add have not/ has not for negative form, for question form invert subject and aux verb Present perfect continuous – subject + aux verb 'have' + been + verb + ing *add have not been/ has not been for negative form, for question form invert subject and aux verb Affirmative form: Present simple – I work... He/She/It works Present continuous – I am working... He/She/It is working Present perfect – I have worked... He/She/It has worked Present perfect continuous – I have been working... He/She/It has been working Negative form: Present simple – I do not work... He/She/It does not work Present continuous – I am not working... He/She/It is not working Present perfect – I have not worked... He/She/It has not worked Present perfect continuous – I have not been working... He/She/It has not been working Question form: Present simple – Do I work?... Does he/she/it work? Present continuous – Am I working?... Is he/she/it working? Present perfect – Have I worked?... Has he/she/it worked? Present perfect continuous – Have I been working?... Has he/she/it been working? Usages: Present simple – Most common tense in the English language talks about... Habits, routines, directions, instructions, newspaper headlines, facts, permanent situations, commentaries, present stories, historical sequences and things in general. Present continuous – made with the present simple tense of the aux verb 'to be' and the present participle verb + ing. Present perfect – relates the past to the present. “Past actions with present results”. Present perfect continuous – relates past activities to the present and implies that either activity is likely to continue in the future, or the activity was in progress for some length of time, or both. The end.