Các ngữ pháp cơ bản

 a 
Spanish teacher in a high school in Boston. Norma’s a good Spanish 
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Grammar Time Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet 
teacher, but I’m glad she no is my teacher. She gives her students a 
lot of homework. 
 Present Continuous 
1. Formation 
S + Am / Is / Are + VING + … 
Affirmative • I am reading now. • The bees are humming. 
Negative • My students aren’t taking the midterm test. • He isn’t taking a shower. 
• What are you doing? I am tying up my shoelaces. 
Interrogative • Is she leaving for Japan tomorrow? Yes, she is/ (No, 
she isn’t.) 
(See appendix 6 on page xxvi.) 
2. Usage 
We use the Present Continuous 
to express 
Example 
1. a continuous action at the 
moment of speaking. 
• My students are writing now. 
• They are talking noisily at the 
moment. 
2. an action that is happening in 
the extended time (e.g., 
nowadays, this month, this 
semester, this year, etc.), 
even if it’s not occurring at the 
moment of speaking. 
• He is preparing for the final 
test this week. 
• She is studying computer 
programming this semester. 
3. a planned action in the near 
future. 
• She is flying to Japan 
tomorrow. 
• Are you paying for dinner 
next time? 
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Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet Chapter 5 
4. a gradual change. 
• It is getting colder and colder. 
• The test’s difficulty is 
increasing. 
5. a present and temporary 
activity. 
• She is smoking a lot. 
 (She doesn’t normally smoke.) 
6. a repeated action that irritates 
the speaker (with always, 
constantly, continually, 
repeatedly, forever). 
• The boy is always asking me 
for candies. 
• He is continually telling other 
people what to do. 
NOTES: 
i) Non-action verbs are not normally used in the continuous tense. (See 
Appendix 2 on page xxiii for a list of non-action verbs.) 
ii) Some non-action verbs can be used in the Present Continuous 
tense when they have another meaning, as in the following 
examples: 
Non-action Verbs Other meanings 
• Are you hungry? • You are being foolish. You 
know? 
(be = act) 
• I think you’re right. (think = 
believe) 
• I’m thinking about this 
grammar. 
(think about= consider) 
• He has a car. (have = own) • He is having a good time. 
(have = spend) 
• This soup tastes delicious. 
(taste = have a particular flavor) 
• My mother is tasting the 
sauce she’s made. (taste = eat) 
• This room smells a little damp. 
(smell = have a particular smell) 
• Sashay is smelling the sweet 
aroma of warm chocolate. 
(smell = notice) 
• He sees the scene clearing now. 
(see = catch sight of) 
• He is seeing the zoo. ( see = 
visit) 
• You look about twenty. 
(look = have a particular 
appearance) 
• Sheila is looking at herself in 
the mirror. 
(look = direct one’s eyes) 
• My present job appears not easy • The most famous singer is 
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Grammar Time Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet 
appearing on the stage. (appear 
= begin to be seen) 
at all. (appear = seem) 
„ EXERCISE 5 
Write the “–ing” forms for the following words. 
1. stand 
2. smile
3. eat 
4. cut 
5. plan 
6. say 
7. cry 
8. ride 
9. clap 
10. fly 
1. _________ 
2. _________ 
3. _________ 
4. _________ 
5. _________ 
6. _________ 
7. _________ 
8. _________ 
9. _________ 
10. _________
11. study 
12. write 
13. get 
14. drop 
15. camp 
16. dye 
17. sneeze 
18. lie 
19. refer 
20. see 
11. _________ 
12. _________ 
13. _________ 
14. _________ 
15. _________ 
16. _________ 
17. _________ 
18. _________ 
19. _________ 
20. _________ 
„ EXERCISE 6 
Supply the correct tenses of the verbs in parentheses. 
1. Anna _____________ (look) for a new job. 
2. If all _____________ (go) well, I will finish it in a fortnight. 
3. You _____________ (like) this toy car? I _____________ (give) 
it to my nephew on his birthday tomorrow. 
4. Listen! Someone _____________ (knock) at the door. 
5. They always _____________ (lie) on the beach and 
_____________ (chat) away on Sunday mornings. 
6. I _____________ (walk) to school every day, but today I 
_____________ (go) to school by bus. 
7. What you _____________ (do)? I _____________ (type) my 
English essay. 
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Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet Chapter 5 
8. She _____________ (begin) to play tennis in two weeks. 
9. She _____________ (share) the same room with me, but she’ll 
move to another one some days later. 
10. On schedule, they _____________ (traffic) weapons across the 
border next Tuesday. 
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Grammar Time Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet 
„ EXERCISE 7 
Put the verbs into the correct form: Present Continuous or Simple 
Present. 
 Los Angeles 
15 September 2003 
Dear Glen, 
How are things? I'm doing fine. I _____________ (1. spend) my 
holidays in Los Angeles. It's a great city with excellent beaches and 
lots to do. I _____________ (2. enjoy) it very much. I 
_____________ (3. stay) with a Mexican family. I _____________ 
(4. get up) at 10 o'clock every morning, then we ______________ (5. 
go) to Venice Beach where we _____________ (6. have) breakfast. 
Venice Beach is a famous beach in LA, and although many tourists 
_____________ (7. frequent) the place, it's still one of my favorite 
hangouts. 
The weather is very good and the sun _____________ (8. shine) all 
the time, just like in the song "It never _____________ (9. rain) in 
Southern California". Today, however, it _____________ (10. rain) 
cats and dogs. Tomorrow we _____________ (11. leave) for Mexico 
to visit my host family’s relatives. I _____________ (12. look) 
forward to seeing a different country for a change - hopefully there 
will be less smog in Mexico. We _____________ (13. return) to LA 
in two weeks. 
Write me and tell me what you _____________ (14. do) these days. 
Love, 
Jan 
„ EXERCISE 8 
Decide whether the verbs in these sentences are RIGHT or 
WRONG. 
Correct the verbs that are wrong. 
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Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet Chapter 5 
Example: I don't know your telephone number. 
RIGHT 
 ___________________________________________________ 
 Please don't make so much noise. I study. 
WRONG Please don't make so much noise. I am studying. 
1. Look! Somebody is climbing that tree over there. 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
2. Can you hear those people? What do they talk about? 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
3. Are you believing in God? 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
4. Look! That man tries to open the door of your car. 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
5. The moon goes around the earth. 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
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Grammar Time Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet 
6. What are you thinking about my idea? 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
7. The government is worried because the number of people without 
jobs is increasing. 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
8. I am usually going to work by car. 
 ______ 
________________________________________________________
. 
„ EXERCISE 9 
Put the verbs into the CORRECT form: Present Continuous or 
Simple Present. 
Example: Please don't make so much noise. I am studying (study). 
How many languages does Tom speak (Tom / speak)? 
Jean doesn't speak (not speak) any foreign language. 
1. I ______________ (not / belong) to a political party. 
2. Hurry! The bus ______________ (come). I ______________ (not 
/ want) to miss it. 
3. The Nile River ______________ (flow) into the Mediterranean. 
4. The river ______________ (flow) very fast today - much faster 
than usual. 
5. ______________ (it/ever / snow) in India? 
6. We usually ______________ (grow) vegetables in our garden, 
but this year we ______________ (not / grow) any. 
7. A: Can you drive? 
B: No, but I ______________ (learn). 
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Nguyen Tri Tuan – Nguyen Tuan Kiet Chapter 5 
8. You can borrow my umbrella. I ______________ (not / need) it 
right now. 
9. I ______________ (get) hungry. Let's get something to eat. 
10. George is a vegetarian. He ______________ (not/eat) meat. 
11. George says he's 80 years old, but I ______________ (not / 
believe) him. 
12. Ron is in Caracas now. He ______________ (stay) at the Hilton 
Hotel. He usually ______________ (stay) at the Hilton Hotel 
when he is in Caracas. 
13. Where ______________ (your parents / live)? 
 My parents ______________ (live) in Acapulco. They were born 
there and have never lived anywhere else. 
14. She ______________ (stay) with her sister until she finds 
somewhere else to live. 
15. A: What ______________ (your father / do)? 
 B: He's a teacher in Lima, but he ______________ (not / work) 
right now. 
„ EXERCISE 10 
Read this student’s journal. Find and correct eleven mistakes in 
the use of the Present Progressive or Simple Present Tense. 
It’s 12:30 and I sit in the library right now. My classmates are eating 
lunch together but I’m not hungry yet. At home, we eat never this 
early. Today our journal topic is culture shock. It’s a good topic for 
me right now because I’m being pretty homesick. I miss my old 
routine. At home we always are eating a big meal at 2:00 in the 
afternoon. Then we rest. But here in Toronto I’m having a 3:00 
conversation class. Every day, I almost fall asleep in class, and my 
teacher ask me. “Are you bored?” Of course I’m not bored. I just 
need my afternoon nap! This class always is fun. This semester we 
work on a project with video cameras. My team is filming groups of 
people from different cultures. We are analyze “social distance”. That 
means how close to each other these people stand. According to my 
new watch, it’s 12:55, so I leave now for my 1:00 class. Teachers 
here really aren’t liking tardiness! 
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