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ESL forum >
Ask for help > present simple question
present simple question
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MarionG
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present simple question
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Hello grammarians, I need your help!
In class we read a text about different ways to celebrate the new year.
One of the questions read:
Where do people watch a giant ball fall down?
One of my students scribbled on the page that the question is incorrect because it should be :
Where do people watch a giant ball falls down?
(and she of course also answered: In New York City people go to watch a giant ball falls down)
I am grateful she is at least aware of the present simple, but am at a bit of a loss as to how to explain to her that we don �t conjugate �fall � here (only people watch). The present simple is confusing enough for them, I don �t want to make it even worse. Does anyone have an EASY explanation I can offer her? |
6 Sep 2013
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ueslteacher
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That �s because it �s a bare infinitive not present simple. I guess the easy way would be introducing it as a structure watch/hear/feel/sense sb/sth do sth in which the sb/sth+infinitive is a direct object. Just introduce the structure and examples and let them practice.
Sophia
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6 Sep 2013
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florimago
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Hi, I agree with Sophia and it doesn�t come to my mind a better way to explain it. After verbs of perception (see, watch, hear, listen , feel, smell, notice ...) If we want to emphasise that the action is completed, we use the bare infinitive. On the other hand, we use the -ing form when we just perceive a part of the action .
Ask them to describe actions that , for example , they saw, heard, ... at home or on their way to school . it may be fun and useful for practising !!!
Flori |
7 Sep 2013
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MarionG
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OK, if I understood correctly, I can explain to her that the verb �watch � is in present simple here (and so, if it had been �John � in stead of �people � it would have been �watches � ) but for the ball she doesn �t need the present simple because the sentence isn �t about the ball that falls, it is about how people watch the-ball-fall. I �ll try and explain that we use the bare infinitive after verbs of perception but I �m afraid it �s over her head. As I said, I am already delighted she remembered there is an issue with the �s � in Present simple, most students tend to forget the �s � all together....This is the first time I have a kid use it too much...
Thank you so much for your responses! |
7 Sep 2013
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florimago
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Hi again : I �ve just remembered something I tell my students, when they have a low level and don�t need to know much grammmar. I always tell them that when they have 2 or 3 verbs coming together , they must use the -s for the third person , if it�s needed, in the first verb but never in the rest of them . That makes things easy for them!!! |
7 Sep 2013
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MarionG
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Hi Flori,
That sounds like a simple answer indeed. I have to try it out for myself a little but it sounds like the kind of thing I could tell her..definitely a lot easier than bare infinitives and verbs of perception!
Thank you again fro helping me with this. |
7 Sep 2013
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florimago
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Please tell me if it worked !!! Good luck anyway!!! |
7 Sep 2013
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