First Certificate language practice with key 4. This book is designed to revise and consolidate grammar points at the level of First Certificate. It also provides practice in key lexical areas. There are regular consolidation units which include forms of testing commonly used in the First Certificate examination. | FIRST CERTIFICATE LANGUAGE PRACTICE 6 Put each verb in brackets into either the present simple or the present continuous. Dear Aunt Jean I 1 .am just writing. just write how to tell you how much I 2 . appreciate the money you sent me and to tell you how I 3 . get on in my first term at university Actually I 4 . really enjoy myself I 5 . study quite hard as well but at the moment I 6 . spend a lot of time just making friends. I 7 . still stay with my friend Sue and I 8 . look for somewhere of my own to live. Only a few of the first-year students 9 . live in college here and I 10 . seem to be spending a lot of time travelling backwards and forwards. I 11 . go to lectures every morning and most afternoons I 12 . study in the library. In fact I 13 . write this letter instead of an essay on Hamletl I 14 . think I ll buy some new clothes with the money you sent. Everything 15 . cost a lot here and I 16 . save to buy a winter coat. It 17 . get really cold here in the evenings. I now 18 . know some other students and generally speaking we 19 . have quite a good time socially I 20 . also learn to drive. See you soon. Katherine Key points 1 The present simple describes facts and habitual actions. The present continuous describes actions which are still in progress at the time of speaking. 2 Many verbs which describe states rather than momentary events can only be used in the simple form. Many verbs describing mental activities understand know are of this kind. 3 Some verbs have both state and event meanings but the meanings are not the same. 4 When describing a photograph we usually describe the scene as if it is happening now and use the present continuous. 5 Present tense forms are also used to refer to future time. See Grammar 3. 6 Where some languages use present tenses English uses the present perfect. See Grammar 2. I ve lived in Milan all my life. Grammar 3 Future time Grammar 5 Consolidate Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first .
