Basic English Grammar: Simple Present Tense and Adverbs of Frequency

 It's super easy to form simple present tense. Include a noun and a verb, conjugate the verb correctly and there you have it! 

When do we use simple present tense? Well, baby books use it.


But grown-ups only use it to talk about the way something is, using the verb "to be," or something that happens all the time, or regularly.

I am a reality TV star. I get up at six o'clock every day to get my hair and make-up done. I work out at the gym with my own personal trainer. I do duck face and take selfies. I rarely eat. 

We don't use simple present to talk about something we're doing right now. For that, we generally use present continuing, also called present progressive tense.

I'll talk more about present progressive (or continuing) tense later.


We can add adverbs of frequency to our simple present tense sentences.

Here's a continuum showing some adverbs of frequency. Always means 100 percent of the time, and never of course means zero percent of the time. You can see how the other adverbs of frequency can be used to tell you how often I do something, or how frequently something takes place.

Always can mean every day, or whenever the opportunity arises. So when I say, "I always eat cookies," it doesn't mean I eat cookies 24/7, although that would be nice; it means whenever I get the chance, I eat cookies.

Watch the video of this lesson here: Correcting the Internet with Mrs. Teacher: Simple Present Tense.