Learning English

Who's used all the teabags?!

Soon we'll be explaining a bit more about tenses but first let's meet Daisy again. Daisy's obsessed with celebrity culture. She auditioned for a place on the reality TV show 'The Box' - and she got in! She's now living in The Box with a group of total strangers.

Let's see how Daisy is getting on. Watch the video and see if you can answer these questions:

1. Does she like life in The Box?
2. What does she do every day?
3. What isn't she drinking - and why?
4. Who has used all the teabags?

Viidiyoo daawwadhu

Did you manage to answer the questions about the video? Here are the answers:

1. Daisy likes life in The Box. She says 'I'm loving it' (*see note below about this phrase).
2. Daisy goes shopping every day.
3. Daisy isn't drinking coffee because it has too much caffeine in it.
4. Darren has used all the teabags!

Did you notice the tenses that Daisy and Harry used? Here's a reminder of some of the tenses we've covered in this course so far. Have a look at the grammar notes and then try the activity.

Present simple and present continuous

We use the present continuous for things that are happening now and for temporary situations. We often use time expressions like at the moment, this week and these days. 

We're staying in a fantastic hotel in Goa this week.

We use the present simple for things that we do regularly and for permanent situations. We often use adverbs of frequency and time expressions like sometimes, every day and on Saturdays.

I swimevery day before breakfast.

Past simple and present perfect

We use the past simple tense when an action or situation happens and finishes in the past. We usually say or know when it happens.

We arrivedtwo days ago.

We use the present perfect in several ways:

1) to talk about our experiences in the past. We don’t say when these happened because we are interested in the experience, not the time or date. We often use the words ever and never. 

Have you ever been here?
I've never been to Goa.

2) to talk about situations that started in the past and are continuing now. We sometimes ask a question with how long + the present perfect and we answer it with the words for or since.

How long has Mia been in Goa?
She's been there for two days.
It's been really hot since we arrived. 

3) to say whether an action has happened or not at the present time. The words just, already and yet are very common with this use of the present perfect.

I've already done some sunbathing. ­
We haven't seen much yet.
The sun's justdisappeared!

There is more information on our grammar reference page.

*A note about 'I'm loving it'. This is non-standard usage. In less formal English, the continuous form is sometimes used with state verbs. You might also hear someone say, 'I'm hating this movie.' The -ing form of the verbs in these examples have a sense of being temporary.

To do

Now let's look at the tenses that Daisy and Harry used. Try this activity. 

Next

So Daisy is living in The Box. How she will get on? Will she be the last person to stay in there and win the competition? Before we find out, we need to discover more about tenses and how to form them. That's in the next activity.