Enjoy a day of pure Italian indulgence at La Dolce Vita, the Italian
Festival at Olympia, London 13-16 March 2008.

Experience, taste and buy some of Italy’s finest products as well as socialising with its charismatic personalities. Dine at London’s top Italian restaurants, saunter through a mini ‘Corso Como’, attend catwalk shows, discover the delights of Italy’s diverse regions and marzo, marzo more

Answer English have teamed up with La Dolce Vita to offer you the following discount – £4 off on standard tickets bought before Friday 7th March simply visit www.ladolcevitaevent.co.uk or call 0871 231 0832 quoting the code ‘GNL1’. (Bookings are subject to booking and transaction fees)

Recently I received the following e-mail from Fast Song, an English Student:

Dear James,
Please could you help me with the present simple tense? I have many problems with this tense.
Yours truly and sincerely,
Fast Song (by e-mail)

Here is my reply:

Dear Fast Song,
Thank you so much for your e-mail. Actually, the present simple is one of the most complicated tenses in English, so don’t worry if you are having problems – it’s only natural.
The hardest thing is to remember to add the “s” with “he/she/it”, and to remember to use “do/does” with questions and negatives.

In general, we use the present simple to express our opinions about things. For example:
a) She loves football.
b) He thinks this is the best football team.

We can also use the present simple for facts. For example:
a) Water boils at 100ºC.
b) London is the capital of England.

We can also use the present simple to describe our habits. For example:
a) She reads the newspaper every morning.
b) They get up late every day.

Grammar exercise

Complete each sentence with the correct word/s.
1. She (work) ________________________ in a big office.
2. He (take) ________________________ the car to work.
3. They (not like) ________________________ to go out much.
4. She (not watch) ________________________ much television.
5. We (not go) ________________________ more than once a year.
6. They really (want) ________________________ to see you again.
7. I (not know) ________________________ what to do.
8. She (not have) ________________________ her own house.

Answers

1. Works
2. Takes
3. Don’t like
4. Doesn’t watch
5. Don’t go
6. Want
7. Don’t know
8. Doesn’t have

The Language Of… is organising a “Language Bites” evening between 6 and 9 p.m. on April 10th at the Kingston-upon-Thames Market House, in the Market Place.  This is one of the evenings on offer during a two-week “Market House Festival”. The point of the festival is to promote the use of the under-utilised Market House.

The Language Of… will be introducing Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Hindi and Swedish to an audience of 70, and is currently looking for individuals who speak (and who ideally teach or have taught) those languages to lead a fun, entertaining, lighthearted 20-minute session where they teach just the basics of their language.  The language they teach must be their mother tongue, but excellent English will also be needed.  Alongside “Language Bites”, and as guests arrive,  there will also be “Food Bites” - an opportunity for guests to sample a selection of food and drink from local ethnic restaurants to match the featured languages. The Language Of… will also be selling a selection of their secondhand foreign language books, currently available on their internet store at www.thelanguageof.com

If you would like to attend April 10^th as a guest, please e-mail Laura at laurav@thelanguageof.com to let her know how many places she should reserve.  Admission is free, but only those on the guest list will gain admittance as places are strictly limited.