

| Informal | Formal | | |
| 1 | Everybody must… | It is essential/crucial/vital that all parties… | |
| 2 | In our daily lives we experience the influence of … | Daily life is influenced by… | |
| 3 | We simply/just order goods from… | Goods can be ordered directly from… | |
| 4 | Let us consider… | It is important to consider… | |
| 5 | It’s high time we all did the right thing. | The current situation requires action from all citizens… | |
| 6 | We can’t see and touch the goods. | Goods cannot be seen or touched… | |
| 7 | When we download songs we cheat their authors of income. | Downloading songs infringes on the interests of their authors. | |
| 8 | We, Chinese, do things our own way. | Chinese people tend to do things in a certain way. | |
| 9 | I love/ I like/ prefer… | Personally, I favour… | |
| 10 | We face a huge danger of being cheated… | There is a serious risk of fraud… | |
| 11 | You may ask… | One may ask… | |
| 12 | Students have their own styles of learning… | Students learn in different ways… | |
| 13 | We can do many things… | Many things can be done/are possible… | |
2. Simple present tense
| subject | + | auxiliary verb | + | main verb |
| | | do | | base |
There are three important exceptions:
Look at these examples with the main verb like:
| | subject | auxiliary verb | | main verb | |
| + | I, you, we, they | | | like | coffee. |
| He, she, it | | | likes | coffee. | |
| - | I, you, we, they | do | not | like | coffee. |
| He, she, it | does | not | like | coffee. | |
| ? | Do | I, you, we, they | | like | coffee? |
| Does | he, she, it | | like | coffee? |
Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:
| | subject | main verb | | |
| + | I | am | | French. |
| You, we, they | are | | French. | |
| He, she, it | is | | French. | |
| - | I | am | not | old. |
| You, we, they | are | not | old. | |
| He, she, it | is | not | old. | |
| ? | Am | I | | late? |
| Are | you, we, they | | late? | |
| Is | he, she, it | | late? |
We use the simple present tense when:
| John drives a taxi. | ||
| past | present | future |
| | ||
| It is John’s job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future. | ||
Look at these examples:
Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the simple present tense for situations that are not general. We can use the simple present tense to talk about now. Look at these examples of the verb “to be” in the simple present tense – some of them are general, some of them are now:
| Am I right?
| ||
| past | present | future |
| | ||
| The situation is now. | ||
| I am not fat.
| ||
| past | present | future |
| | ||
| The situation is general. Past, present and future. | ||