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Learners of English find the Simple Present difficult to master. And there is a reason for that. The Simple Present is neither simple nor present. This tense speaks about the recurrence of a particular action and not about the performance of the action itself, either in the present, the past or in the future.

When I say He reads books, I don’t mean that he read the books or he is reading the books or he will read the books. I mean that he has the hobby or the habit (it depends on how you look at it) of reading books. My uncle reads the newspapers in the toilet!

The verb in the simple present is in the root form; the root forms of the verbs are, for example, go, read, travel and work. We add s to this root form when we combine it with He, she or it.

He works for a bank. I get up at four in the morning. The bus stops here.

We use this tense quite frequently in our speech situations. We use it to speak about what we do every day or every time:

He drives to work. They go to the sea-side every weekend.

We use this tense to speak about how frequently an action is performed.

He goes to church on Sundays. He rarely goes on vacations. Yeah, he calls me sometimes.

We use this tense to speak about customs or norms that people follow.

They celebrate the 21st birthday on a grand scale.

We use this tense to speak about actions that in our opinion are permanent.

He lives in Kenilworth. (He has settled there.) She works for Price Water Coopers. (She holds a permanent position there.)

And finally, we use this tense to speak about what are universal truths. They follow universal laws and do not change.

The sun rises in the east. It rains in August. Water boils at 100 degrees.

We form questions in the simple present by using do or does.

Do you smoke? Does she call you?

We negate the simple present tense by using do not or does not.

She does not smoke. They do not make this product any more.

Remember that do not is contracted to don’t, and does not is contracted to doesn’t.

Next time when you write or speak, find out whether you use this tense correctly.

Unlike an investment, your past success can be an indicator of future success. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, replied in the FAQ section of his book that Robert Burgleman, one of his favorite professors at Stanford Business School taught him, “The single biggest danger in business and life other than outright failure, is to be successful without being resolutely clear about why you are successful in the first place.”

Have you made a connection to the patterns of thoughts, emotions and behaviours that creates your success? A connection to WHY you are successful provides you with a keen awareness and a road map of familiar patterns of thoughts/emotions/habits that you can adapt to present day realities to improve your effectiveness towards desired achievements.

Like many people when faced with new challenges or adversity your initial thought is probably not…OH YEAH! another obstacle for me to overcome! Your initial thought is probably alone the lines of WHY ME? or WHY NOW? I’ll give you the answer that I state to myself once I get pass my moments of “this couldn’t be happening to ME!”… SHIFT Happens.

SHIFT Happens implies change. Most of us say we want change but then when it occurs without our consent our response to it implies just the opposite. Our acceptance and ability to adapt to changing realities can and often does dictate our level of progress in life. Consider the steps that it took for you to learn how to read at various grade levels, if you had not been flexible and open to new learnings you would have not been promoted to the next grade level!

At each new grade level you were expected to use what you had previously learned as the foundation for the next grade level of studies. Year after year you built a foundation of academic progress based on previous academic success. Your patterns of perceptions, feelings and actions from one year to the next influenced your effectiveness and progress as a student.

Your Action Plan: Make a list of your top five achievements. Underneath each achievement list three to five dominant thoughts, emotions and daily habits which led to your success. Decide how you can adapt these thoughts, emotions and habits into your present reality to create the desired progress and success you want to experience. Your success is a clue to what you can do!

As a seasoned public speaker of many venues, I can tell you there’s a big difference between giving a speech and giving a presentation. One cannot, of course, teach presentation skills without teaching basic speech skills, and vice versa. The two are closely related in terms of understanding how to use body language, voice, eye contact and other techniques. But while there are many similar and overlapping skills, the difference lies in the objective.

Let’s start with giving a Speech.

If you’ve taken any speech classes in college, you’ve probably heard there are three types of speeches: informative, persuasive and entertaining. While this is fairly accurate, it won’t help in discerning between speeches and presenting because many think they are one in the same. But they are not.

Primarily, the purpose of a speech is to simply deliver a message. Often, a speech does not require the use of visual aids because a good speech can actually stand on its own without support or explanation. At the end of an effective speech, an audience will be stirred into thinking in a way or doing something they may not have before hearing it.

But most of us of in everyday life will generally hear two kinds of speeches: the kind that entertain and the kind that aim to change thinking or attitudes. After-dinner speeches and wedding toasts are in the former camp, most others in the latter. The “change” speeches can still have entertaining elements, but their purpose goes beyond that. Consider eulogies, for example. A eulogy is, or should be, in honor of the deceased. It should therefore connect with, and hopefully uplift the hearts of the mourners. It’s a speech, not a presentation, and the intention is to generate affection and good feelings.

Speeches are often, but not always, written out word for word and are given by individuals who normally don’t speak to crowds, or at least don’t regularly engage in public speaking (presidential speeches are an obvious exception). This is why a person giving a speech can and is usually expected to read the speech from paper or a teleprompter. An experienced speech giver, however, will still attempt to make the reading sound like he or she is actually talking to the audience at a personal level rather than just reading to no one in particular.

Many speeches also tend to be formal in nature. Consider how graduation speeches or State of the Union Addresses are delivered. Because of the formality, the speech would sound very similar from one audience and situation to another. But while it’s true that from some speeches there have been spontaneous outpourings of impromptu words and passion, most stay within the script.

Now let’s talk about Presenting.

A presentation needs a proposition and typically, a call to the audience for decisive action afterward. A good presenter understands that he or she is putting on a performance to a degree. Presenting is a form of art, a direct connection with an audience that engages people on intellectual and emotional levels. It should be designed to give an audience an experience, not just information. Presentations involve more entertainment, more senses and more activity from both the speaker and audience. An effective presentation is an orchestration of many pieces of many things to enhance the message.

Presentations tend to be less formal and the material should not be delivered by means of reading from a script. In fact, they should never be written word for word, or even memorized word for word. A seasoned presenter knows how to use notes with just key or “trigger” words to remind him or her of what to say. Also, presentations will often employ storytelling that the presenter can do off the cuff and from the heart.

The beauty of a presentation is that the presenter can be spontaneous and add, modify, or eliminate material according to the audience’s reaction or things like distractions or time constraints. This is why the same presentation can be delivered in vastly differently ways depending on the crowd and venue. And unlike speeches, presentations often will involve the use of visual aids to stir emotion or drive a point. At the end of a presentation, if the presenter has been effective, audience members will not only be moved to do something afterwards, they will also have some new knowledge in their mental arsenal to take away.

Finally, another purpose of presentations is to make a sale. A presentation geared toward selling is an emotionally compelling one designed to create a perceived need to buy the product, whatever it may be. Everything the presenter does and shows will be engineered to create and feed that need. Such a speaker will usually have books or DVDs or sign-up sheets waiting in the back.

In summary, if you’re going to be a speaker at some engagement and trying to decide what format to use, a good question to ask is: What is the purpose of my talk? The answer to that question will help you decide what you’re there to do for your audience, what they expect, and how you’re going to deliver it.