FORM

USES

1     Presenting factual information, e.g. about law firm or company activities

Our law firm employs over 1,000 people, operates in many overseas countries, and offers a wide-range of legal services.

2     Actions and situations which are generally true

Our law office belongs to Kicsi, Pici and Partners Law Firm.

High taxation discourages investment.

We sell our legal services into many markets.

Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.

3     Saying how often you or other people do things

We usually use the present simple with frequency adverbs:

always, often, usually, normally, sometimes, occasionally, rarely, not often, hardly ever, never, every day, once a year, most of the time, from time to time, now and then

I never start work before 8 am.

We have staff meeting every Monday morning.

He often takes files home at the weekend.

When she gets into the office she always checks her e-mails first.

I rarely go to court trials.

He needs to update his contract templates from time to time. 

4   Asking for and giving directions and instructions

‘How do I get to your office?’~ ‘You turn left after the station, cross the bridge and it’s the second building on your right.

Go to www.elearning/linguajuris.hu and click on the icon.

5   Talking about timetables and scheduled events

These are seen as fixed and the speaker is unlikely to be able to influence them.

The court opens on 25 August.

This legislation comes into force on 1 January.

6    Doing by saying

We use the present simple with certain verbs which say what their function is. When we say them we ‘perform’ the action. For example, saying ‘I promise to meet you at the airport’ is making a promise. Other examples include:

I resign!

I apologise.

I declare this meeting open.

I demand to see my lawyer.

I admit I was wrong.

I advise you to look at our proposal again.

7   Verbs used only in the present simple tense

There are a number of verbs which are almost always used in the simple tenses and not with the continuous.

These verbs refer to:

a) mental states: believe, doubt, forget, imagine, know, realise, recognise, regret, remember, suppose, think, understand

He believes the contract terms are unfair.

She doubts that the witness will appear in court.

He often forgets important deadlines.

I imagine that the jury will be persuaded by the evidence.

The lawyer knows the rules of procedure very well.

She realises the impact of the ruling on her client’s case.

He recognises the authority of the Supreme Court.

The client regrets signing the agreement without legal counsel.

I remember every detail of the negotiation process.

I suppose the case will take several months to resolve.

He thinks the law should be amended.

The judge understands the complexity of the legislation.

b) likes and dislikes: admire, dislike, hate, Iike, Iove, want, wish

She admires the professionalism of her mentor.

He dislikes dealing with corporate disputes.

They hate working on cases involving family law.

The attorney likes to work on human rights cases.

She loves the challenge of defending her clients.

The client wants a quick settlement.

He wishes for a more favorable outcome.

c) possession: belong to, contain, have, include, own, possess

The intellectual property rights belong to the company.

The legal document contains all necessary clauses.

She has a copy of the court’s decision.

The contract includes a non-compete clause.

He owns a law firm in the city.

The defendant possesses classified information.

d) appearance: appear, Iook Iike, resemble, seem

The evidence appears to be incomplete.

The suspect looks like the man in the surveillance footage.

This case resembles a previous landmark ruling.

It seems that the case will be dismissed.

e) being: be, consist of, depend, exist

The lawyer is confident in her arguments.

The jury consists of twelve members.

The outcome depends on the evidence presented.

A precedent exists for this type of case.

f) perception: hear, see, smell, taste

The judge hears all arguments before making a decision.

The attorney sees an opportunity to negotiate.

Cyanide smells and tastes like almonds and can cause death within a few minutes.

NB: Using a verb in a continuous tense and adding the -ing suffix to it is not the same. Every verb can get an -ing suffix, but not all of them can be used in continuous tenses. For example, ’Seeing is believing’, where both ’seeing’ and ’believing’ have the -ing suffix, but are not in the present continuous tense.

EXERCISE 1

It is the staff meeting this morning, but not everyone has arrived yet. Complete the dialogue using the present tense forms of BE. Some forms are positive (e.g. is) and some are negative (e.g. aren’t).

YOUR SCORE(S) IN THIS EXERCISE:

EXERCISE 2

Lawyers around the world. Complete the text using the present simple tense forms (positive and negative) of the verbs in brackets.

YOUR SCORE(S) IN THIS EXERCISE:

EXERCISE 3

General truths. Complete these sayings using the present tense forms of the verbs in the box.

YOUR SCORE(S) IN THIS EXERCISE:

EXERCISE 4

Interview with a famous lawyer-writer. Eliza Benett is interviewing John Sharp, the famous barrister who writes stories about lawyers and their clients. Complete Eliza’s questions by putting in the missing words.

YOUR SCORE(S) IN THIS EXERCISE: