English Grammar (The Simple Present): Give Instructions and Directions

GIVE INSTRUCTIONS AND DIRECTIONS USING THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

This is the third post in the Simple Present Tense series.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to give instructions and directions using the Simple Present Tense or the Present Simple Tense.

REMEMBER: We can also use this tense to:

talk about facts and general truths.
talk about habits and daily routines.

The Simple Present Tense: Give Instructions and Directions (1)

Instructions

We usually use the Imperative Form to give instructions. You will often see this in recipes.

Mix the flour with all the dry ingredients.
Bake the cake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Here, we use the Verb stem only. There is no -S, TO, -ING or -ED.

When we use the Simple Present Tense to give instructions, we simply add the pronoun YOU in front of the verb stem..

YOU refers to a single person or to two or more people.

You mix the flour with all the dry ingredients.
You bake the cake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Longer Example of a Recipe

How to Make Baked Plantains with Cinnamon

serving-the-baked-plantains-with-cinnamon-learn-english-with-africa-december-2016-African food

Plantains are big bananas that you often find in Africa. We cannot eat raw plantains but we have to cook them first.

Today, I am going to teach you how to make baked plantains with cinnamon. This is a delicious recipe and it is easy to follow.

To make baked plantains, you gather all the ingredients and put them on a clean area. Then, you wash the bananas carefully. Afterwards, you peel them and throw away the peelings in a kitchen bin.

In the next step, you cut the bananas into small pieces. You arrange these in a Pyrex dish. After, you spread olive oil on the bananas and you sprinkle cinnamon on them.

You are almost ready to bake the plantains!

The other crucial step is to pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. You make sure that the temperature is not too low or too hot for the plantains. You put the timer on too. You need 30 minutes to cook the bananas.

When you are ready, you put the Pyrex dish in the oven using protective gloves. You take the bananas out after 30 minutes using the same oven gloves.

After this, you put the hot Pyrex dish on a wooden board.

You are now ready to taste the plantains!

YOUR TURN: Use the image below to give instructions to a friend on how to make baked plantains with cinnamon. You can use another recipe if you want and the image below can just be used for inspiration.

The Simple Present Tense: Give Instructions and Directions (2)

Directions

You can give directions to someone using both the Imperative Form and the Simple Present Tense:

Imperative Form: Turn right at the junction.

The Simple Present Tense: You turn right at the junction.

Longer Example

Imagine you are lost and you do not have your smartphone. You want to go to a stadium to watch a football match. Your favourite team is playing against their rivals and you do not want to miss the game.

You meet a stranger and he shows you the way. Below is your conversation.

You: Excuse me, sir. Can you please tell me where the stadium is?

Stranger: Oh, it’s easy to go to the stadium from here. First, you go straight until you reach a big junction. You do not turn right there! You turn left and you continue walking until you see a big garage. There are many cars under repair in and outside that building. You go past this garage and you go straight ahead. After about five minutes, you will see another big junction. You cross it and you take the second road that is on your right. By now, you should see the stadium. It’s easy to notice and you simply can’t miss it!

You: Thank you, sir. Can you repeat what you just said?

The stranger repeats the directions and you thank him once again. He says that ‘You are welcome‘ and he wishes your team good luck!

Afterwards, you follow his directions and you arrive safely at the stadium!

Good job!

YOUR TURN: Are you ready to give directions to someone who is lost? Use the image below for inspiration. Be creative!