Grammar Guide
CHAPTER 1
Present Simple
FORMATION
Subject + base verb (+s/es for he/she/it)
I work | She works | They work
WHY WE USE IT
The key idea: The action is regular, repeated, or always true.
STORY CONNECTION
In Chapter 1, we meet Maya in her daily life. Everything she does — waking, making coffee, walking to work — is a habit or permanent fact. The Present Simple is the tense of routine and stability.
KEY SENTENCES FROM THE STORY
› Maya lives in a small apartment above a laundromat on Pike Street.
› She studies bioluminescent creatures — organisms that make their own light.
› She calls her mother in Vancouver every Sunday.