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Verb - to eat

Vocabulary

Meals

6:00am

12:00pm

10:00pm

Breakfast

Brunch

Lunch

Dinner

Food

Present form - eat

Let's break it down.

Subject + verb + noun / noun phrase

The cow eats grass.

I eat fish and chips

She eats pizza.

He eats cereal.

They eat hamburgers.

We eat sandwiches.

You eat chocolate cake.

It eats wedding cake.

Note that the subjects [Proper noun], he, she and it change the verb so there is an 's' at the end. 

Conversation:

A: What do you have for breakfast?

B: I eat cereal. 

A: What does your pet eat?

B: It eats wedding cake. 

A: What do you usually eat for lunch?

 

B: I eat a sandwich. 

Past form - ate

Let's break it down.

Subject + verb + noun / noun phrase

The cow ate grass.

I ate three pizzas

She ate cereal.

He ate fish and chips.

They ate those sandwiches.

We ate that chocolate cake.

You ate wedding cake.

It ate a hamburger.

Note that the subject does not change the verb.

Conversation:

A: What did you have for lunch?

B: I ate a sandwich. 

B: I had a sandwich.

A: What did your sister eat in America?

B: She ate lots of hamburgers. 

B: She had lots of hamburgers.

A: What did your brother have for dinner?

B: He ate fish and chips and chocolate cake.

 

B: He had fish and chips and chocolate cake.  

NATURAL ENGLISH

We often use 'had' instead of 'ate', especially when it obvious that the noun was eaten. 

She had a hamburger.

It is obvious that a hamburger was eaten and so 'had' is used. 

They had a lot of pizza

This means that they ate a lot of pizza, but 'had' is used because it is obvious.  

For...

We can that we ate a food for a meal, using the word 'for'. Let's see:

I had pizza for dinner.

Subject + verb + noun + for + [meal]

We had cereal for breakfast.

She had a sandwich for lunch.

They had hamburgers for dinner.

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