Getting fit!

To prepare for my trip to Disney World and for the upcoming warm weather, I have been working extra hard in the gym to get myself fit. Becoming fit is beneficial in many aspects. It reduces stress, releases happy hormones, and makes you feel good about yourself. Becoming fit gives some people a sense of purpose and achievement. It allows you to maintain a goal-oriented life style to better yourself each and every day.

Vocabulary 

1. upcoming (adj.) about to happen
2. fit (adj.) in good health 
3. beneficial (adj.) resulting in good
4. reduces (v.) make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size.
5. purpose (n.) the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
6. achievement (n.) a thing done successfully usually done by effort 
7. maintain (v.) cause or allow to continue 
8. goal-oriented (adj.) working hard to achieve good results in given tasks 

Write your own sentence for each of the sentences below.  Use the definitions and the context in which each word is used in the above paragraph.  
1. upcoming ________________________________________________________
2. fit ___________________________________________________________
3. beneficial___________________________________________________________
4. reduces___________________________________________________________
5. purpose ___________________________________________________________
6. achievement ___________________________________________________________
7. maintain___________________________________________________________
8. goal-oriented ___________________________________________________________

Grammar Point: Verbs in the Present Tense
Verbs in the present tense show an action that is happening now or is going to happen.  The present tense uses the verb's base form (play, cook), or, for third-person singular subjects, the base form plus an -s ending (she plays, he cooks). The following are present tense examples from the paragraph above. 
1. Becoming fit is beneficial in many aspects. It reduces stress, releases happy hormones, and makes you feel good about yourself.
2. It allows you to maintain a goal-oriented life style to better yourself each and every day. 

Grammar Activity 
Write about what you are currently working on to better yourself or wish to work on. Create at least 5 sentences in present verb tense.