Contents
- The Present Continuous / Progressive
- The past continuous (progressive) tense
- The form of the present continuous tense
- The affirmative forms of the present continuous:
- The interrogative forms of the present continuous
- The negative forms of the present continuous
- The use of the present continuous tense
- Special verbs
- Examples:
- Exercises on the theme:
The Present Continuous / Progressive
John is in his car. He is in his way to work. He is driving to work This means he is driving now: “at the time of speaking” This is the present continuous. |
The past continuous (progressive) tense
This page will present the present continuous:
- its form
- and its use.
You may also be interested in a lesson about the past continuous
The form of the present continuous tense
The verb to be (in the simple present) | verb + ing |
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The affirmative forms of the present continuous:
I | am | eating. |
’m | ||
You, we, they | are | |
’re | ||
He, she, it | is | |
‘s |
The interrogative forms of the present continuous
Am | I | eating? |
Are | you, we, they | |
Is | he, she, it |
The negative forms of the present continuous
I | am not | eating. |
’m not | ||
You, we, they | are not | |
aren’t | ||
He, she, it | is not | |
isn’t |
The use of the present continuous tense
- The present continuous is used to talk about actions happening at the time of speaking.Example:
- Where is Mary? She is having a bath. (Not she has a bath)
- What are you doing at the moment in front of your screen? Don’t you know? Well … you are reading this lesson. You are learning English.
- The present continuous can also be used when an action has started but hasn’t finished yet.Example:
- I am reading a book; it’s a nice book. (It means = I am not necessarily reading it; I started reading it but I haven’t finished it yet.)
Special verbs
There are verbs which are normally not used in the present continuous.
Examples:
be, believe, belong, hate, hear, like, love, mean, prefer, remain, realize, see, seem, smell, think, understand, want, wish
These verbs are called stative verbs in contrast to action verbs (also referred to as ‘dynamic verbs’) such as ‘work, play, eat, etc.’
It’s not correct to say:
He is wanting to buy a new car.*
You must say:
He wants to buy a new car.