PRESENT C0NTINUOUS

Universidad del Atlántico

When do we use it?
● When we talk about something that is taking place at that moment.
Ex: She is eating dinner right now and cannot answer the phone.
● When we describe future actions or events already programmed.
Ex: When we arrive at the airport, we are taking a private car direct to the hotel.
● When we talk about temporary events.
Ex: He’s studying a new language at the moment
● When we talk about a new pattern or habit.
Ex: These days, people are writing emails a lot less than they used to a few years ago
● It can also be used to describe a regular habit that someone has – whether it is a good
habit, or a bad one.
Ex: You’re always running late with all your deadlines!
How do we form it?
Notice that here we
are using VERB TO-BE
as an auxiliar or
helping verb. Then
to form the
continuous tense we
add -ing to the main
verb.
HOW DO WE FORM IT?
When asking
with Wh-
questions we
just put the
wh- word before
the structure
we already had.
To take into account...

There are some rules

when adding -ing to
some verbs. Watch the
chart with the
exceptions.
now let’s practice
PRESENT SIMPLE VS PRESENT CONTINUOUS
Let’s practice
Can /can’t
We use can or can’t to express
ability or inability and
possibility or impossibility.
vocabulary cards