Present continuous

+ subject + am/is/are + verb + -ing You are reading about t the present continuous
- subject +am/is/are not + verb + -ing He’s not playing football
? am/is/are + subject +verb + -ing? Are they studying English?

In the previous example we can see an affirmative sentence, a negative sentence and a
question. All of the use the verb “to be” and the form “-ing” of the verb.

We use the present continuous:

1. - To talk about the present moment:

Example:
I'm wearing my old jeans.
2. - To suggest that an action is temporary (often with words like now, at the moment, at
present or just)

Example:
They're eating lunch at the moment.

3. - For an action around the time of speaking, which has begun but is not finished:

Example:
I'm cleaning my room.

4. - To indicate that something will or will not happen in the near future

Example:
I am not going to the party tonight.

Adding “–ing"

For many verbs we make the ing form by simply adding "-ing” to end of the verb.
try – trying
do – doing
speak – speaking

Rule 1: when a verb ends in "e", drop the "e" and add "-ing".

Examples:

Drive – Driving
Come – Coming
Take – Taking

Rule 2: when a verb ends in “ee”, just add "-ing".

agree - agreeing
flee - fleeing
see – seeing

Rule 3: when a verb ends in “ie”, change the “-ie” to “–y” and add "-ing".

die – dying
tie - tying
lie - lying

Rule 4: when a verb ends in vowel + consonant (with the exception of w, x, and y) we have
two cases.

4.1 For one syllable verbs: double the final consonant and add "-ing".

sit - sitting
run - running
stop - stopping

4.2 For two syllable verbs:

If the first syllable is accentuated, just add "-ing".

answer – answering
listen - listening
visit – visiting

If the second syllable is accentuated, double the consonant and add "-ing".

admit – admitting
prefer - preferring
begin - beginning