Anual UNI
SEMANA
INGLÉS
SEMESTRAL SAN MARCOS II
Present Continuous
The present continuous tense is used for actions ha-
ppening now or for an action that is unfinished. This
tense is also used when the action is temporary.
How to Form the Present Continuous
The present continuous tense is formed with the
subject plus the present particle form (-ing) of the
main verb and the present continuous tense of the
verb to be: am, is, are.
One simple example of this tense is: He is swim-
ming. “He” is the subject, “is” is the present tense
of the verb to be and “swimming” is the present
participle verb form. Some other forms of this verb
tense are:
• I am singing at church today.
• The boys are playing ball after school.
Examples of the Present Continuous Tense
The following are basic examples of the present
continuous tense. The verb tense in each sentence
is underlined.
• She is crying.
• He is talking to his friend.
• The baby is sleeping in his crib.
• We are visiting the museum in the afternoon.
Present continuous tense can be used to express
something happening right now or to express so-
mething that is not happening right now. Examples
of this use include:
• He is not standing.
• Anthony is sitting in the chair.
• You are not watching the movie.
• Rose is reading a book.
Práctica dirigida de Filosofía
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Present continuous tense can also be used to show
that something will or will not happen in the near
future. Examples of this use include:
• She is not going to the game tonight.
• He is meeting his friends after school.
• Are you visiting your cousin this weekend?
• I am not going to the meeting after work.
• Is John playing football today?
Present continuous tense can be used for actions
that are still happening at the time of speaking.
Examples of this use include:
• Marc is making pizza now.
• They are eating lunch right now.
• Frances is talking on the phone at the
moment.
Present continuous tense can be used in questions
as well. Here are some more examples of this use:
• Is she laughing?
• Are they listening to the teacher?
• Is the baby drinking his bottle?
• Are you going?
More Uses of Present Continuous Tense
In addition to the above, the present continuous
tense can be used to describe actions that are be-
ing repeated. Words like always, constantly and fo-
rever are used along with the verb. Examples of this
use include:
• Jack and Jill are always fighting.
• She is constantly complaining about her sister.
• Her mother is forever misplacing her keys.
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Present continuous tense can be used when spea-
king about current trends. Examples of this use
include:
• Shopping online is growing in popularity
nowadays.
• The stocks are dropping constantly due to
the economy.
• Today, most people are using text messages
instead of the phone.
Another use of this tense is when talking about a
planned event in the future. Examples of this use
include:
• We are leaving for the beach tomorrow
morning.
• The kids are arriving at six o’clock.
• She is speaking at the conference this
evening.
Exercises
Text 1: Meeting Someone New
Good morning, I would like to introduce my-
self. My name is David Johnson and it is nice to
meet you. I come from near Cambridge. I live in a
small village that is close to the city of Cambridge. I
am 20 years old. I am studying history at university
and work in a shop at the weekends. I have one
brother and one sister. They are both older than
me. My sister is 26 years old and my brother is 22
years old. They have both graduated from universi-
ty and work in London.
Hi, my name is Lucy Spalding and it is great
to meet you all. I am really excited to see so many
people. I am 24 years old and am an only child.
I come from Newcastle, which is in the North of
England and a long way away from here. My mo-
ther is a teacher and my father works in an office.
I finished a degree in Media Studies last year and
am unemployed at the moment. I want to move to
London to find work sometime.
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When Not to Use Present Continuous Tense
There are certain verbs that cannot be used in the
present continuous tense. The following verbs are
non-continuous:
• Communication: agree, promise, surprise
• Feelings: like, love, hate
• Senses: hear, see, smell, taste
• Thinking: believe, know, understand
The Importance of Present Continuous Tense
As you can see the present continuous tense is
most often used in English grammar to describe
a continuing action, something that in unfinished.
This tense is also important since it is a simple sen-
tence structure that can show actions or events that
are happening right now, in the planned future, or
sometimes even in the past.
Hello, it is nice to see you all. I’m Elaine. I come
from Cardiff and it is great to be here to meet you all
in Reading. I am 42 years old. I am married to my
husband, Richard, and have two children. One son
called Andrew who is 18 years old and one daugh-
ter who is 16 years old and called Tracy. I work in a
supermarket and my husband is a police office. My
son wants to study computing at university while
my daughter wants to become a singer.
Good morning. It is pleasure to meet my. Plea-
se let me introduce myself to you. I am Hamid and
I come from Pakistan. My home town is Islamabad,
the capital city. I am 19 years old and have come
to the UK to study English. I will stay here for one
year. I want to learn a lot. My family is big. I have 3
brothers and 1 sister. I am the oldest and my sister,
the youngest, is 11 years old. My father works as a
government official and my mother is a housewife.
I want to learn English so I can get a good job. I do
not work as I spend all my time studying.
1. Where is David Johnson from? when monsters come out of hiding. This means
that people associate scary and frightening things
A) London with Halloween.
B) Reading There are three main traditions linked to Halloween.
C) Cardiff The first is carving pumpkins, the second is decora-
D) Cambridge ting your house and the third is trick-or-treating.
Pumpkins are big vegetables that go an orange
2. What is the name of Tracy’s mother?
color when they are ripe and ready to eat. When
someone carves a pumpkin they cut the top off
A) Elaine
it and scoop out all the seeds and flesh from the
B) Lucy
C) Richard inside. Then they carve a pattern into the outside
D) Andrew of the pumpkin. Often they cut the pattern so that
there are holes into the center of the pumpkin. It is
3. How many brothers does Lucy Spalding have? traditional to carve your pumpkin into a scary face.
Then when it is dark you put a candle or light inside
A) 0 the pumpkin so the light shines out of the frighte-
B) 1 ning face that was carved.
C) 2 Then the pumpkins would be used to decora-
D) 3 te your house. You would put them in a window
or on the front porch so people in the street can
4. How many siblings does Hamid have? see them. However, the decorations have beco-
me much better over the years. Now people try
A) 2 to make their houses look as if they are a haunted
B) 3
house by making skeletons to hang in the garden or
C) 4
putting tombstones outside the house. They might
D) 5
also make it look as if there are lots of spider webs.
5. Elaine’s children want to do what? The people from the house try to make it look as
scary as possible.
A) Sing and work as police officer Finally, children will get dressed up in cos-
B) Study computing and sing tumes and go out trick-or-treating. This is where
C) Work as a hairdresser and study media they go to people’s houses and ask for sweets or
studies candy, their treat. If the house refused to give them
D) The passage does not say. anything then they would play a trick on the house.
Adults do not go trick-or-treating, unless that are
Text 2: Halloween looking after children, but do often have their own
Halloween is a celebration that happens on the parties at night. At these parties people would also
31st of October. It originally came from a Christian be dressed up as monsters or anything else that is
religious day. The 1st of November is All Saints Day, scary.
so Halloween is the eve or night before this. Nowa-
days it is mainly just an excuse for people to have 6. Why is Halloween scary and frightening?
fun.
The holiday was mainly celebrated in Ameri- A) It is in the dark winter.
ca and from there has spread to many other coun- B) It is when monsters come out.
tries. It is meant to be the day, and mainly the night, C) It is because it is Christian.
D) Halloween is not a scary holiday.

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7. Which of the following is not part of Halloween? 9. What do people try to do when they decorate
their houses?
A) Carving pumpkins
B) Trick-or-treat A) Make them look scary.
C) Decorating your house B) Make them look cute.
D) Singing special songs C) Make them look old.
D) Make them look bright.
8. Where are pumpkins normally displayed?
10. Why do adults go trick-or-treating?
A) In cars
B) On the front porch A) To get candy and sweets.
C) In the kitchen B) To have a party.
D) At churches C) To look after children.
D) To give other children sweets.