PRESENT CONTINUOUS

Structure:

SUBJECT + verb TO BE +VERB + ING

I am eating
You are playing
He is singing
She is studying
It is travelling
We are talking
They are reading

When is it used?

1. It is used at the time of speaking

E.g. I am writing
You are speaking
He is watching TV

2. Used in temporary situations to describe situations or actions in progress for a

limited period.

E.g. This week I am going to the mountains.

3. Used for planned activities for future reference

E.g. We are spending our Holiday in Greece

4. Used in common time expressions such as

AT THE MOMENT, NOW, TODAY, THIS WEEK, TOMORROW, NEXT WEEK, NEXT
MONTH, NEXT YEAR, IN (GIVEN DATE )

E.g. I am studying English at the moment

We are having a tennis competition this week
She is going to Paris tomorrow
DO NOT USE WITH STATIVE VERBS these are verbs that describe state and not
action
LIKE, LOVE, WANT, BELONG, REMEMBER, FORGET, HATE, PREFER,
WANT, NEED, UNDERSTAND, BELIEVE

WRONG RIGHT
I am loving pizza I love pizza
I am needing a friend I need a friend
I am understanding the lesson I understand the lesson
RULES:

1. When you have a verb ending with ‘e’ in the P.C. ‘you kick the ‘e’ out the
window’! and add –ing

e.g. Make = Making

Remember the vowels: A, E, I, O, U

2. When you have a vowel before the last letter, the letter is doubled:

e.g. swim = swimming

3. When you have 2 Vowels before the last letter, it is not doubled:

e.g. read = Reading

4. If you have 2 vowels ending in a verb you add Y+ING

e.g. lie = lying or die = dying

REMEMBER: -ing must never stand-alone, -ing always needs their helpers: is, are, am

NEGATIVE

Lucy is writing – positive

To make it Negative you add NOT before the main verb

Lucy is not writing OR Lucy isn’t writing -negative

E.g. we are Learning becomes; we are not learning or we aren’t learning

REMEMBER THE NEGATIVE HAS TO COME BEFORE THE MAIN VERB

QUESTION

Starting again with the positive sentence;

E.g. they are going to school today

To make our statement into a question we must put our helper verbs INFRONT

E.g. Are they going to school today?

E.g. They are playing football now.

Make into a question:

Are they playing football now?

When we see ‘I am’ in a statement to change it to a question, we always use ‘you’ and
‘you’ is always used with ‘are’: ‘are you…’

E.g I am sleeping. (Make into question)

Are you sleeping?