DESCRIBING PICTURES:

THE USE OF PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

By: Anwar Mustofa

English lecturer at Business Administration Program
State Polytechnic of Jakarta
 DESCRIBING PICTURE: THE USE OF PRESENT
CONTINUOUS TENSE

S P
BE-1 V-ING HE IS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE CLASS

BE-1 NOT V-ING HE IS NOT HOLDING A BOOK

BE-1 V-ING IS HE LOOKING AT ME?

NOTE:
BE-1 - AM, IS, ARE
 DESCRIBING PICTURE: THE USE OF PRESENT
CONTINUOUS TENSE

S P
BE-1 V-ING HE IS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE CLASS Affirmative Sentence

BE-1 NOT V-ING HE IS NOT HOLDING A BOOK Negative Sentence

BE-1 V-ING IS HE LOOKING AT ME? Question Sentence

NOTE:
BE-1 - AM, IS, ARE
 DESCRIBING PICTURE: THE USE OF PRESENT
CONTINUOUS TENSE
Find a picture containing 2 groups of people, like a demonstration (political
demonstration: policemen and demonstrators; cooking demonstration: cook
and partner and the audience), a celebration (like wedding: groom and her
bride and guest; birthday party: host and the guests; independence day
celebration: pining climbing game: climbers and spectators; or product
launching: owners and guest or journalists), a competition or game like
coloring competition (among children), news conference (the speaker and
team and journalists), or a learning process after a natural disaster: group of
teachers and students.

Describe one of the picture below by present continuous tense and present
tense. The focus is on present continuous tense. Begin with time. Learn the
sample below. One picture is for 4 students.
 Learn how to describe the
picture using present
continuous tense.
Begin with TIME. Describe what
the people in one group are
doing. Then, describe what the
Not like this people in the second group are
doing.

It’s about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. US president is holding news conference. He is speaking
to journalists. He is standing at the stage. Eight staffs are with him.7 staffs are men but one
is a woman. They are wearing ties. 4 staffs are standing on the right side, two staffs are
standing in the right side and the other two are standing against the wall. All of them are
looking at the journalists.

Many journalist are covering the news. They are listening to the president’s speech. Some
are standing and the other some are sitting. Six journalists are raising their hands. Four
journalists are recording. They are standing. One journalist is wearing red cloth. She is sitting
at the wall.
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