Present continuous tense in English

The present continuous tense in English is used to describe an action or event that is taking place in that moment.

Lesson outline

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1.Structure and rules of the present continuous tense
1.1.Affirmatives
1.2.Negatives
1.3.Interrogatives
2.Usage of the present continuous in English
2.1.Signal words present continuous
3.Exercises
3.1.Fill in the correct form of the English present continuous
3.2.Fill in the correct English form of to be
3.3.Complete the sentences with the English present continuous
3.4.Fill in the English present continuous

Structure and rules of the present continuous tense

The present continuous tense consists of two parts:

The present tense of the verb 'to be'.
The verb + the suffix '-ing'

Present continuous tense examples:

He is working at the supermarket right now.
I am calling my mother now.

The table below shows the conjugation of the verb 'to be'.

Subject	Present tense of the verb to be
I	am
You	are
He / she / it	is
We	are
You	are
They	are

How the present continuous tense is formed, depends on whether the sentence is:

Affirmative: expresses the truth of a certain assertion.
Negative: expresses the falsity of a certain assertion.
Interrogative: expresses a question.

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1. Affirmatives

Structure: subject / pronoun + form of 'to be' + verb + suffix '-ing' + rest of the sentence

Examples:

I am walking to school.
He is cooking a meal for his family.
They are drinking beer in a bar.

2. Negatives

Structure: subject / pronoun + negative form of 'to be' + verb + suffix 'ing' + rest of the sentence

The table below shows the conjugation of the verb 'to be' in the negative form.

Subject	Verb 'to be'
I	am not
You	are not
He / she / it	is not
We	are not
You	are not
They	are not

Examples:

I am not watching television now.
He is not paying attention in class today.
We are not paying for your meal this time.

3. Interrogatives

Structure: form of the verb 'to be' + subject / pronoun + verb + suffix '-ing' + rest of the sentence + question mark

Examples:

Are you coming to the party tonight?
Is he really studying now?
Are they running in the woods?

Usage of the present continuous in English

The table below shows the situations in which the present continuous is used.

Situation	Example
You want to describe an action or event that takes place at that exact moment.	Toby is doing his homework right now. She is watching TV.
You want to describe an action or event that is happening now, but not necessarily during the conversation.	Tim is studying Economics. I am learning Spanish.
You want to describe an action or event that is already scheduled, but is not happening right now.	I am meeting my friend on Sunday. He is not coming to work next week.
You want to describe a temporary event or a temporary situation.	Normally he goes to school, but he's working at a supermarket now. The weather in Valencia is always good, but it's raining at the moment.
You want to describe and emphasize a continuous series of repeated actions. Often combined with words as 'always, forever, constantly.'	He is always complaining about his work. Robert and Elisa are constantly arguing.

Signal words present continuous

You can recognize the use of the present continuous tense when the sentence contains words as:

Now
Right now
Just now
At the moment
Listen!
Look!
In the morning
In the afternoon
Tomorrow
Next Monday, Tuesday et cetera

There are some verbs that normally don't appear in the present continuous, because they refer to a status and not to an action or event:

To look
To hear
To imagine
To forget
To think
To smell
To taste
To seem
To doubt
To consider
To hope
To hate
To feel
To dislike
To fear
To envy
To hold
To cost
To be
To regret
To like
To know
To prefer
To mind
To love
To notice
To mean
To have
To measure
To want
To feel (as in 'to think)
To weigh
To suppose
To find (as in 'to consider)
To contain
To believe
To assume
To wish
To understand
To remember
To recognize

Do the exercises below to test your knowledge of the present continuous.

Exercises

Fill in the correct form of the English present continuous
Fill in the correct English form of to be
Complete the sentences with the English present continuous
Fill in the English present continuous

Fill in the correct form of the English present continuous

Fill in the correct English form of to be

Complete the sentences with the English present continuous

Fill in the English present continuous

Exercises

Fill in the correct form of the English present continuous
Fill in the correct English form of to be
Complete the sentences with the English present continuous
Fill in the English present continuous

Present continuous tense in English

Lesson outline

Structure and rules of the present continuous tense

Have a question?

Mario C.

Rosa P.

Nicolas L.

Angelica P.

Nicole P.

Enrique G.

Catherine C.

Makgwale S.

Sindy S.

Corinne D.

1. Affirmatives

2. Negatives

3. Interrogatives

Usage of the present continuous in English

Signal words present continuous

Exercises

Fill in the correct form of the English present continuous

Fill in the correct English form of to be

Complete the sentences with the English present continuous

Fill in the English present continuous

Exercises

Fill in the correct form of the English present continuous

Fill in the correct English form of to be

Complete the sentences with the English present continuous

Fill in the English present continuous

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