PRESENT CONTINUOUS 1. FORM present to be (am / is /are) + gerund (-ing) Affirmative I I am eating. you / we / you / they You are eating. he / she / it She is eating.
Negative I’m not eating. You aren’t eating. She isn’t eating.
Question Am I eating? Are you eating? Is she eating?
2. EXCEPTIONS IN SPELLING Exceptions in spelling when adding ing final e is dropped (but: ee is not changed) after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled (in British English) final ie becomes y
Examples come – coming (but: agree – agreeing) sit – sitting travel – travelling lie – lying
3. USE OF THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS A. Actions happening now or around the present. Examples: He is reading a book now We are studying French this year. B. Arrangements (fixed plans for a near future) Example: We’re flying to Paris next weekend. 4. CONTRAST PRESENT SIMPLE – PRESENT CONTINUOUS Present Simple Habits, routines He usually watches the news in the evening.
Present Continuous Temporary actions He is watching a film today.
5. STATIVE VERBS These verbs are not used in continuous tenses. They are organised into some categories: - Mental processes: know, believe, realize, understand… - Emotions: love, like, hate, mind, envy, fear… - Possession: own, belong, possess, have* got… - Senses: see*, hear*, feel… - Abstract verbs: be, want, cost, seem, need, care, contain, exist… *Mixed verbs: those with more than one meaning. Depending on the meaning the verb is stative or not. Examples: He has got a dog. but He’s having dinner. 6. TIME EXPRESSION - Now or around the present: now, right now, at the moment, at present, this week/month… - Near future: soon, next Tuesday/week, in two hours… They naturally take the final position in the sentence, but they can be placed outside the sentence. That is, at the verb by beginning and separated from the sentences by a comma. Examples: We are watching a film right now. or Right now, we are watching a film.