Present Continuous / Progressive

Posted by Mamad Kuncoro at 8:27 PM Read our previous post

In this post, we will discuss about Present Continuous / Progressive tense including its form and functions.

John is in his car. He is in his way to work.   He is driving to work This means he is driving now: “at the time of speaking” This is the present continuous.

The form of the present continuous tense

The verb to be (in the simple present)

verb + ing

The affirmative forms of the present continuous:

I	am	eating.
	’m
You, we, they	are
	’re
He, she, it	is
	's

The interrogative forms of the present continuous

Am	I	eating?
Are	you, we, they
Is	he, she, it

The negative forms of the present continuous

I	am not	eating.
	’m not
You, we, they	are not
	aren't
He, she, it	is not
	isn't

The use of the present continuous tense

·         The present continuous is used to talk about actions happening at the time of speaking.

Example:

o    Where is Mary? She is having a bath. (Not she has a bath)

o    What are you doing at the moment in front of your screen? Don't you know? Well … you are reading this lesson. You are learning English.

·         The present continuous can also be used when an action has started but hasn’t finished yet.

Example:

o    I am reading a book; it’s a nice book. (It means = I am not necessarily reading it; I started reading it but I haven’t finished it yet

Special verbs

There are verbs which are normally not used in the present continuous.

Examples:

be, believe, belong, hate, hear, like, love, mean, prefer, remain, realize, see, seem, smell, think, understand, want, wish

It's not correct to say:

He is wanting to buy a new car.*

You must say:

He wants to buy a new car.