Present Continuous Tense - Grammar Explanations

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Present Continuous (or Progressive) Tense describes an action in progress at the time of speaking (e.g. now) or around the time of speaking (e.g. this term). The action started sometime in the past, is in progress now, and may continue for sometime n the future.

Forms

Affirmative sentences

Subject	Verb Be	Base Verb + ing
I	am	Base Verb + ing
She, He, It	is	Base Verb + ing
We, You, They	are	Base Verb + ing

Examples:

We are watching a football match now.
I am cooking for the guests right now.
My little daughter is sleeping at the moment.
They are helping us paint the walls.

Negative sentences

Subject	Verb Be	Base Verb + ing
I	am not	Base Verb + ing
She, He, It	is not	Base Verb + ing
We, You, They	are not	Base Verb + ing

Examples:

I am not taking any courses these days.
My father isn’t waiting for us now.
You are not telling the truth.
The children aren’t listening to the teacher.

Questions

Verb Be	Subject	Base Verb + ing
(Wh) Am	I	Base Verb + ing
(Wh) Is	she, he, it	Base Verb + ing
(Wh) Are	we, you, they	Base Verb + ing

Examples:

Am I talking too fast?
Is the baby sleeping now?
Are you still living in London?
What are they doing right now?
When is she coming back?

Other uses of the present continuous

In addition to actions happening at the time of speaking or around the time of speaking, present continuous verbs can be used to describe future actions, repeated actions, and developing actions.

Future actions

The present continuous can express planned near future actions. Future time markers are used to indicate the time.

Examples:

I’m visiting the dentist tomorrow.
He is moving to a new apartment next month.
They are arriving in the evening.
We are holding a meeting in two days.

To find out other ways to express future actions check the future simple tense.

Repeated actions

We usually use the present simple tense to talk about repeated actions, but when we want to imply that we are irritated or annoyed by the action, we use the present continuous.

The adverb of frequency always is usually used in these sentences.

He is always complaining about his boss.
She is always losing her car keys.
The children are always making noise while I’m talking on the phone.

Changing, growing or developing actions

Petrol prices are increasing these days.
Your hair is growing very fast!
More and more people are shopping online nowadays.
She is visiting a lot of social media websites these days.

Time markers

These words/phrases are used to indicate the time of present continuous verbs.

now
right now
at the moment
at present
at the present time
presently
currently
for the time being
these days
nowadays
today, this month, this year, etc.

In addition, expressions that draw the attention of the listener are indicators of actions happening now. These include: look, listen, Be careful, etc.

Examples:

Look! The boy is throwing stones.
Listen! Somebody is asking for help.
Keep quiet! Your sister is studying now.
Shshsh! The baby is sleeping.

Verbs that cannot be used in continuous tenses

A group of verbs that describe the state of the subject are always used in simple tenses. They are not used in continuous tenses because this tense has a duration (beginning, progress and end), which does not apply to the state verbs.

For a complete list of the state verbs and examples, check Stative Verbs.