present continuous

Present Continuous

The present continuous describes an action that is taking place at the moment.

It also talks about certain short-term or temporary activities occurring in general, though not necessarily at the moment.

Review: Verb Forms

Forms of be: be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being

Base Form (Verb-1)	Past Simple (Verb-2)	Past Participle (Verb-3)
harvest	harvested	harvested
finish	finished	finished
cry	cried	cried
think	thought	thought
drink	drank	drunk
begin	began	begun

Basic Structure of the Present Continuous

In previous lessons, we saw how the verb be functioned as a linking verb. See LINKING VERB.

Here we look at how be acts as an auxiliary verb (helping verb) to other verbs: in this case, the present continuous. See AUXILIARY VERBS.

The present continuous is formed with am, are, is; and the present participle or the “ing-form”, or (verb-1)-ing.
See ING-FORM.

(+): Subject + am/is/are + ing-form.

(-): Subject + am/is/are + not + ing-form.

With I

(+): I + am + ing-form.

(-): I + am not + ing-form.

Examples:

• Well, not right now I can’t…I am washing the dog.
• Don’t bother me; I am watching my favourite soap opera.
• I’m not working at the moment; I’m on sick leave.
• I’m busy these days—I’m building a cottage on my grandmother’s property.

Incorrect: I ~~amn’t~~ working. Correct: I a not working. Or, I’m not working.
Colloquial or “bad English”: I ain’t making no noise. Good English: I am not making any noise; it’s Jim.

We, You, They

(+)/(-): We/You/They
Jakob and Wilhelm+ are (not) + ing-form.
The medics/His goats

Examples:
• The Boy Scouts aren’t swimming in the lake today. They’re hiking in the forest.
• The Queen and the King are visiting the devastated areas.
• Their daughter and her friend are filming their trip in Nepal.
• You! You’re not doing anything. Go and help them.

She, He, It

(+)/(-): She/He/It
Dr. Chazan/Her band + is (not) + ing-form.
The drummer/My SUV

Examples
• Your car is rolling down the hill.
• This is our niece, Irina. She is studying orthopedics at a medical university.
• A young man is filling out an application form in the reception.
• Supropto isn’t using the computer now. You can use it.

Answer the following questions for each picture.

1. Where is this place?
2. Who is this person? Who are these people?
3. What is Geronimo (or Heidi, Reza, Gavril, Vajiravudh, Ioana, Shayma, Satoshi, or you) doing? What is he or she doing? What are they doing?
4. What things do you see?
5. What will happen next?

00 Click to enlarge

Here are some questions for the following pictures.

1. Who is this person? He/She is . . . .

2. Where is this place? This is . . . . Where is he or she? She is in . . . .

3. What country is this in? This is . . .

4. What season is this? What month of year is this? It’s . . . because . . .

5. What time of day is this? Is it morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon, evening or night?

6. What can you see? What do you see?

7. Approximately how old is he? Is this a baby, child, teenager, young adult, middle-aged or old? He is about . . .

8. What nationality is she?

9. What is he wearing? He is wearing . . .

10. What is she doing? She is . . .

11. Why is he doing this? What is he trying to achieve or accomplish?

12. What is her job, profession or occupation?

13. What are her goals and ambition?

14. What is his socio-economic class? Is he lower-class (poor), lower-middle (working) class, middle-class, upper-middle class or upper class (rich)?

15. Describe her family? What is this person’s marital status? Is he or she single, cohabiting, engaged, married, divorced, widowed?

16. What are his hobbies or likes? His hobbies may be . . .

17. What is thinking about? She is thinking about . . .

18. How does he or she feel? Is he or she happy, sad, angry?

amused	anxious	ashamed
care-free	confident	distressed
ecstatic	depressed	embarrassed
focused	furious	heart-broken
in-love	impatient	humiliated
nervous	panicked	overjoyed
proud	relaxed	raging-max
thrilled	satisfied	stressed
worried	absorbed	wondering

19. Does he or she have any problems, challenges or difficulties?

20. What will happen in the future? What is he or she going to do?

21. Describe his or her character or personality:

jovial	civilized	adventurous
whore	arrogant	high-class
busy	ambitious	broadminded
hippie	conceited	complaining
smart	confident	conservative
calm	cheater	hospitable
cold	corrupt	aggressive
cool	haughty	dishonest
crazy	friendly	disciplined
dumb	feminine	down-to-earth
caring	helpful	emotional
tough	extrovert	flamboyant
greedy	low-class	generous
bossy	hopeless	head-strong
crass	helpless	chauvinist
honest	care-free	hot-tempered
gentle	violent	double-faced
macho	illiterate	hyperactive
crude	sensitive	masculine
mean	ignorant	compassionate
rude	insulting	understanding
lout	insane	intelligent
strong	forceful	troublemaker
lazy	bashful	irresponsible
liar	liberal	immature
rough	humble	ill-mannered
sissy	selfish	sympathetic
mature	modest	narrow-minded
noisy	talkative	party-animal
rocker	childish	xenophobic
proud	passive	responsible
racist	radical	powerful
serious	playboy	sentimental
sly	show-off	treacherous
slut	barbaric	snobbish
bum	stupid	thick-skinned
shy	introvert	troublesome
vain	vulgar	uneducated
weak	anxious	womanizer
stingy