Present Continuous Tense

Using The Present Continuous Tense, Definitions and Examples. Follow the list for detailed expressions;

The tenses simply show the time of an action.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE 

Present Continuous Tense indicate an action which is in progress at the time of speaking or at the present time.

POSITIVE FORM (+) :  Subject + BE ( am / is / are ) + Verb-ING

NEGATIVE FORM (-) : Subject + BE ( am / is / are ) + NOT + Verb-ING

QUESTION FORM (?) : BE ( am / is / are ) + Subject + Verb-ING

NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?): BE ( am / is / are ) + NOT + Subject + Verb-ING

[table]
POSITIVE (+) | NEGATIVE (-) | POSITIVE QUESTION (?) | NEGATIVE QUESTION (?)
He is working | He is not working | Is he working | Isn’t he working
She is working | She is not working | Is she working | Isn’t she working
It is working | It is not working | Is it working | Isn’t it working
I am working | I am not working | Am I working | Aren’t I working
You are working | You are not working | Are you working | Aren’t you working
We are working | We are not working | Are we working | Aren’t we working
They are working | They are not working | Are they working | Aren’t they working
[/table]

Note: Be aware of the use of the first individual person ‘ I ‘.
We use ‘ I ‘ in a negative question form ‘ Aren’t I’   instead of ‘ Am not I ‘.

Common tense markers:

Currently, at present, fort he time being, at the moment, now, Look!,  Listen!, Be Careful, While/When

USING OF PRESENT CONTINOUS TENSE:

(1) Present Continuous Tense expresses the idea that something is happening now, at this moment.

(2) Sometimes Present Continuous Tense expresses longer actions not at the moment but in progress . ‘Now’ as a time marker in this situation means “this second,” “today,” “this month,” “this year,” “this century” and so on.

(3) Present Continuous Tense is used to indicate that something will or will not happen in the near future.

(4) Present Continuous  Tense used with “always’’, ‘’constantly’’, ‘’ forever’’ expresses the idea that something  often happens in a negative sense. In other words, we use to  complain.

Notice: Some verbs are not used with Present Continuous Tense. These verbs are called “state verbs”.

Present continuous tense shows that an action is done physically and visually. Therefore, abstract meaningful expressions such as abstract thinking, love, understanding, possessing can not be used in continuous (be + -ing) construction. These things are expressed by Simple Tense.

SOME STATE / STATIVE  VERBS:

Mental State Verbs:

know, realize, understand, recognize, believe, feel, suppose, think, imagine, doubt, remember, forget, want, need, desire, mean

Emotional State Verbs:

love, like, appreciate, please, prefer, hate, dislike, fear, envy, mind,care, astonish, surprise, amaze

Possession State Verbs:

have, belong, possess, own

Sense/Perception  State Verbs:

taste, smell, hear, feel, see

Other Stative Verbs:

look, seem, appear, sound, resemble, look like, cost, owe, weigh, equal, be, exist, matter,
consist of, include, contain

Some verbs can be both stative and dynamic:

But this different use also leads to a difference in meaning. Some verbs that can be used with two different meanings are given below.

(A verb which isn’t stative is called a dynamic verb, and is usually an action.)

Spelling of Verbs –ing:

1) If the verb ends with  ‘-e ‘, we remove ‘ –e ‘ and add ‘ –ing ‘ .

Examples:

live         –       living
ride        –        riding
make     –       making

2) If the verb ends with consonant + vowel + consonant, we double the final consonant and add ‘ –ing ‘.

stop   –    stopping
run    –    running
plan   –    planning

3) If the verb ends with ‘ – ie  ‘, we change it to  ‘–ying’.

lie           –          lying
die         –          dying
tie          –           tying

4) If the verb ends with  two consonants, we do not double the final consonant and add  ‘–ing’.

sing – singing
wash – washing

5) If a two-syllable verb ends with consonant + vowel + consonant, we do not double the final consonant when the stress is on the first syllable and add ‘–ing’.

happen       –      happening
enter           –      entering
suffer         –       suffering

6) If the verb ends with W, X or Y or when the final syllable is not emphasized, We do not double the final consonant and ‘–ing’.

fix                –               fixing
enjoy           –              enjoying
snow            –              snowing

7) If the verb ends with  two vowel + one consonant, we do not double the final consonant and add  ‘–ing’.

keep         –          keeping
read           –          reading

8) If the verb ends with consonant + vowel + ‘-l’ , we normally double the final ‘ –l ‘ and add ‘-ing’.

However, in the United States (US) they do not double the -l when the accent is on the first syllable.

travel             –            travelling ( UK )               –                traveling ( US )
marvel          –            marvelling ( UK )              –                marveling ( US )

9) If the verb ends with a stressed vowel + ‘ –r ‘ , we double the final ‘-r’ and add ‘-ing’.

refer   –        referring
defer  –        deferring

10)  If the verb ends with an unstressed vowel + ‘ –r ‘, we do not double the final ‘-r’ and add ‘-ing’.

offer             –              offering
suffer           –              suffering
whisper        –           whispering