Use of the present continuous tense

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THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Form

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative/question	Negative interrogative
I am working He is working She is working It is working We are working You are working They are working	I am not working He is not working She is not working It is not working We are not working You are not working They not are working	Am I working? Is he working? Is she working? Is it working? Are we working? Are you working? Are they working?	Am I not working? Is he not working? Is she not working? Is it not working? Are we not working? Are you not working? Are they not working?

Contractions:

Affirmative	Negative	Negative interrogative
I’ m working He’s working She’s working It’s working We’re working You’re working They’re working	I’m not working He’s not /He isn’t working She’s not /She isn’t working It’s not /it isn’t working We’re not /we aren’t working You’re not/ you aren’t working They’re not/they aren’t working	Aren’t I working? Isn’t he working? Isn’t she working? Isn’t it working? Aren’t we working? Aren’t you working? Aren’t they working?

Note: aren’t I is the contraction for am I not (this form is also used in tag-questions).

Contractions in Wh -questions: Why’s he always asking stupid questions? Where’s she going? Who’s making a noise?

The spelling of the present participle

If a verb ends in –e, we leave out -e before –ing:

hope – hoping smile – smiling dance - dancing argue - arguing hate - hating love - loving

relate –relating consume – consuming produce - producing

Exceptions: age-ageing dye -dyeing and verbs ending in -ee:

agree - agreeing see - seeing

We double the consonant before –ing if a one-syllable verb ends in a single consonant:

plan – planning hit - hitting run - running stop – stopping rub -rubbing

If a verb has more than one syllable (prefer, refer etc.) we double the consonant at the end only if the final syllable is stressed:

prefer – preferring admit - admitting begin - beginning

But

budget - budgeting enter - entering visit –visiting remember –remembering develop – developing happen – happening (stress not on the last syllable).

In British English, verbs ending in – l have – ll before –ing whether the final syllable is stressed or not:

signal –signalling cancel - cancelling travel - travelling (except in American English).

We do not double the final consonant if a verb ends in two consonants:

send – sending last – lasting start – starting help - helping long – longing

We do not double the final consonant if there are two vowels before it (-eed, -oil etc):

boil – boiling cheat - cheating proceed – proceeding read – reading

- ing can be added to verbs ending in - y or – w without affecting the spelling of the verb:

grow – growing play –playing enjoy – enjoying carry - carrying enjoy - enjoying

hurry – hurrying

If a verb ends in –ie, -ie changes to –y before –ing:

die- dying lie – lying tie – tying

Use of the present continuous tense

1The present continuous (progressive) tense generally refers to actions which are in progress at the moment.

These can be temporary:

• The car isn't starting again.

• I'm staying in a hotel until I find a flat.

• Are you enjoying your stay here?

They can be actually in progress:

• The dog is sleeping on our bed!

• Are you enjoying the party?

• Why are you jumping up and down?

• Why are you sitting at my desk?

• What's Jack doing? - He's lying under his car.

Or they can be generally in progress but not actually happening at the moment:

• I'm learning to drive.

• The shop is so inefficient that many customers are taking their business elsewhere.

• The police are talking to a number of people about the robbery.

• My mother is learning how to arrange flowers artistically.

Time expressions such as at the moment, at present, currently, just, and still are used to emphasise that the action or event is happening now:

• ‘Have you done the shopping?’ ‘I'm just going.’

Time expressions such as today / this week / this evening / term etc are used when we talk about things happening in a period around now:

• You are looking tired. Are you working hard this week?

We use the present continuous when we talk about changes, developments, and trends:

• Rainforests are disappearing at terrifying rates.

• The growing number of visitors is damaging the footpaths.

• I'm beginning to realise how difficult it is to be a teacher.

• Things are getting worse!

• More and more people are giving up smoking.

• The population of China is rising very fast.

States State verbs are not used in the present continuous. We use the present simple with verbs describing states. State verbs describe a continuing state, so do not usually have a continuous form. Typical examples are:

• I don't like gangster films.

• The milk smells strange.

• The coat fits you all right.

• Polar caps consist of millions of tons of ice.

Other common state verbs: be, agree, appreciate, assume, believe, belong to, contain, concern, consist, cost, depend, disagree, doubt, feel, fit, hate, hear, have, hold (= contain), hope, keep (= continue), know, like, loathe, look, love, matter, mean, measure, owe, own, notice, observe, perceive, prefer, realise, recall, recollect, regret, resemble, understand, seem, see smell, sound (= seem/appear), suppose, suspect, taste, think, want, weigh, wish.

Some verbs have a stative meaning and a different active meaning. Typical examples are:

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