English Grammar - Present Continuous

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present continuous

form

Affirmative
I am playing
You are playing
He/she/it is playing
We are playing
You are playing (plural)
They are playing

Negative
I am not playing
You are not playing
He/she/it is not playing
We are not playing
You are not playing
They are not playing

Question
Am I playing?
Are you playing?
Is he/she/it playing?
Are we playing?
Are you playing?
Are they playing?

functions & examples

We use the present continuous to talk about something that is happening at the time of speaking. The action is not finished.
He is speaking to John.
What is she doing?

We use the present continuous to talk about temporary situations.
I am living in London at the moment. (I live in London - more permanent)
Why is the girl sleeping? (Why does the girl sleep? - in general)

We use the present continuous to talk about changing situations.
You're getting taller and taller every day.
The weather's getting warmer.

We use the present continuous to talk about repeated actions around the time of speaking.
I'm seeing Jane a lot these days.
(I see Jane a lot - not closely connected to the time of speaking)

We use the present continuous with words such as "always" to talk about things that happen repeatedly (sometimes to say that something is irritating or annoying).
She's always complaining about how difficult her life is.

We use the present continuous to talk about future arrangements.
I'm meeting my father at the airport at 5 o'clock tomorrow.

important points

When we are talking about how someone looks or feels, we can use the present continuous or present simple.
How are you feeling? OR How do you feel?
Jenny is looking really good today? OR Jenny looks really good today.

We do not normally use some verbs in the past continuous tense, because these verbs are not normally action verbs. These verbs include: believe, belong, depend, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, realise, suppose, want, understand.
They know each other very well. P
They are knowing each other very well. x

See also Present simple | Present perfect | Past continuous

teaching present continuous

"Students should know the present simple when you get on to the present continuous, so just start by asking about their daily routine. Once they're comfortable with this, interrupt a stronger student who's just said, for example, "I brush my teeth..." and ask him "Are you brushing your teeth now?". Emphasize the "now", and then accept just a "No" as an answer. Keep this going around the class and they'll soon begin to get the idea about the difference. When you feel they're ready, start using negative build-up:

"Are you brushing your teeth now?"
"No"
"Are you sleeping now?"
"No"
"Are you eating an apple now?"
"No"

and then...

"What are you doing now?"
"I'm studying English."

With a lot of repetition and a little prompting, students will get comfortable with this, at which point you can start to introduce negatives and eventually questions. When they're really comfortable, compare with present simple at the same time:

"How often do you play tennis?"
"I play tennis once a week"
"Are you playing tennis now?"
"No, I'm not playing tennis now"."
Richard

"In addition to your suggestions, I also distribute some pictures with several people or animals. Either in groups or individually they first state what the scene might be, mainly present, then share as much as they can about what is happening in their pictures."
Annette

"Try 'the freeze game'...

1 Split the class into 2 teams.
2 Teams think of Present Continuous actions.
3 One team looks away - faces the window.
4 They count to 5 and then shout Freeze.
5 While they are counting the other team are doing the action and freeze when told to.
6 The team facing the window now turn and have 5 guesses to figure out what they were doing. e.g. They were jumping. You were skipping, etc.
7 They are rewarded points on how quickly they get the answer, 5 points for correct on first guess, 4 points for second guess, etc.

My kids love this game and they use a lot of the target language and have fun doing it. I personally let them choose their own actions but for weak classes it might be helpful if you provide the actions."
Martin

"The Mime Trick Game...
Choose a student and take him out of the room and tell him to come back in in a few minutes and mime climbing a tree. Go back in and tell the rest of the students that this student is going to come back in and mime a tree. They can say anything but climbing a tree. It is great for one lesson only but can be used in all classes so it is worth remembering. The kids have a great laugh at keeping the unfortunate student desperately trying to mime this simple action."
Martin

"I usually present flash cards to my students with a topic.

For example, I write:

SCHOOL
and then proceed to gives cues such as: classes, library, playground, teachers, students, principal, the drill teacher, watchman

I then ask my pupils to tell the class what each person is doing at that particular moment; this has worked brilliantly in my class and my students came out enthusiastically with correct responses."
Madhavi

"I like to work with several flashcards. First, I show students the pictures and teach them how to form the continuous tense. Then, I have them tell me what everyone is doing in each picture. Afterwards we play this little game with the cards: I share the cards among them and make sure they don't see each other's cards. Then, one at a turn gets to ask each of the colleagues about a picture they assume they have. If they are correct, the one who has the picture should hand it to the one who made the question. The picture should be put aside, so they won't get mixed with the cards on their hands. The winner is the student who gets more cards from the others and doesn't lose as many. This game really works because they get to train the affirmative, interrogative and negative forms of the continuous, and it's lots of fun!"
Anonymous

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