I am singing
We often use the present continuous tense in English. It is very different from the simple present tense, both in structure and in use.
How do we make the Present Continuous Tense?
The structure of the present continuous tense is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb | + | main verb |
| . | . | be | . | base + ing |
Look at these examples:
| . | subject | auxiliary verb | . | main verb | . |
| + | I | am | . | speaking | to you. |
| + | You | are | . | reading | this |
| - | She | is | not | staying | in London. |
| - | We | are | not | playing | football. |
| ? | Is | he | . | watching | TV? |
| ? | Are | they | . | waiting | for John? |
How do we use the Present Continuous Tense?
We use the present continuous tense to talk about:
Present continuous tense for action happening now
a) for action happening exactly now
| I am eating my lunch. | ||
| past | present | future |
| . | . | . |
| . | The action is happening now. | . |
Look at these examples. Right now you are looking at this screen and at the same time...
| . | . | . |
| ...the pages are turning. | ...the candle is burning. | ...the numbers are spinning. |
b) for action happening around now
The action may not be happening exactly now, but it is happening just before and just after now, and it is not permanent or habitual.
Look at these examples:
Present continuous tense for the future
We can also use the present continuous tense to talk about the future—if we add a future word!! We must add (or understand from the context) a future word. "Future words" include, for example, tomorrow, next year, in June, at Christmas etc. We only use the present continuous tense to talk about the future when we have planned to do something before we speak. We have already made a decision and a plan before speaking.
| I am taking my exam next month. | ||
| past | present | future |
| . | !!! | . |
| . | A firm plan or programme exists now. | The action is in the future. |
Look at these examples:
In these examples, we have a firm plan or programme before speaking. The decision and plan were made before speaking.
How do we spell the Present Continuous Tense?
| Basic rule | Just add -ing to the base verb: | ||||||||||
| work | > | working | |||||||||
| play | > | playing | |||||||||
| assist | > | assisting | |||||||||
| see | > | seeing | |||||||||
| be | > | being | |||||||||
| Exception1 | If the base verb ends in consonant + stressed vowel + consonant, double the last letter:
|
||||||||||
| stop | > | stopping | |||||||||
| run | > | running | |||||||||
| begin | > | beginning | |||||||||
| Note that this exception does not apply when the last syllable of the base verb is not stressed: | |||||||||||
| open | > | opening | |||||||||
| Exception2 | If the base verb ends in ie, change the ie to y: | ||||||||||
| lie | > | lying | |||||||||
| die | > | dying | |||||||||
| Exception3 | If the base verb ends in vowel + consonant + e, omit the e: | ||||||||||
| come | > | coming | |||||||||
| mistake | > | mistaking | |||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment