Present Continuous

Hello! This lesson is about the present continuous. Sometimes people talk about this verb tense as the present progressive. It doesn’t matter, it’s the same verb tense. When I was learning grammar, I learned in present continuous, so that’s what I’m going to call it. We’re going to look at a couple things here. First, we’re going to look at the form, which is how to make it. Then we’re going to look at the function, which is how to use it, and then, at the end, I have a little quiz that I’d like you to try. So, let’s get started. We’ll start first of all with positive sentences, sometimes also called affirmative sentences. So, as you can see, we have the subject and then we have an auxiliary verb, a helping verb, and it’s the verb “be” and it’s different for each person, so I am, he, she, or it is, you, we, they are, and then we have the present participle. Most people just call it the ing form or the ING form. So making the present continuous for a positive sentence isn’t that complicated. Let’s look at negative sentences now. All we do, is we slide the verb over, and we add “not.” Not very complicated. Okay, now we’re going to take a look at contractions. Yes, we love contractions in English, don’t we? That’s what they look like, and here if you notice, it’s the subject and the auxiliary verb joining together, okay? So I’m, he’s, she’s, you’re, we’re, and they’re, okay? Not too complicated when we look at it that way, but look at this. When we use contractions with a negative sentence, we have to be careful. What’s here is okay; I’m not listening, you’re not reading, so, so far, so good, but there’s actually a different choice, a different way of making contractions. So I’ll go back to my basic form here, and then … instead of joining the auxiliary verb with a subject, I’m going to join it with the negative marker. I’m going to join it with “not.” So, look at this. We’ll start from the bottom. You, we, they aren’t, so I’ve joined the verb with the not. I get aren’t. He, she, it isn’t, and then I… I hope you have noticed this by now. For I, it doesn’t work, okay? So for I, we can’t join the auxilary verb and the negation. “Amen’t” is not right. We would have to say I’m not. I’m not walking. Okay, let’s move on. Here are some things to be careful of with contractions. So, I am is I’m; no, there’s no problem, so far, so good. He, she, is. He’s and she’s, now you have to be careful with the pronunciation. This E has to be clear: he’s. Because if you mispronounce it, it’s going to sound like his, which, unfortunately, is a different word, which makes it very confusing. Next, you, we, they are. You’re, we’re and they’re. You have to be careful with all of these. This first one… it would sound kind of close enough; people would understand, but when you’re writing, you can’t write this. And this, by the way, is a mistake that, believe it or not, a lot of native speakers make. So if you’re ever reading something on the internet and you see “your,” Y-O-U-R, and you think to yourself that doesn’t look right, you’re probably right; its prob… we’re not really proud of this, but it’s true; it’s probably a native speaker who just doesn’t care. Alright, next one: we’re. If you forget the apostrophe, you’re going to end up with this: “were,” which, again, is something different; it’s a it’s a verb – to be in the past simple. And then this one: “They’re” is spelled this way: T-H-E-Y-‘-R-E not these other two ways and again, the people who are most likely to make those mistakes are not Language Learners. The people who are most likely to make those mistakes are actually native speakers, so just because somebody’s a native speaker doesn’t mean they get this right. Sorry about that; sometimes we don’t set a very good example. Okay, let’s take a look at yes/no questions. So, here we are again, with our basic form: Subject, the “be” auxiliary verb and then the present participle. So for yes/no questions, all I need to do is make those backwards. Now, I should – I didn’t, but I should have made these letters capital because they are now at the beginning of the sentence. One more type of question and that’s WH questions and for here, I leave this as I have it for the yes/no questions, and all I do is I put the WH question word at the beginning. So, Where is she walking from? Who are they talking to? Okay? So, something to be careful of and that is this: we do not usually use the present continuous for verbs such as like, love, what, understand, seem and remember. These are stative verbs because they describe how something is, not what something is doing. The present continuous is used for action verbs which describe what people animals or things do. Now, I just said be careful here; I’m going to say be careful again because an old grammar book would tell you this is always the rule. The truth is that language is always changing and people like to be creative with language. You will these days hear people say things like: How’s your new job? Oh, I’m loving it! And you will hear people use these with the continuous aspect. So “want”. I don’t know… I’m thinking yeah yeah I’m wanting pizza for supper. According to traditional grammar that’s wrong, but again, language is always changing. Here’s the problem: Because you’re not a native speaker, if you do it, people will probably think that you just made a mistake. If you were writing something, especially in school, then follow the old rule: do not put these do not put these verbs in the continuous aspect. Now, switching to the function of the present continuous. There are three common uses. First of all, for actions that are happening right now. So, let’s look at some specific examples. I’m watching TV. She’s typing the report. We’re eating breakfast. When are these things happening? Yeah, they’re happening right now, okay? Hey, do you want to go outside? No, I’m watching TV. Where’s Susan? she can’t talk to you right now she’s typing the report. Are you ready to go for work? I’m eating breakfast right now. I’m doing it right now. So, that’s one way to use it. This is going to be a little bit confusing. Actions that happen over a longer time that include now. So basically, what we have to do is ask ourselves, can we understand that the word “now” can have different meanings?And if the answer is “yes” then we’ll be fine. So, “now” can mean right now, at this very moment, or it can mean over a longer time. Let’s look at some examples, okay? All right, so we’ve stretched our idea of “now.” Let’s look at some examples. I’m reading a good book. Well, I’m not reading it right now. I read – I started last week, I read a little bit every night. I’ll probably continue till about the middle of next week, and then the book will be over, I’ll be finished the book. But I can say I’m reading a good book. I might say I’m reading a good book this week. Next, He’s learning a new skill. Well he might be studying it right now or he be practicing and learning and going to lessons; he’s maybe been doing that for a few weeks or a few months. It’s something he’s doing over the longer “now” not the immediate “now.” And finally, We’re enjoying the summer. Well, the summer doesn’t happen on one day; it happens over a longer period. Right now, we are enjoying it. Okay? So we have to be a little bit flexible with our idea of the word “now.” And, we can also use the present continuous, believe it or not to talk about actions that are planned for the future. Again, let’s take a look at some examples: How are you getting to London next week? I’m taking the train.They’re leaving next week. We’re walking to work. So all of these are actually talking about things that can happen in the future. Now, this one and this one could also talk about something that’s happening right now. What are you doing? (on the phone) I’m taking the train, I’ll be there in 10 minutes. Okay? What are you doing? Well, we’re walking to work. Okay, so I could use the the first one and the third one for what I’m doing right now. Clearly, though, this, this middle one is only about the future, okay? So very often we have to use context to understand exactly what we’re talking about. Let’s look at some sentences in the present continuous and I want you to tell me if they’re correct or not, and then why. So, here are the sentences. Take a few moments to look at them, and then…so pause the video, and I’ll come back in a few moments and I’ll… we’ll go through them, and I’ll tell you if they’re right or they’re wrong. Okay, so how do you think you did? Let’s take a look. Here’s the answers. So we can see that some of them are correct; most of them are not. Let’s go through them one by one. I’m reading that book. Obviously, this means over a longer time that includes now. Number two: We’re walk to the store. No, we’re walking to the store. Number three: He has eating hot dogs. We’ve used the wrong auxiliary verb there. He is eating hot dogs. Number four is correct: They’re travelling in France. Number five: I am walk to the store. What have I forgotten? Yeah, I am walking to the store. Number six: We thinking of an answer. I have forgotten the auxiliary verb there. We are thinking of an answer. Number seven: They are having nice clothes. No. They have nice clothes. Number eight: My friend is having a cold. It doesn’t work. We… it’s not something that we do, it’s just the way something is. My friend has a cold. Number eight: He is bouncing the ball. [This is a] perfect example of a present continuous sentence. And number nine: They are talking? Guuhhh! I hear students say this all the time. Remember, we have to change the order of these two, okay? Not they are talking; Are they talking? So, thank you very much for watching. If you’d like some more practice, take a look below. I’ve prepared some activities and practice for you. That’s all for today. Thanks very much!