3.

1Present Continuous Tense Form

The present continuous is formed by adding the present participle (the "- ing form") to the present simple of the verb to be: Affirmative: I am singing You/we/they are singing He/she/it is singing Negative: I am not singing You/we/they are not singing He/she/it is not singing Interrogative: Am I singing? Are you/we/they singing? Is he/she/it singing?

Spelling: how to add -ing to a verb

I. We can add -ing to most verbs without changing the spelling of their base forms: wait/waiting Other examples: beat/beating, carry/carrying, catch/catching, drink/drinking, enjoy/enjoying, hurry/hurrying II. If a verb ends in e ( does not apply to verbs ending in double e), omit the -e and add -ing: write/writing Other examples: come/coming, have/having, make/making, ride/riding, use/using III. A monosyllabic verb that is spelt with a single stressed vowel followed by a single consonant doubles its final consonant: hit/hitting, let/letting put/putting, run/running, sit/sitting; run/running IV. With two-syllable verbs, the final consonant is normally doubled when the last syllable is stressed, ends in a consonant preceded by a vowel: begin/beginning Other examples: forget/forgetting, prefer/preferring, upset/upsetting *Compare: 'benefit/benefiting, 'differ/differing and 'profit/profiting which are stressed on their first syllables and do not double their final consonants.

V. Verbs ending in l: in British English we double the l before the ing; in American English we do not double the l: label/labelling; quarrel/quarrelling; signal/signaling; travel/travelling VI. Verbs ending in c: we add k before ing: panic/panicking; picnic/picnicking traffic/trafficking VII. Verbs ending in ie, change the ie in y when we add ing: lie/lying Other examples: die/dying, tie/tying

Use
Present Continuous Tense is used in order to express: 1 ) actions in progress at the moment of speaking Someone's ringing at the door. He's eating at the moment, so he can't come to the telephone Actions in progress are seen as uncompleted' He's still talking to his cousin on messenger.. 2) speaking about changes, developments and trends: People are eating better and better. This city is developing all the time. The girl is growing at a fantastic rate. 3) temporary situations What's your friend doing these days? - He's studying Japanese at ABC University 4) planned actions: future reference This use is also commonly associated with future arrival and departure and occurs with verbs like arrive, come, go, leave, etc. to describe travel arrangements: He's arriving tomorrow morning on the 13 27 train. 5) repeated actions, especially annoying The adverbs always (in the sense of 'frequently'), constantly, continually, forever, perpetually and repeatedly can be used with progressive forms to describe continually-repeated actions: I'm always hearing good news about him. Our Internet connection is constantly dropping for no reason BE CAREFUL! Some verbs are not used in the continuous form! See below.

Verbs that are not normally used in the continuous form

The verbs in the list below are normally used in the simple form, because they refer to states, rather than actions or processes: List of common verbs normally used in simple form: Opinion suppose, think* assume, believe, consider, doubt, feel (= think), find (= consider) Senses / Perception smell, taste, feel, hear, see Mental states know, mean, forget, understand, imagine, notice, recognize, remember Emotions / desires envy, fear, dislike, hate, hope, like, love, mind, prefer, regret, want, wish Measurement/ permanent states contain, cost, hold, measure, weigh Others look (=resemble), seem, be (in most cases), have (when it means to possess), can, may Examples: I wish I was in Korea now. I don't understand why he is talking. He wants to see her now I feel you are making a mistake. This cup holds half a litre. Notes: 1. 'Perception' verbs (see, hear, feel, taste, smell) are often used with 'can': e.g. I can see... 2. * These verbs may be used in the continuous form but with a different meaning, compare: a. This shirt feels nice and warm. (= your perception of the shirt's qualities) b. Andy is feeling much better now (= his health is improving) a. She has three pigeons and a cat. (=possession) b. She's having dinner. (= She's eating) a. I can see Andrew in the garden (= perception) b. I'm seeing Andrew later (= We are planning to meet)