Grammar
Present continuous
affirmative
I’m (am)
You’re (are)
She/It’s (is)
We/ You / They’re (are)
studying.
running.
negative
I’m not (am not)
You aren’t (are not)
He / She / It isn’t (is not)
We/ You / They aren’t (are not)
working.
swimming.
questions
Am I
Are you
Is He / she / it
Are we /you / they
sleeping?
eating?
Short answers
Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.
Yes, you are. / No, you aren’t.
Yes, he / she / it is. / No, he / she / it isn’t.
Yes. we / you / they are. / No, we / you / they aren’t.
We use the present continuous to talk about actions in progress at the moment.
We form the present continuous with: subject + be + verb + -ing :
In questions, the order is: be + subject + verb + -ing
In short answers, we don’t repeat the verb + -ing.
is it eating? Yes, it is. / Yes, it is eating.
Spelling: verb + -ing
We form the present participle of most verbs with the infinitive + -ing.
sleep -> sleeping eat -> eating
When the verb ends in -e, we omit the -e and add -ing.
Have -> having make-> making
When a verb has only one syllable and ends with one vowel and one consonant (except w, x ory), we double the consonant and add -ing. swim-> swimming stop estopping
Present simple and continuous
Cats sleep for T3 hours a day. (routine)
This cat is sleeping, (at the moment)
We use the present simple for routines and habits.
We use the present continuous to describe what is happening at the moment.
Present continuous for future
We also use the present continuous for definite plans in the future.
We’re going to the cinema tomorrow. What are you doing next weekend?
When we use the present continuous to talk about the future, we usually use a future time expression, tomorrow, next weekend, next week, next month, next year