Present Continuous Tense

Progressive
Form:
• Positive Sentence:

Be 1 + Ving
is, am, are
Examples:

• What are you doing now?

• We are studying tenses at the
moment
• The lecturer is explaining the lesson
to the students at present
• Negative sentence:

Be 1 + not + Ving
is, am, are
Examples:

• We are not studying Biology at the

moment
• The lecturer is not dancing in front of
the students at present
• Interrogative Sentence:

Be 1 + V ing + ?
Is, Am, Are
Examples:

• Are we studying tenses now?

• Is the lecturer explaining the lesson
to the students at the moment?
• Am I sleeping inside the classroom at
present?
The usage:

Expresses an activity or
action that began in the
past, and it is still in
progress /process
at the moment of speaking.
Time signals:

• Now
• at present
• at the moment
• Look!
• Listen!
• Hush!
Exercises:

1. Miss Steward (look) at the newspaper now.

2. Those two fellows (fix) the car at the
moment.
3. John and Frank (write) letters at this
moment.
4. My sister (need) some money for her books
at present.
5. Mr. Brown (begin) the new lesson right
now.
06. I (need) some pieces of paper at the
moment.
07. Hush, the babies (sleep) in mother’s room
now.
08. Listen, someone (shout) for help.
09. Mother (understand) why father is angry
now
10. Look, the policemen (chase) the thief
Past Continuous Tense
Progressive
Form:
• Positive Sentence:

Be 2 + Ving
Was, were
Examples:

1. The idea came to me while I was driving

a car to campus.
2. When I arrived at Roni’s house, he was
still eating.
3. Rina and Rita were watching TV while
mother was taking a bath.
• Negative sentence:

Be 2 + not + Ving
Was, were
Examples:

1. I was not cooking when you arrived at

my house yesterday.
2. My sisters were not watching TV when
the phone rang
3. I was not sleeping while my little son
was listening to his favourite music
• Interrogative Sentence:

Be 2 + Ving + ?
Was, Were
Examples:

1. Were the babies sleeping when the

phone rang?
2. Was she listening when the teacher was
explaining the material?
The usage:
1. Expresses TWO activities which
happened in the past, one activity was in
process when another activity interrupted
that activity.
2.Expresses TWO activities which
happened in the past, one activity was in
process when another activity was also
happening
3. Both activities happened in the past
Time signals:
• When : expresses both long and short
activities
• While : expresses only long
activities
1. Examples of SHORT activities
• Drop something
• Someone’s arrival/shout
• Jump
2. Examples of LONG activities
• Reading, cooking, studying, dating, taking a bath,
baking cakes, taking a test, driving, jogging,
working, walking, singing, dancing, etc
Exercises
1. Colombus (discover) America in 1492, didn’t
he?
2. They (study) in the library when the fire alarm
went off.
3. The man (drop) the heavy suitcase on my
foot.
4. Albert Einstein (die) on April 18, 1955.
5. I (write) a letter to Janet when she
telephoned
Thank You