present and past continuous tense

WELCOMEBACK

TENSES..... AGAIN!

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE

HOW DO WE FORM PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE?

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

"be" verb + a present participle (VERB-ing)

POSITIVE

I am studying. / He is driving. / We are reading.

"be" verb + not + a present participle (VERB-ing)

negative

I am not studying. / He is not driving. / We are not reading.

"Be" Verb

PRESENT: is / am / are PAST: was / were

forming a question

YES / NO QUESTIONSPlace "be" verb at the beginning of the sentence.Am I eating? / Is he driving? / Are they reading? WH- QUESTIONS Add a Wh- question word before a Yes / No question. What am I eating? / Why is he driving? / What are they reading?

time words

When to use?

now still at present currently at the moment

something which is happening or in progress at the time of speaking.

Comparison between the Simple Present Tense and the Present Continuous Tense

Past CONTINUOUS TENSE

PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE

HOW DO WE FORM PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE?

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

POSITIVE

"be" verb + VERB-ing

I was studying. / He was driving. / We were reading.

negative

"be" verb + not + VERB-ing

I was not studying. / He was not driving. / We were not reading.

"Be" Verb

PRESENT: is / am / are PAST: was / were

forming a question

YES / NO QUESTIONSPlace "be" verb at the beginning of the sentence.Was I eating? / Was he driving? / Were they reading? WH- QUESTIONS Add a Wh- question word before a Yes / No question. What was I eating? / Why was he driving? / What were they reading?

When to use?

1. to talk about an action which was in progress at a time in the past.

Example: What were you doing at 5 o' clock yesterday? I was playing football. I saw you at 8.30 last night. You were waiting for a bus. (past continuous)

When to use?

2. to talk about an interrupted on-going past action use past continuous tense (incomplete action) and the simple past (a later action that interrupted the first action) together

Example: I was taking a shower when the phone rang. As they were doing their homework, they heard a loud noise.

When to use?

When to use?

3. When we tell a story

often use the past continuous tense to describe a background scene and past simple for main actions.

Example:

Past Simple

Past Continuous

Suddenly, a child came round the corner and walked right up to me. "Can you help me?" she asked.

I was standing under a tree. It was getting late and I was feeling tired. I was waiting for my friend, John.

THANKS!