English made easy · Lesson 4 of 12
Lesson 4: Right now
The present continuous
Look around you. What is happening at this moment? To say it, we use the present continuous.
How to make it
Use am, is or are, and then the verb with -ing. You know “be” from lesson 1.
“I am reading.” “She is cooking.” “They are playing.”
The spelling is easy most of the time. Add -ing to the verb: “work, working”. If the verb ends in a silent e, drop the e: “make, making”. If a short verb ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the last letter: “run, running” and “sit, sitting”.
Questions and negatives
For a question, put “am”, “is” or “are” first: “Are you listening?”
To say no, add “not”: “He isn’t sleeping.” “I’m not working.”
Habit or now?
Compare the two present tenses. The present simple is like a photo album of your life. It shows what you do again and again. The present continuous is like a live video. It shows what happens right now.
“I drink tea every day.” This is a habit. “I am drinking tea now.” This is happening at this moment.
Some words help: “now”, “right now”, “at the moment” and “today”.
Verbs we do not use with -ing
Some verbs talk about a state, not an action. We usually do not use -ing with them. Here are five: know, like, love, want, understand.
Say “I know the answer”, not “I am knowing the answer”.
Try it
Write the verb in the right form:
- Be quiet! The baby ___ (sleep).
- She ___ (wake) at 7 every day.
- I ___ (know) the answer.
The answers are: is sleeping, wakes, know.
Next time, we will go back in time to yesterday.