Present Continuous Tense Definition, Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative Sentences

Present Continuous Tense Definition, Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative Sentences

Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense helps you say the situations that occur during a conversation or the actions you take at that moment. If an action is done at the moment of speaking, the Present Continuous Tense is used for the action done at that moment. For example, if a friend is talking to you while you are studying and you want to tell him that you are studying, the Present Continuous Tense should be used here. This Tense is one of the most important Tenses to learn for people starting to speak English.

How to Make the Present Continuous Tense?

If you want to make a sentence with the Present Continuous Tense, you should use the basic English sentence order, that is, the subject-verb-object order. The most important thing you need to know about the Present Continuous Tense is that the verb that comes after the subject and the auxiliary verb take the “-ing” suffix. The “-ing” suffix is ​​generally used in all Continuous Tenses and tells us that this additional action is an action that requires a process.

If you are going to make a sentence using the Present Continuous Tense, the second most important thing you need to know is that the auxiliary verbs am, is, and are will be used. The verb with “-ing” added after this auxiliary verb should be used. If you want to make a negative sentence, you should not add any suffix to the main verb, only the auxiliary verb should take the “note” suffix. To make a question sentence, it will be sufficient to place the auxiliary verb in front of the subject, that is, at the beginning of the sentence.

Grammar Rules of the Present Continuous Tense

Affirmative Sentences: To make a positive sentence using the Present Continuous Tense, you should put the auxiliary verbs am, is, or are after the subject. After these auxiliary verbs, you need to use the verb with the “-ing” suffix. “am” of the subject I; “is” of he, she, and its subjects; You should know that you, we, and they use the auxiliary verb “are”.

• I am (I’m) reading a book right now.
• Alice (she) is dancing.
• Melissa and Drake (they) are shopping at the market.
• Anthony is watching TV series.
• My cat is eating its food at the moment.

Negative Sentences: Pay attention to the sentence order in English to make negative sentences with the Present Continuous. Then identify the subject you want to use and the auxiliary verb that is appropriate for that subject. Add the suffix “-ing” to the verb in the sentence you want to establish. Then finish the sentence by adding the subject, the auxiliary verb, the main verb, and the objects you want to add.

• Frances (she) is not (isn’t) preparing for tonight.
• I am (I’m) not meeting with my relatives today.
• Francisco (he) is not (isn’t) standing, he is sitting on a chair.
• Jack and Jolie (they) are not (aren’t) playing video games, they are watching a TV series right now.
• My baby (she) cries a lot generally but she is laughing.

Interrogative Sentences: When you use the Present Continuous Tense to form interrogative sentences, you need to put the auxiliary verbs am, is, and are at the beginning of the sentence. If there is a question word (Why, Which, Who, Where, Whose), the sentence is placed behind this word. That is, the sentence sequence should be in the form of question word-auxiliary verb-subject-verb-object with the suffix “ing” added.

• Why are you staring at me like that?
• Who is asking permission for me?
• Are you sleeping, Joe?
• Where are you going? stay with us.

Here are other example sentences;

1.They are not coming, sorry.

2.Everyone is listening attentively in the math class.

3.People are eating in the restaurant.

4.We’re meeting at two o’clock.

5.The population of the World is rising very fast.

6.Scientists are still working to find a vaccine.

7.I’m going to the library.

8.They are playing the guitar in the classroom.

9.It’s raining heavily.

10.I am studying English.

11.It is not helping to me, please stop it.

12.Police warn drivers.

13.I’m taking you to the market.

14.You are not reading a book right now.

15.The boy is not studying.

16.My mother is cleaning the house.

17.My brother is not sleeping now.

18.He is currently trying to complete his novel.

19.My sister is not completing her work.

20.They are not working with us.

21.He is getting fatter and fatter because of this sickness.

22.The students are cheating in the exams.

23.My sister is playing football.

24.Are you having dinner?

25.The cat and the mouse are running.