englishcam/The Conditional

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I am studying English.

Expressing Present Time with the Present Progressive

1. BE + ING: The Present Progressive Tense

The Present Progressive tense is used to express an action that is happening right now. It is something that is occurring when the speaker is talking. For example:

I am speaking English right now.

You are listening right now.

She is watching me right now.

The helping verb to be is used with the main to verb form the Present Progressive tense. The main verb has -ing added to it. Below is the conjugation for the verb to be with the verb to eat.

I am eating lunch now.	We are eating lunch now.
You are eating lunch now.	You are eating lunch now.
He, she is eating lunch now.	They are eating lunch now.

To summarize, the Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) tense is used to describe an activity going on in the present. I am talking to you. You are listening to me.

2. Practice

As in our other classes, the teacher and students will practice together. Where the lesson has "Repeat" there will be a pause in the video for you to repeat what was just said. Let's begin.

A. I am wearing a shirt. What are you wearing?

B. I am wearing shoes. What are you wearing?

C. I am wearing pants.

A. I am standing in front of the table. What are you doing?

B. I am sitting in a chair by the table. What are you doing?

C. I am holding a book.

Repeat: I am holding a book.

A. I am teaching English now. What are you doing?

B. I am studying English now. What are you doing?

Repeat: I am studying English now. What are you doing?

C. I am listening to you now.

A. I am touching my right ear with my finger. What are you doing?

B. I am getting up out of my chair. What are you doing?

C. I am dancing right now.

Repeat: I am dancing right now.

A. Kiyomi is writing a sentence. Is she using a pencil?

B. No, she isn't. She is using a pen.

Repeat: No, she isn't. She is using a pen.

C. I am waving my hand now. Everyone is waving their hands now. What are we doing?

B. We are waving our hands now.

Repeat: We are waving our hands now.

A. I am reading this lesson now. What am I doing?

B. You are reading this lesson now.

Repeat: You are reading this lesson now.

C. The workers are building the stadium now. What are the workers building?

A. They are building a stadium now. Why are they building a stadium?

Repeat: They are building a stadium now. Why are they building a stadium?

C. They are building a stadium for the football team.

3. Exercises

Very Good! Now, let's do some exercises yes/no questions and What/Where/Why.

A. Lee, are you listening to me?

B. Yes, I am. Kiyomi, are you watching us?

C. No, I'm not. I'm reading a book.

Repeat: No, I'm not. I'm reading a book.

A. Why are you reading a book and not watching us?

C. Because I'm trying to learn English. What are you doing?

Repeat: Because I'm trying to learn English. What are you doing?

A. We are practicing English. Where are you going?

B. I'm going to the board.

C. I am drinking a soft drink. What are you doing?

B. We are drinking Coca-Cola.

Repeat: We are drinking Coca-Cola.

4. More exercises

Fill in the blanks in the following sentences using the Present Progressive tense.

1. Joe and Bill (go) __________________ to lunch. What is Mary (do) ____________________ ?

2. Mary (go) ____________________________________ to lunch with them.

3. We (wait) ___________________________________ in line to buy airline tickets.

4. Ivan and Ana (dance) _____________________________ in the nightclub now.

5. They (have) ______________________________________ a lot of fun.

6. Why ___________ we (drive) ___________________________ this way?

7. Where _______________ you (call) _______________________ from?

8. I (stand) __________________________________ in front of the restaurant now.

We will be studying the Present Progressive tense in future lessons. Until next time, keep practicing your English!