Presente continuous

Present continuous (I am working)

de English Grammar Today

Present continuous: form

We use am, are, is + the -ing form of the verb. We use the short form more often than the full form, especially when speaking.

Present continuous: -ing form spelling

For most verbs we add -ing to the base form to make the -ing form:

be → being	eat → eating	order → ordering
cry → crying	fix → fixing	play → playing
do → doing	go → going

For other verbs the spelling changes are (note the underlined syllables are stressed):

	verb	-ing form
When the verb ends in -e, we take off the -e and add -ing.	move	moving
	face	facing
	come	coming
When the verb ends in a vowel followed by a single consonant and if the last syllable is stressed, then the consonant is doubled.	commit	committing
	prefer	preferring
	rub	rubbing
	BUT: cover	covering
	remember	remembering
When the verb ends in a vowel + l, we double the consonant.	travel	travelling*
	control	controlling

Present continuous: uses

Events at the time of speaking

We use the present continuous to talk about events which are in progress at the moment of speaking:

A:

What time’s dinner?

B:

I’m cooking now so it’ll be ready in about half an hour.

She’s pressing the button but nothing is happening.

Temporary states

We use the present continuous to talk about temporary states which are true around the moment of speaking:

Her mother’s living with her at the moment. She’s just come out of hospital.

Who’s looking after the children while you’re here?

Repeated temporary events

We use the present continuous to describe actions which are repeated or regular, but which we believe to be temporary:

I’m not drinking much coffee these days. I’m trying to cut down.

She’s working a lot in London at the moment. (She doesn’t usually work in London.)