CHAPTER 3.

THE PRESENT
CONTINUOUS
1. Uses of the present continuous

In English, the Present Continuous tense is usually used to express

continuing, ongoing actions which are taking place at the moment of
speaking or writing. In the examples given below, the verbs in the
Present Continuous tense are underlined.
e.g. Right now I am cooking supper.
At the moment the plane is flying over the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Present Continuous tense is often used in conversation.

e.g. “What are you doing?”
“I am working on my English assignment.”

Occasionally, the Present Continuous tense is used to refer to a

future event.
e.g. We are leaving tomorrow.

2. Formation of the present continuous

The Present Continuous tense of any verb is formed from the Simple
Present of the auxiliary to be, followed by what is generally referred
to as the present participle of the verb.

The present participle of a verb is formed by adding ing to the bare

infinitive. For instance, the present participle of the verb to
work is working.

Thus, the Present Continuous tense of the verb to work is

conjugated as follows:

I am working

you are working

he is working

she is working

it is working
 we are working

they are working

See Exercise 1.

3. Spelling rules for the formation of the present

participle

Some verbs change their spelling when the ending ing is added to
form the present participle.

a. Verbs ending in a silent e

When a verb ends in a silent e, the silent e is dropped before the

ending ing is added. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to close closing

to dine dining

to leave leaving

to move moving
However, when a verb ends in an e which is not silent, the final e is
not dropped before the ending ing is added. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to be being

to see seeing
b. Verbs ending in ie

When a verb ends in ie, the ie is changed to y before the

ending ing is added. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to die dying
 to lie lying
When a verb ends in y, no change is made before the ending is
added. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to fly flying

to play playing
See Exercise 2.

c. One-syllable verbs ending in a single consonant preceded

by a single vowel

Except in the case of the final consonants w, x and y, when a one-

syllable verb ends in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel,
the final consonant must be doubled before the ending ing is added.
The reason for this is to reflect the fact that the pronunciation of the
single vowel does not change when the ending ing is added.

English vowels have a variety of pronunciations. For instance, each

English vowel has two contrasting pronunciations, which are
sometimes referred to as short and long. Vowels which are followed
by two consonants, and vowels which are followed by a single
consonant at the end of a word, are generally pronounced short. In
contrast, vowels which are followed by a single consonant followed
by another vowel are generally pronounced long.

In the table below, the underlined vowels in the left-hand column are
pronounced short; whereas the underlined vowels in the right-hand
column are pronounced long. For example:

Short Vowels Long Vowels

fat fate

tapping taping

let delete

win wine

filling filing
 not note

hopping hoping

flutter flute
Thus, in the case of most one-syllable verbs ending in a single
consonant preceded by a single vowel, the vowel is
pronounced short. In order to reflect the fact that the vowel is also
pronounced short in the corresponding present participle, except in
the case of w, x and y, the final consonant must be doubled before
the ending ing is added.

In the following examples, the consonants which have been doubled

are
underlined. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to nod nodding

to dig digging

to run running

to clap clapping

to set setting
When a verb ends in w, x or y preceded by a single vowel, the final
consonant is not doubled before the ending is added. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to draw drawing

to fix fixing

to say saying
It should also be noted that when a verb ends in a single consonant
preceded by two vowels, the final consonant is not doubled before
the ending is added. The reason for this is that two vowels together
are generally pronounced long. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

 to rain raining

to read reading

to meet meeting

to soak soaking
See Exercise 3.

d. Verbs of more than one syllable which end in a single

consonant preceded by a single vowel

When a verb of more than one syllable ends in a single consonant

other than w, x or y preceded by a single vowel, the final consonant
is doubled to form the present participle only when the last syllable
of the verb is pronounced with the heaviest stress.

For instance, in the following examples, the last syllables of the

verbs have the heaviest stress, and the final consonants are doubled
to form the present participles. In these examples, the syllables
pronounced with the heaviest stress are underlined. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to expel expelling

to begin beginning

to occur occurring

to omit omitting
When a verb of more than one syllable ends in w, x or y, the final
consonant is not doubled before the ending ing is added. In the
following examples, the syllables pronounced with the heaviest
stress are underlined. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to allow allowing

to affix affixing

to convey conveying
When the last syllable of a verb is not pronounced with the heaviest
stress, the final consonant is usually not doubled to form the present
participle. For instance, in the following examples, the last syllables
of the verbs do not have the heaviest stress, and the final
consonants are not doubled to form the present participles. In these
examples, the syllables pronounced with the heaviest stress are
underlined. For example:

Infinitive Present Participle

to listen listening

to order ordering

to focus focusing

to limit limiting
If necessary, a dictionary can be consulted to determine which
syllable of a verb has the heaviest stress. Many dictionaries use
symbols such as apostrophes to indicate which syllables are
pronounced with the heaviest stress.

See Exercise 4.

It should be noted that British and American spelling rules differ for
verbs which end in a single l preceded by a single vowel. In British
spelling, the l is always doubled before the endings ing and ed
are added. However, in American spelling, verbs ending with a
single l follow the same rule as other verbs; the l is doubled only
when the last syllable has the heaviest stress. In the following
examples, the syllables with the heaviest stress are underlined. For
example:

Infinitive Present Participle

American Spelling British Spelling

to signal signaling signalling

to travel traveling travelling

to compel compelling compelling

to propel propelling propelling

From these examples it can be seen that the American and British
spellings for verbs ending in a single l differ only when the last
syllable does not have the heaviest stress.

4. Questions and negative statements

a. Questions

In the Present Continuous, the verb to be acts as an auxiliary. As is

the case with other English tenses, it is the auxiliary which is used to
form questions and negative statements.

To form a question in the Present Continuous tense, the auxiliary is

placed before the subject. For example:

Affirmative Statement Question

I am working. Am I working?

You are working. Are you working?

He is working. Is he working?

She is working. Is she working?

It is working. Is it working?

We are working. Are we working?

They are working. Are they working?

See Exercise 5.

b. Negative statements

To form a negative statement, the word not is added after the

auxiliary. For example:

Affirmative Statement Negative Statement

I am working. I am not working.

You are working. You are not working.

He is working. He is not working.

 She is working. She is not working.

It is working. It is not working.

We are working. We are not working.

They are working. They are not working.

See Exercise 6.

c. Negative questions

To form a negative question, the auxiliary is placed before the

subject, and the word not is placed after the subject. However, when
contractions are used, the contracted form of not follows
immediately after the auxiliary. Although there is no universally
accepted contraction for am not, the expression aren’t I? is often
used in spoken English. For example:

Without
With Contractions
Contractions

[Aren’t I working?] – used in

Am I not working?
speaking

Are you not working? Aren’t you working?

Is he not working? Isn’t he working?

Is she not working? Isn’t she working?

Is it not working? Isn’t it working?

Are we not working? Aren’t we working?

Are they not working? Aren’t they working?

See Exercise 7.

d. Tag questions

Tag questions are also formed using the auxiliary. In the following
examples, the tag questions are underlined. In spoken
English, aren’t I? is often used as a tag question. For example:

Affirmative Affirmative Statement with Tag

Statement Question

I am working. I am working, am I not?

You are working. You are working, aren’t you?

He is working. He is working, isn’t he?

She is working. She is working, isn’t she?

It is working. It is working, isn’t it?

We are working. We are working, aren’t we?

They are working. They are working, aren’t they?

See Exercise 8.

5. Comparison of the uses of the simple present and

present continuous

As pointed out in Chapter 1, the Simple Present tense may be used

for stating general truths, and for referring to actions which occur at
regular intervals. In the following examples, the verbs in the Simple
Present tense are underlined.
e.g. Nova Scotia is a Canadian province. Geese fly south every
winter.

In contrast, the Present Continuous tense is usually used to refer to

ongoing actions happening at the time of speaking or writing. In the
following examples, the verbs in the Present Continuous tense are
underlined.
e.g. Right now, I am visiting the province of Nova Scotia. At the
moment, a flock of geese is flying overhead.

See Exercise 9.

EXERCISES for Chapter 3

1. Using the Present Continuous tense, fill in the blanks with the
correct forms of the verbs shown in brackets. For example:
He _________ hard. (to work)
He is working hard.
We ____________ anxious. (to feel)
We are feeling anxious.
 1. I _______________ the questions. (to answer)
2. You ________________ boots. (to wear)
3. We ______________ for work. (to look)
4. She ______________ her friend. (to call)
5. He _______________ a house. (to build)
6. They _______________ supper. (to cook)
7. We ______________ a story. (to tell)
8. You ______________ for the bus. (to wait)
9. I _______________ a book. (to read)
10. They _______________ berries. (to pick)
11. Using the Present Continuous tense, fill in the blanks with
the correct forms of the verbs shown in brackets. For example:
They _____________ the lemons. (to squeeze)
They are squeezing the lemons.
It ________ on the sidewalk. (to lie)
It is lying on the sidewalk.

I ___________ the groceries. (to carry)

I am carrying the groceries.

1. She ________________ a letter. (to write)

2. They _________________ about it. (to worry)
3. He _________________ jam. (to make)
4. It _________________. (to die)
5. We _______________ to school. (to hurry)
6. She _________________ us to do it. (to dare)
7. You ________________ on the blanket. (to lie)
8. He _________________ the problem. (to solve)
9. I _________________ now. (to leave)
10. They _________________ to help us. (to try)
11. Using the Present Continuous tense, fill in the blanks with
the correct forms of the verbs shown in brackets. For example:
We ___________ to come. (to plan)
We are planning to come.
They _________ the lawn. (to mow)
They are mowing the lawn.

It __________. (to rain)

It is raining.

1. I _______________ the grass. (to cut)

2. It _______________ downstream. (to float)
3. They _________________ the game. (to win)
4. We _________________ the present. (to wrap)
5. She _________________ lettuce. (to grow)
 6. He _________________ for us. (to look)
7. I _________________ a sweater. (to knit)
8. They _________________ wood. (to saw)
9. She _________________ the windows. (to clean)
10. We _________________ the floor. (to scrub)
11. I ________________ the toaster. (to fix)
12. He _________________ his coffee. (to sip)
13. They __________________ the hedge. (to trim)
14. You _________________ the ducks. (to feed)
15. She _________________ her head. (to nod)
16. Each of the following sentences is preceded by a bare
infinitive, the most heavily stressed syllable of which is
underlined. Paying attention to whether or not the final
consonant should be doubled before ing is added, fill in the
blanks with the present participles corresponding to the bare
infinitives. Use the American spelling for verbs ending in l. For
example:
whisper: They are __________ to their friends.
They are whispering to their friends.
refer: I was _________ to your letter.
I was referring to your letter.

1. open: I am _____________ the door.

2. display: She is ______________ her talents.
3. submit: He is _______________ his report tomorrow.
4. limit: The store is _____________ the number of items on sale.
5. permit: We are not _____________ him to go.
6. sharpen: They are _______________ the pencils.
7. confer: She is ________________ with her colleagues.
8. focus: He is ________________ the camera.
9. repel: They are ________________ the attack.
10. shovel: I am ________________ the steps.
11. destroy: Hail is _______________ the crops.
12. dispel: They are _______________ our doubts.
13. squander: He is _______________ his money.
14. prefer: We are _______________ our new school to the old one.
15. color: The child is ______________ the picture.
16. unravel: We are _____________ the wool.
17. propel: Jet engines are _______________ the plane.
18. flower: The pansies are _______________
19. infer: They are ______________ that we do not want to come.
20. listen: The children are ______________ to us.

1. Change the following affirmative statements into questions. For

example:
 It is snowing.
Is it snowing?
They are being cautious.
Are they being cautious?

1. I am learning English.
2. You are carrying a parcel.
3. It is growing colder.
4. We are living in Halifax.
5. They are running a race.
6. He is drinking coffee.
7. She is shopping for presents.
8. I am cleaning the window.
9. We are buying pencils.
10. They are playing football.
11. Change the affirmative statements given in Exercise 5
into negative statements. For example:
It is snowing.
It is not snowing.
They are being cautious.
They are not being cautious.

1. Change the affirmative statements given in Exercise 5 into

negative questions. Except when the subject of the verb is I,
write both the form without contractions and the form with
contractions. For example:
It is snowing.
Is it not snowing?
Isn’t it snowing?
They are being cautious.
Are they not being cautious?
Aren’t they being cautious?

1. Add negative tag questions to the affirmative statements given

in Exercise 5. Except when the subject of the verb is I, use
contractions for the tag questions. For example:
It is snowing.
It is snowing, isn’t it?
They are being cautious.
They are being cautious, aren’t they?

1. For each of the following sentences, determine whether the

Simple Present tense or the Present Continuous tense is more
appropriate, and fill in the blank with the correct form of the
verb given in brackets. For example:
 Right now, he ________ ridiculous. (to be)
Right now, he is being ridiculous.
She ______ to Sydney every weekend. (to drive)
She drives to Sydney every weekend.

1. At the moment, I __________________ supper. (to cook)

2. He ________________ the paper every weekday. (to read)
3. We ________________ right now. (to study)
4. She ________________ every day. (to study)
5. Now it _______________. (to rain)
6. They ______________ to Mexico every year. (to travel)
7. Just now we ________________ the shopping. (to do)
8. She always ________________ correctly.( to answer)
9. You ________________ never late. (to be)
10. Now I ________________ to the radio. (to listen)
11. Each Sunday, we ________________ the flea market. (to
visit)
12. At present, I ________________ for work. (to look)
ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISES for
Chapter 3
Answers to Exercise 1:
1. am answering 2. are wearing 3. are looking 4. is calling 5. is
building 6. are cooking 7. are telling 8. are waiting 9. am reading 10.
are picking
Answers to Exercise 2:
1. is writing 2. are worrying 3. is making 4. is dying 5. are hurrying 6.
is daring 7. are lying 8. is solving 9. am leaving 10. are trying
Answers to Exercise 3:
1. am cutting 2. is floating 3. are winning 4. are wrapping 5. is
growing 6. is looking 7. am knitting 8. are sawing 9. is cleaning 10.
are scrubbing 11. am fixing 12. is sipping 13. are trimming 14. are
feeding 15. is nodding
Answers to Exercise 4:
1. opening 2. displaying 3. submitting 4. limiting 5. permitting 6.
sharpening 7. conferring 8. focusing 9. repelling 10. shoveling 11.
destroying 12. dispelling 13. squandering 14. preferring 15. coloring
16. unraveling 17. propelling 18. flowering 19. inferring 20. listening
Answers to Exercise 5:
1. Am I learning English? 2. Are you carrying a parcel? 3. Is it
growing colder? 4. Are we living in Halifax? 5. Are they running a
race? 6. Is he drinking coffee? 7. Is she shopping for presents? 8. Am
I cleaning the window? 9. Are we buying pencils? 10. Are they
playing football?
Answers to Exercise 6:
1. I am not learning English. 2. You are not carrying a parcel. 3. It is
not growing colder. 4. We are not living in Halifax. 5. They are not
running a race. 6. He is not drinking coffee. 7. She is not shopping
for presents. 8. I am not cleaning the window. 9. We are not buying
pencils. 10. They are not playing football.
Answers to Exercise 7:
1. Am I not learning English? 2. Are you not carrying a parcel? Aren’t
you carrying a parcel? 3. Is it not growing colder? Isn’t it growing
colder? 4. Are we not living in Halifax? Aren’t we living in Halifax? 5.
Are they not running a race? Aren’t they running a race? 6. Is he not
drinking coffee? Isn’t he drinking coffee? 7. Is she not shopping for
presents? Isn’t she shopping for presents? 8. Am I not cleaning the
window? 9. Are we not buying pencils? Aren’t we buying pencils? 10.
Are they not playing football? Aren’t they playing football?
Answers to Exercise 8:
1. I am learning English, am I not? 2. You are carrying a parcel,
aren’t you? 3. It is growing colder, isn’t it? 4. We are living in Halifax,
aren’t we? 5. They are running a race, aren’t they? 6. He is drinking
coffee, isn’t he? 7. She is shopping for presents, isn’t she? 8. I am
cleaning the window, am I not? 9. We are buying pencils, aren’t we?
10. They are playing football, aren’t they?
Answers to Exercise 9:
1. am cooking 2. reads 3. are studying 4. studies 5. is raining 6.
travel 7. are doing 8. answers 9. are 10. am listening 11. visit 12. am
looking