102: How to form and use the present continuous.
How To Form The Present Continuous:
To form the present continuous for affirmative statements, use a subject and add the auxiliary verb to be in the present simple (I am, you are, he is...) then take the compliment of your verb and add ...ing (playing). This gives I am playing. You are playing. He is playing, and so on. To make negatives place not after the auxiliary verb to be. I am not playing. To make questions swap the positions of subject and the auxiliary
verb. Am I playing?
The following table shows how it is done:
| Affirmative | Negative | Interrogative |
|---|---|---|
| I am playing | I am not playing | Am I playing? |
| You are playing | You are not playing | Are you playing? |
| He is playing | He is not playing | Is he playing? |
| She is playing | She is not playing | Is she playing? |
| It is playing | It is not playing | Is it playing? |
| We are playing | We are not playing | Are we playing? |
| You are playing | You are not playing | Are you playing? |
| They are playing | They are not playing | Are they playing? |
The following video explains how to form the present continuous:
How to form the present continuous. Take a subject I, then use the auxiliary verb to be in the present simple. I am. Then you take your verb, the compliment, the infinitive without to, for this example play, and add ...ing to make the gerund, or the present participle. This gives you, I am playing. Or as a contraction I'm playing. For second person, you are playing, you're playing, he is playing, he's playing, she is playing, it is playing, we are playing, you are playing, they are playing or they're playing. Ok, that's how you make affirmative statements, to make negative ones add not after the verb to be. So therefore, I am not playing. OK. Notice this not you cannot contract, you can only say, I'm not playing. Or as a contraction I'm not playing, OK? You are not playing, he is not playing, she is not playing, we are not playing, you are not playing, they are not playing or they aren't playing, as a contraction. To make questions change the position of the subject and the auxiliary verb to be. So, am I playing? Are you playing? Is he playing? Is she playing? Are we playing? I forgot, is it playing? Are we playing? Are you playing? Are they playing? So that's how to make the present continuous. Subject, auxiliary verb to be, the verb (or the compliment of the verb) with ...ing. So see you in the next video, when to use the present continuous.
How To Use The Present Continuous:
We use the present continuous to talk about the things we are doing at this very moment, now, at this instant, at present... At this moment you are reading this text. As it is what you are doing now we use the present continuous.
The present continuous gives the idea that the action is temporary. For this reason we also use the present continuous for temporary actions or situations occurring about now, but not necessarily occurring at this actual moment. A waiter works in a restaurant as a waiter (present simple permanent situation), but a student is working in a restaurant as a waiter (present continuous temporary situation during the summer). The car I normally drive has broken down, so I am driving a hire car until it is fixed. Notice you cannot use the present continuous for verbs of state (own, possess, think for opinions, understand, smell, these verbs never take continuous tenses.
When to use the present continuous? OK, the primary use of the present continuous is to talk about actions that we are doing now. For example: Now I am giving a lesson. I am making a video. These are things I am doing now. We use the present continuous for things that are happening at this moment. What are you doing now? You are watching my video. Present continuous for things that are happening now. In this sense the present continuous uses words like: currently, presently, at the moment, now, because all of these words talk about the current moment. We can also use the present continuous in a more complex way to talk about things that are happening around now. Not exactly now, now, now in this moment, but in the current period of time, but these things are temporary not permanent. So temporary situations about now. Let me explain further. At the moment the builders are working in my house, OK? The builders are working. They are repairing my house, but it's very dirty, so currently I am living, I am staying, with my uncle. This is a temporary situation about now. Imagine a temporary worker, at the moment I am working in a supermarket. The temporary worker is only there for a short period of time, he may not be working (in that instance) in that *instant. So present continuous for temporary actions or situations around now, but not necessarily occurring in this moment. So there's the present continuous. I'll see you in my next video about the past simple. So bye.