Present Continuous Tense

This tense is used to represent a thing that happens/happening when we speak about it. The format of a present continuous sentence is given below

Sub + is/am/are + verb + ing

Time Words

Normally the below forms of verbs are found in this type of sentence.

At present, at the moment, at this time, today, tonight, at this moment, at this evening, tomorrow morning, still, now, now a days etc.

Eg:

• My uncle is working in this factory at present.
• I am watching a movie now.
• Jose is travelling by a train today to attend a conference.
• He is still playing with the children.
• They are trying to solve the problem at present.

Present continuous tense is also used to say about an event which is about to happen in the near future (an immediate future action) or a pre-planned event.

Eg:

• My sister is going to be married soon.
• My father is coming from Delhi tomorrow.

Present continuous tense is also used to tell about a change in the habitual action or about a temporary action.

Eg:

• Students usually go to school by bus but today they are going on foot.
• Uncle drinks coffee every evening but today he is drinking milk.

Non-conclusive verbs or stative verbs

There are some verbs in English that cannot be written in the ing form or gerund. Such verbs are called as Non-conclusive verbs or stative verbs.

So these verbs cannon be used in any of the continuous tenses (present continuous tense, past continuous tense, future continuous tense, present perfect continuous tense, past perfect continuous tense, future perfect continuous tense).

start, agree, appear, believe, belong, close, contain, deserve, desire, differ, disappear, dislike, equal, except, feel, forget, forgive, hate, hear, imagine, keep, know, like, love, matter, mean, mind, notice, open, over, own, possess, recognise, refuse, remember, see, seem, smell, suppose, taste, think, tough, trust, understand, want, wish

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