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Hello, I’m Jack.
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Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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In this lesson, you can learn about the present
continuous verb tense in English.
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We'll talk about all the possible meanings
of the present continuous; whether you’re
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a beginner or an advanced learner, you’re
sure to find something new.
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So, let's get into it!
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First, how can you form the present continuous?
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To form the present continuous, you use:
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'be + verb + -ing'
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For example:
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He’s washing his car.
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They’re watching a film.
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What about negatives and questions?
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To make negatives, add 'not' after 'be'.
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She isn’t doing anything.
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I’m not working on that right now.
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Now, to make questions, move the verb 'be'
before the subject.
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Is he doing anything?
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Are you talking to me?
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The same rule works if you ask a question
with a question word like 'what', 'why', or
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'how'.
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Move the verb 'be' before the subject.
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What are you watching?
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Where are they going?
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Now, you can see that to make questions in
the present continuous, you don’t add anything.
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So don’t add words like 'do' or 'did'.
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Just change the order of the words!
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So now you know how to form sentences and
questions with the present continuous.
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But how do you use it?
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One use is for something happening right now.
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This is the most basic use of the present
continuous.
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He’s washing his car.
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They’re watching a film.
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These sentences are talking about something
which is happening at this moment.
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Now, we can also use the present continuous
to talk about something which has started
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but not finished.
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This sounds similar to the last point.
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If we say:
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He’s washing his car.
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This means he’s started washing his car,
but he hasn’t finished yet.
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So what’s the difference?
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Why is this separate to the last point?
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It’s different because we can also use the
present continuous in this way to talk about
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things which are not happening right now.
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For example:
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I’m reading a good book at the moment.
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She’s looking for a new apartment.
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If I say, "I’m reading a good book at the
moment," I don’t mean that I’m reading
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right now, at this minute.
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I mean that I’ve started a book and I haven’t
finished it yet.
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In the same way, "She’s looking for a new
apartment" doesn’t mean that she’s out
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looking for an apartment this minute.
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It means she’s started looking for an apartment,
but she hasn’t found one yet.
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In these examples, we use the present continuous
to talk about things happening around this
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moment, not necessarily at this specific moment.
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Next, describing a picture.
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If you have a picture or a photo, and you
want to describe it to someone, you use the
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present continuous.
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A picture or a photo is like a moment in time.
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That’s why we use the continuous form to
talk about it.
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For example, here, we can use the present
continuous to talk about what we see:
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They are sitting on a beam, high above the
city.
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The two men on the left are smoking.
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Some of them are eating sandwiches.
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It doesn't matter that the picture was taken
a long time ago.
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We can still use the present continuous to
describe it.
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Next, talking about something temporary or
different from usual.
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So, another use of the present continuous
is to show that something is temporary.
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Look at these two sentences:
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He lives with his parents.
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He’s living with his parents.
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What’s the difference?
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Why would you use the present continuous here?
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In these sentences, the present continuous
shows that the situation is temporary.
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If you say "He lives with his parents," you
mean that this is permanent.
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If you say, "He’s living with his parents,"
you mean that this is a temporary situation.
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Maybe he’s living with his parents while
he saves enough money to get his own place.
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Let’s look at one more example here:
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She works in the marketing department.
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She’s working in the marketing department.
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Is the difference clear now?
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If you say, "She works in the marketing department,"
you mean that this is her permanent job.
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If you say, "She’s working in the marketing
department," you mean that she normally works
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somewhere else.
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She’s just working in the marketing department
temporarily.
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Next, talking about a changing situation.
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I understand there are a lot of ways to use
the present continuous!
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Remember that you don’t have to learn all
of this at once.
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This video will still be here; take a break
and review what we’ve done so far if you
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need to.
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Now, you can also use the present continuous
to talk about a situation which is changing
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over time.
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For example:
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The population of our city is growing by around
5% a year.
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My English is slowly getting better.
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The river used to be really polluted, but
it’s getting cleaner.
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In all of these examples, we’re talking
about a change which is happening over time,
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and which will probably continue into the
future.
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If I say:
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The population of our city is growing by around
5% a year.
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This means that I expect the population to
continue growing, at least for the next few
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years.
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OK, so you’ve seen how the present continuous
can be used to talk about: things happening
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now; things which have started but not finished;
describing pictures; talking about temporary
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situations; talking about changing situations.
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All of the meanings we’ve seen so far are
similar.
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They are all about something happening around
a moment in time.
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However, there are also some other ways to
use the present continuous which are completely
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different.
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Let’s look at a very important one:
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Talking about arrangements in the future.
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Many English learners use 'will' to talk about
the future, but 'will' can’t be used for
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everything.
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Actually, the present continuous is one of
the most common ways to talk about the future
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in English.
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If you have a solid plan or arrangement, meaning
you know where and/or when something will
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happen, you can use the present continuous
to talk about it.
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Here are some examples:
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We’re meeting outside the cinema at 8.00.
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They’re coming to ours for dinner on Saturday.
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What are you doing next weekend?
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It’s very common to use the present continuous
when you talk about plans for the near future,
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social plans, and so on.
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Talking about something strange or annoying.
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Now we’re getting to more specialised, less
common uses of the present continuous.
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Using the present continuous together with
adverbs like 'always', 'constantly' or 'continually'
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can show that you find a repeated action annoying
or strange.
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For example:
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He’s always forgetting to bring the things
he needs.
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They’re constantly gossiping about me behind
my back.
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My boss is continually interrupting me while
I’m trying to work.
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So, if you say:
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He’s always forgetting to bring the things
he needs.
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You means that he often forgets to bring things,
and you find this strange or annoying.
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This use of the present continuous is unusual,
because we’re using the present continuous
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to talk about a repeated action or a habit,
and we don’t normally do that.
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So you must use an adverb in these sentences.
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You can’t say:
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He’s forgetting to bring the things he needs.
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To give it the meaning of something which
you find strange/annoying, you need an adverb.
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So, 'always' is the most common adverb to
use in these sentences.
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OK, we’re nearly there!
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One more to go:
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The last use is talking about feelings which
you are starting to be aware of.
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Now again, this is a very specialised, less
common way to use the present continuous.
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What does it mean?
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Think about these two sentences:
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I realise I made the wrong decision.
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I’m realising I made the wrong decision.
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Now, they’re both possible, but what’s
the difference?
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In the first sentence:
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I realise I made the wrong decision.
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Your realisation is not a new feeling.
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However, when you say:
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I’m realising I made the wrong decision.
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You mean that you are just starting to think
about this.
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The feeling -- that you made the wrong decision
-- is still growing on you.
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Let’s do one more example:
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I find it difficult to work with him.
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I’m finding it difficult to work with him.
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Can you see the difference?
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Again, if you say:
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I find it difficult to work with him.
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This isn't something new for you.
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You generally find him difficult, and you
dislike working with him.
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If you say:
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I’m finding it difficult to work with him.
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This means that you are just starting to realise
how difficult he is, and how you dislike working
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with him.
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These feelings are new to you, I guess.
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OK, that’s the end of the lesson.
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There’s a lot of information in this video,
so you might find it useful to review some
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parts of this video again.
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If you want to practice this some more, check
out the full version of the lesson on our
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website.
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The full lesson contains notes, the full script,
and a quiz to help you practise this topic.
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That’s all for now.
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Thanks very much for watching, and see you
next time!14918
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