1. They are having a look in a shop (present continuous)
Reflexiona
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Imagen de Sam Javanrouh en Flickr Licencia CC |
Present Continuous Positive: Form
Paco, Sonia and their mother are shopping around. However, Paco isn't worried about the price of the suits. Now, he has a lot of money thanks to the lottery. They are just looking for the best suit that fits him.
What tense do we use in English to refer to actions happening at the moment of speaking?
Ejercicio Resuelto
Watch the following video about what the people in it are doing.
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Vídeo de Mark Kulek alojado en Youtube. |
Importante
To Be + -ing
Notice in the previous passage the form of the present continuous
To be | Present Participle (-ing) |
Paco is | shopping around |
I am | looking for a new suit |
We are | studying English at university |
So, the form of the present continuous is very easy. However, the first thing you must remember is how to add suffix -ing to bare infinitives in order to form the present participle, which, by the way, has the same form as gerunds; that is to say, both the present participles and the gerunds of English verbs are formed in the same way: by adding -ing to the bare infinitive.
Click here for the rules for forming the present participle and gerunds.
Comprueba lo aprendido
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Para saber más
- Click here to read about the Present Continuous or Progressive tense. Notice that you can also complete some exercises to improve not only its form, but also its uses, which we will see in the next section.
Curiosidad
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Imagen anónima Dominio público |
To be or not to be...
Kenneth Brannagh performing Prince Hamlet in Hamlet (1996) |
Surely, this is not the first time you read or hear this sentence. It is pronounced by Prince Hamlet in the play of the same name (Act III, Scene i), by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), who is considered by many as the most important playwright in the history of Literature. These words have been repeated and repeated throughout history in lots of different languages and the play has been adapted lots of times. To say but one example, there are, at least, eleven film adaptations of the play, being the first one Hamlet, in 1920, and the latest, Hamlet A.D.D., in 2009.
Listen to this famous soliloquy by the Prince of Denmark (performed on this occasion by Kenneth Brannagh) paying attention to intonation and pronunciation. Don't worry if you don't understand every word of the soliloquy. If you want to read it at the time you listen to it, click here.
One of Shakespeare's plays is being performed in The Great Theatre these days. Paco and his friends have bought the tickets and they are going to the theatre tomorrow.
As you can see, the sentence they are going to the theatre tomorrow is in the Present Continuous tense. However it does not refer to the moment of speaking. It refers to the future (tomorrow). Can you guess why? Let's study the main uses of the Present Continuous or Progressive tense in the following section!