2. Is Paco's English improving? (pres cont. interrogative)
Reflexiona
Read the following presentation to learn about the Present Continuous Interrogative form:
Importante
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As you already know, Sonia sometimes helps Paco study English.
Now she is explaining the Present Continuous Tense to him. Sonia has written down this table for her brother to summarize the affirmative, negative and interrogative patterns in the Present Continuous Tense, so Paco can better recognize the formation of this verb tense.
AFIRMATIVA | NEGATIVA | INTERROGATIVA | |
I | am studying | am not studying | Am I studying? |
You | are studying | aren't studying | Are you studying? |
He/She/it | is studying | isn't studying | Is he/she/it studying? |
We | are studying | aren't studying | Are we studying? |
You (all) | are studying | aren't studying | Are you studying? |
They | are studying | aren't studying | Are they studying? |
Notice the interrogative pattern with short questions in the Present Continuous Tense:
VERB TO BE + SUBJECT + VERB -ING + OBJECT?
Is Paco studying English with his sister?
Notice the interrogative pattern with WH- questions in the Present Continuous Tense to ask for very general actions or situations:
QUESTION WORD + VERB TO BE + SUBJECT + VERB -ING + OBJECT?
What are Paco and Sonia doing now?
Notice the interrogative pattern with WH- questions in the Present Continuous Tense to ask for more detailed actions or situations:
QUESTION WORD + VERB TO BE + SUBJECT + ANY VERB -ING + OBJECT?
Why is Alex going to play football now?
Comprueba lo aprendido
Read the paragraph below and fill in the missing words.
Comprueba lo aprendido
Ask for the information in the bold part of the sentence:
E.g.: Paco is watching CSI- What is Paco watching?
E.g.: Antonio is reading a book- Who is reading a book? (if it's the subject, we don't change the order).
E.g.: David is having a drink.- What is David doing?
Comprueba lo aprendido
Solución
Solución
Para saber más
- Click here in order to do exercises about the Present Continuous interrogative form.
- Present Progressive interrogative exercise:
- write questions for the statements (1)
- complete the questions
Short answers: al igual que en el presente simple, en las preguntas del tipo yes/no, las respuestas siguen la siguiente estructura:
Yes, pronombre personal + verbo to be (afirmativo) No, pronombre personal + verbo to be (negativo)
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Is Mary sleeping? (¿Está Mary durmiendo?)
-Yes, she is (Sí, lo está)
-No, she isn't (No, no lo está)
Acuérdate de que en el presente simple, detrás del sujeto colocábamos un verbo auxiliar. En el presente continuo siempre usamos TO BE como auxiliar.
Let's see now some differences between the uses of the Present Simple and the Present Continuous Tenses.