UNIT I. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

PRESENT CONTINUOUS AND GOING TO FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE PLANS.

We use present continuous to talk about something that is happening at the time of speaking. The action is not finished.

o He is talking on the phone.

o What is she doing? Grammar Check: Remember the mandatory rules!
o My brother isnt playing video games.
For affirmatives: subject + am/is/are + verb in ing + object
2. To talk about temporary situations.
E.g.: Were watching Deadpool tonight.
o I'm living at my grandmas at the moment. For negatives: subject + am/is/are + not + verb in ing+ object
o Im staying at a hotel.
E.g.: They arent waiting for the movie.
3. To talk about changing situations.
For questions: am/is/are + subject + going to + verb+ object
o You're getting taller and taller every day!
o The weather's getting hotter. E.g.: Are you going to eat that?

o Im getting old!
4. To talk about repeated actions around the time of speaking.

o I'm seeing my friends from high school a lot these days!

o Im going out a lot lately.

5. We use present continuous with words such as always to talk about things that happen repeatedly (sometimes to say that
something is irritating or annoying).
o He's always complaining about how difficult his life is.
o Shes always saying how much she loves her boyfriend give me a break!
6. To talk about future arrangements.
o I'm meeting my father at the airport at 5 o'clock tomorrow.
o Were going to the movies at 8.45.
7. When we are talking about how someone looks or feels:
o How are you feeling?
o Hes having a hard time after his parents divorce.

GOING TO

There is no one 'future tense' in English. The one which is used most often in spoken English is 'going to':

We use 'going to' when we want to talk about a plan for the future.
 o I'm not going to see him today.
o Are we going to have lunch first?
o She's going to see what she can do.

Notice that this plan does not have to be for the near future:

o When I retire I'm going to go back to Barbados to live.

o In ten years time, I'm going to be boss of my own successful company.

We use 'going to' when we want to make a prediction based

Grammar Check: Remember the mandatory rules!
on evidence we can see now:
For affirmatives: subject + am/is/are + going to + verb + object
o Look out! That cup is going to fall off. E.g.: I am going to take a nap!
o Look at those black clouds. It's going to rain soon.
For negatives: subject + am/is/are + not + going to + verb+ object

We can replace 'going to go' by 'going': E.g.: Im not going to do that!

For questions: am/is/are + subject + going to + verb+ object

o I'm going out later.
o She's going to the exhibition tomorrow. E.g.: Are you going to eat that?

ADDITIONAL INFO

We do not normally use some verbs with present continuous because these verbs are not normally action verbs. These verbs
include:
believe, belong, depend, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, realize, suppose, want, understand.

They know each other very well Correct They are knowing each other very well Incorrect

Though, its getting common to listen to the continuous form of the verb want, as in: Ive been wanting to tell you something.

HOW DOES THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS FORM WORK IN THESE EXAMPLES?

#FAIL