Class 5 English Grammar – Tenses (Continuous)

Continuous Tense

DEFINITION

A tense of verbs which is used to describe the action  that is (happening in present), was (happen in the past), or will be (happen in the future) in progress at a certain time.

Eg- I am walking.

I was walking.

I Will be walking.

1. Present continuous tense

• The present continuous (also called present progressive) is a verb tense which is used to show that an ongoing action is happening now, either at the moment of speech or now in a larger sense.
• We use the Present Continuous Tense in two situations:
• When we talk about something we are currently doing
• When we talk about something that we have planned to do in the near future.

Examples:

• I am eating right now.
• I am planning to buy a new pencil case.
• I am going to Shimla tomorrow.
• We are eating out tonight.
• Abdul Rehman is arriving this evening.

2. Past Continuous Tense

• The past continuous tense, also known as the past progressive tense, refers to a continuing action or state that was happening at some point in the past.
• The past continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with the verb’s present participle (-ing word).
• We use the Past Continuous Tense in two situations:
• The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be indicated.
• This tense is also used with always, continually, etc. for persistent habits in the past.

Examples:

• We were watching TV all evening.
• It was getting darker.
• The light went out while I was reading.
• When I saw him, he was playing chess.
• He was always bullying other people.

3. Future Continuous Tense

• The future continuous tense, sometimes also referred to as the future progressive tense, is a verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected length of time.
• It is formed using the construction will + be + the present participle (the root verb + -ing).
• We use the Future Continuous Tense to talk about actions which will be in progress at a time in the future.

Example:

• I suppose it will be raining when we start.
• This time tomorrow, I will be sitting on the beach in Singapore.
• Please don’t come at 5 o’clock as I will be watching the tennis match on TV.

RULES OF SENTENCE FORMATION