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Present continuous |
This is the tense we use if we want to talk about what we are doing now. Some examples of this usage are: |
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| A) You are reading this. / See those boys over there. They’re playing football. / He is eating his dinner. /
I am writing a letter. |
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| The present continuous can also be used to talk about arranged future actions. Here are some sentences that show this use of the present continuous tense: |
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B) I’m getting married in October. / They’re having a party on Friday. |
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If you look at the underlined parts in each of the example sentences above, you will see the present continuous and how it is formed. To construct the present continuous we need the following components: |
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| Subject |
verb to be |
verb+ing |
| I |
am |
writing. |
| He |
is |
eating. |
| They |
are |
walking. |
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Present perfect simple |
The present perfect simple tense causes no end of problems for learners and trainee teachers alike. Let’s try to make it a little easier here! |
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| A) I’ve been to Sweden. / I’ve ridden a camel. / I’ve eaten Chinese food. |
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All of the above sentences are examples of the present perfect simple tense. Here the present perfect simple is being used to talk about experiences you have had at some point in your life time. They could also be defined as describing an action that occurred at an unspecified time in the past. |
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| B) He’s lived here for 5 years. / He’s had 27 driving lessons. / She’s been ill for 4 days. |
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All of the above examples also use the present perfect but the meaning here is different to the previous sentences. Here we are talking about actions that started in the past and have continued to the present. |
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| C) We've graduated (and now we're going on our gap year). / They've finished painting (and now the room looks nice). / The bus has arrived (and it's here). |
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| Another three sentences in the present perfect and yet another grammatical meaning. These sentences all show actions that finished in the past but we can see the result of those actions now (in the present). |
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| To see how the present perfect is formed have a look at the underlined parts of the sentences above. To form the present perfect simple we need the following: |
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| Subject |
auxiliary (helping) verb
- have/has |
V3 |
| I |
have |
spoken (German). |
| He |
has |
lived (here for 3 years). |
| They |
have |
eaten (their dinner). |
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