GRAMMAR FOCUS 2.

PRESENT SIMPLE AND PRESENT CONTINUOUS

PART 1. PRESENT CONTINUOUS.
I. FORM

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I am ( I’m) singing. I am not ( I’m not) singing. Am I singing ?

You are (You’re) dancing. You are not(You aren’t) dancing. Are you dancing?
She is (She’s)playing. She is not(She isn’t)playing. Is she playing?
He is (He’s) coming. He is not (He isn’t) coming. Is he coming?
It is (It’s) running. It is not(It isn’t) running. Is it running?
We are (We’re) sleeping. We are not (We aren’t) sleeping. Are we sleeping?
You are(You’re) sitting. You are not (You aren’t) sitting. Are you sitting?
They are (They’re) lying. They are not (They aren’t) lying Are they lying?

II. PRACTICE
Exercise 1. Put the words in the correct order to make sentences in Present Continuous.
Sara / playing/ Tom/ ball / are/ ?/ the / with/ and.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
not / my / living / nice / friends / are/ flat / a / nice/ in/
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
having / party / Sunday / I / on / am / a /
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
?/ Sandy’s / studying / brothers / French / at / are / university /
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Exercise 2. Complete with the correct Present Continuous form of the verb in brackets.
Steve is talking to Anita on his mobile phone.
ANITA: Hi Steve! Where are you? You’re late.
STEVE: I know. I (1) _________________ (come). I (2) _______________ (walk) down
Parliament Street now.
ANITA: Hurry up! Rosie (3) _______________ (buy) the tickets and we (4) ______________ (go)
into the Jorvik Viking Centre.
Sounds of lots of screaming.
STEVE: What’s that?
ANITA: Don’t worry! It’s Sara and Barbara. They (5) _______________ (scream).
STEVE: Why?
ANITA: They are scared. We (6) ________________ (look) at an exhibition of a man with a knife.
CARL: Where’s Steve?
ANITA: He (7) _______________ (come). Look! There he is. He (8) ______________ (speak) to
the man at the entrance.
Exercise 3. Supply the Present Continuous form of the verbs in the brackets.
Sarah Miller is in New York. She is writing a letter to her best friend.
Dear Sophia,
How are you? How is London? I (1) ............................. (have) a very good time in New York.
 It’s Sunday and it’s sunny and warm. Now it’s ten in the morning and we are in Central Park.
I (2) ............................. (sit) under a tree, I (3) ................................ (listen) to my radio… and I (4)
..................... (write) to you, of course.
My Canadian cousin Rosemary is here with us, she (5) ............................ (read) a comic. She’s
very pretty. She’s tall and slim and she has got long wavy brown hair. Her parents are in Toronto.
My father (6) ........................... (read) The New York Times, an American newspaper. My
mother (7) ............................ (play) with my little brother Jimmy on the grass and they (8)
.......................... (eat) popcorn.
There are many people in the park. Some men (9) ........................ (jog), two girls (10)
............................ (walk) their dogs, and an old man (11) ........................... (skate)! And he can do
that quiet well.
We often come to this fantastic park, in this wonderful city because we (12) ............................
(relax) here. But sometimes we visit other interesting places: museums, shops…
New York is great! There are many fantastic skyscrapers and there are people
everywhere!
Love, Sarah

Exercise 4. Supply the Present Continuous form of the verbs in the brackets.
Hi Jane,
I’m so excited. Guess what – it’s my Dad’s 40th birthday next month, and so he (1)
......................(take) us all to London for a weekend! Cool, eh?
We (2) ............................. (fly) over on the Thursday evening. As soon as we arrive, we (3)
........................... (go) on a tour of the city. They say London is really beautiful by night, and I really
(4) .......................... (look) forward to seeing all those famous places.
On the Friday we (5) ....................... (go) to the Tate Modern (the art gallery near the river
Thames), then to the Design Museum. It’s not far from our hotel, so we (6) .................... (plan) to
walk there. In the afternoon, we (7) ............................... (spend) time on the London Eye. I can’t wait
to see the Houses of Parliament from up there!
Saturday is for shopping – there’s no doubt about that! We (8) ...................... (walk) to
Portobello Road first. Then in the afternoon, we (9) ........................ (visit) Harrods – the most famous
shop in London! Dad’s not very happy about it, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy it when we’re there.
On Sunday morning we (10) ....................... (go) to Hyde Park, and we (11) .................... (fly)
home in the afternoon. It’s my dream trip – and it (12) ......................... (happen)!
Hope everything’s OK with you.
Love, Cynthia
Exercise 5. Make questions and sentences using the prompts.
1 Carl / not / stand outside the museum.
_____________________________________________________________________
2 Steve / run down the street?
_____________________________________________________________________
3 They / wait for Steve at the entrance.
_____________________________________________________________________
4 Sara and Rosie / have lunch together
_____________________________________________________________________
5 Anita / not / eat lunch with them.
_____________________________________________________________________
6 What / Dominic / do?
_____________________________________________________________________
7 He / send a text on his mobile phone.
_____________________________________________________________________
8 What / you / hold?
_____________________________________________________________________
9 I / hold / my ticket.
______________________________________________________________________
PART 2. PRESENT CONTINUOUS.
Present Simple Present Continuous
Wе usе thе prеsеnt simplе to dеsсribе: Wе usе the prеsеnt сontinuous to dеsсribе:
1. Habitual aсtions. 1. Aсtions in progrеss at thе prеsеnt momеnt.
- I usuаllу get up at 7.З0. - Sorry, I саn’t speаk to you, I’m wаshing mу
2. Aсtions and situations that are gеnеrally or hаir.
usually truе: 2. Aсtions happеning around now, еvеn though not
- Liz plауs in the sсhool bаsketbаll teаm. at thе momеnt of spеaking.
- We like iсe-сreаm. - I’m reаdiпg The Lord of thе Rings.
3. Faсts whiсh arе always truе: 3. To be + Always + V-ing: A complaint
- The sun rises in thе eаst. - He’s always losing his car key and wasting my
4. Thе prеsеnt simplе also has somе futurе time at the garage.
mеanings: 4. Thе prеsеnt сontinuous also has some futurе
- The train to London leaves at 2 p.m mеanings.
tomorrow. - She’s leaving for Paris tomorrow.
Exercise 1. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in the brackets.
Charlie Foster (1) ......................... (work) in a bakery. He (2) ........................ (always/ get up) very
early because he (3) .................... (start) work at four o’clock every morning. Charlie
(4) .................. (not/ be) at work this morning. At the moment he (5) .................... (pack) his
suitcase, he (6) .......................... (go) on holiday today. Charlie (7) ....................... (sing) to himself.
He’s very happy. Right now he (8) ....................... (look) for his aeroplane tickets. Where are they?
He can’t find them. There they are; under his bed. Charlie (9) ........................ (call) a taxi now. His
plane (10) ........................ (leave) in an hour. Where (11) ........................... (Charlie/ go)? To Hawaii.
Exercise 2. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in the brackets.
Dear Martin,
How are you and Sally? I (1) ........................ (hope) you are well. I (2)
........................ (write) to give you some good news. I have got a summer
job for the holiday. I (3) ..................... (repair) the telephone lines for a
telephone company.
I (4) ............................ (usually/ ride) my bike to work because it’s
only a ten minute ride from home. We (5) ..................... (start) work at 8.30. We (6) .................. (finish)
at 4.30 on Monday to Thursday, but at 2.30 on Fridays, so I (7) ..................... (have) long weekends.
I (8) ......................... (work) very hard at the moment. To tell you the truth, I (9) ..................
(be) a bit nervous because my boss (10) ....................... (leave) for Scotland on business next week, so
I’ll be on my own. Lizzie says I (11) ..................... (worry) about it too much. She’s probably right.
Please write with your news. Say hello to Sally for me.
Best wishes,
Richard
Exercise 3.

Exercise 4.
Exercise 5.
____THE END___