Microsoft Word - English_Grammar_through_Stories.doc

by Alan Townend

5. Progressive forms or «Going, going, gone!»........................

In this story you will see many examples of Progressive Verb Forms
(also known as Continuous Forms). Here is the structure of the
Progressive Forms:

subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (gerund)

Sometimes a modal verb can be used before the auxiliary verb:

subject + modal verb (could/would/should) + auxiliary verb (be) +
main verb (gerund)

There are other structures such as the Present Perfect Continous:

subject + auxiliary verb (have) + past participle (been) + main verb
(gerund)

We use the progressive from when:

ƒ we want to describe an action that is happing right now

ƒ we want to describe an action that will be happening in the

future

ƒ we want to describe an activity or process that started in the

past and is still going on

Here are some examples:

ƒ We are reading an interesting story right now.

ƒ My wife is flying to Madrid tomorrow.

ƒ My wife would be flying to Madrid tomorrow if she had a

holiday.

ƒ Our partners have been working with us for 10 years now.

Now enjoy the following story and find the progressive forms in
italics.

«Going Going Gone!»

Andrew and Daisy Marvell were going to spend another holiday in
Majorca. Everyone knew that — the postman knew it, the dustman
knew it and their next door neighbours also knew they would be
going there. The simple reason was that they had been going there
for their summer holiday for the last twenty-five years.

Most people in Britain are subjected to an endless bombardment of
advertisements on television just after Christmas inviting them to
book for their summer holiday. The adverts are constantly telling
viewers that if they book early, they will save enormous amounts of