Chapter 16: Feeling Tense? Sorting Out Verb Tenses 231
Staying Continuously in the Present
Whereas the present simple describes a general habit, the present continuous
tense describes an action that’s happening now, at this moment or around
this time.
So, you can use the current scene in the classroom to practise. For example,
you can have students list everything they’re wearing, do ‘spot the differ-
ence’ exercises – because pictures capture a moment in time – or compare
first and second languages – ‘I speak German but I’m speaking English at the
moment’.
In comparison with the present simple, the present continuous is structured
with the verb ‘to be’ and a gerund, a fact that students tend to forget:
I am singing.
He/she/it is singing.
You/we/they are singing.
I didn’t use ‘to like’ as I did in the examples for the section on the present
simple because some verbs don’t really describe an action but more of a state,
and so can’t be expressed in a continuous tense. So we say ‘I understand that’
instead of ‘I’m understanding that’.
As you use ‘to be’ to make this tense, students should already know how to
make questions and negatives based on the way we use this verb in the pres-
ent simple. For example: Are you staying here? No, I’m not staying.
Even though this isn’t technically a future tense, you can use the present
continuous for appointments in the future. This use of the present continu-
ous suggests that a particular time has been decided on, rather than a vague
intention: I’m seeing the dentist at 3 p.m. However, you usually teach this at
pre-intermediate level, not to beginners.
We can also express annoying habits in the present continuous: He’s always
leaving his key behind. However, this lesson is generally for upper-intermediate
students and above.
Going Back to the Past, Simply
The past simple tense is the tense you use with actions that are finished in
the past. You often add words like ‘ago’ or ‘last’ (night, week, month, year) to
show when the action happened.
