Hi friends I'm Sonia and I'm back with a new lesson for you today. Well, this lesson is
all about Continuous tenses. It's all about how to form continuous tenses. Now quite often
I've seen that people have a tough time understanding, How to form a sentence? When talking about
an action that was either going on or happening in the present or will happen in the future?
So today we are going to discuss about, how easy and how simple it is to form continuous
tenses? Now do remember sometimes in many grammar books you would refer to continuous
tenses as progressive tenses. So don't get confused both continuous and progressive mean
absolutely the same thing.
Now remember one thing. When you talking about an continuous action. It can happen in the
past, it can happen in the present, it can also happen in the future. So what we're gonna
start off with is to learn about past continuous sentences. Now when I say past. What do I
mean? I mean that the time has finished and the action is also complete. However when
I say past continuous, I mean that the time has passed, but the action was going on at
that point in time. Now in order to make past continuous simple for you, I have a trick
and that is a good structure of formula that you could use. And my formula say's that you
put the subject. Now what could be the subject? Something like I, you, we, they, he, she or
someone's name remember that. A subject always is a start of a sentence. And then because
we are talking about the past, we would use was or were. After that you would put in the
verb and then the ing. So what are verbs? Verbs are simple action words like go, come,
play, eat, watch, sing, etc. So remember guys past continuous something that was happening
in the past. You would use the subject was or were. The verb and then ing.
Now my first example says, “I was eating breakfast". Over here I is the subject. Now
because I've used I, I'm using was. Over here eat is your verb and then you added ing to
it. Which means that I was doing something? What was I doing? I was eating breakfast.
The action was going on in the past. The next example is, "They were playing football".
Now because I've used they as the subject, I'm using were remember you could use was
or were, so with they I'm using were. Play is your verb and because I was playing or
the action was going on, I added ing as simple as that, so they were playing football. The
final one say's “Peter was preparing a presentation". Because I'm using Peter as a subject in this
sentence. I'm using was, I've done, what I've done here is I've contracted prepare plus
ing and I say preparing, because the action was going on at that point in time. If you
notice here, because I've contracted these two words the “E" goes off and it becomes
preparing. “So he was preparing a presentation". In all these three sentences something was
going on in the past. Now you can also make these sentences negative. What if something
wasn't going on or wasn't happening? Then how would you change it? Well, that's even
simpler. All you do is, you add the word not. So for example, I was not eating breakfast.
They were not playing football or Peter was not preparing a presentation. What I can also
do guys, I can contract was and not and make it wasn't. So let me write that for you. Was
plus not becomes wasn't or I can also contract were and not and make it weren't, just like
this. So remember if you're talking about something that was happening an action that
was going on in the past. You can use was and were, verb and ing. If you want to make
it negative, you can add a not and make it wasn't. You can add a not to were and make
it weren't.
The other thing that you could also keep in mind is, When do you use was and when do you
use were? So if you look at this sentence," I was and Peter was", so with subjects like
I, he, she or someone's name. You would use was. But if in your subject you have they,
you, we, then you would use were. So remember I, he, she or someone's name was. You, we,
they, would use were. As simple as that, there you have your past continuous tense. Now if
you've understood this. We'll look at how to form present continuous and the future
continuous tenses.
So guys just like we looked at the past continuous tense. What we gonna look at now is the present
continuous and the future continuous tenses. What do I mean when I say present continuous?
I mean an action that is going on at the moment in the current time. Let me write that down
for you. So an action which is happening in the present. Okay remember this. The present
continuous also has a similar formula; you'll use your subject, If you remember I, you,
we, they, he, she, it or someone's name. You'll use is, am or are plus the verb and the ing
form as usual. That has to be there because it is continuous. You would use is, when you
using your subject as he, she or someone's name. You would use am, when your subject
is I. You would use are, when your subject has you, we or they. Keep this in mind, it's
extremely important. So if you look at my example for you, “I am watching a movie".
Because I use I, I've used am. Watch plus ing makes this a continuous action going on
in the present. How do I know its present? That's because of am.
Next one, “Joe is cooking dinner". So I've used the verb cook plus ing. How do I know
it's a present tense? Because of is. Now remember even here if you want to make these sentences
negative simply use the word not, “So I am not watching a movie", “Joe is not cooking
dinner". Similarly if you want to make it shorter, you would say is plus not becomes
isn't. Are plus not becomes aren't and whenever you use am there's no way of contracting it.
So it will always be I am not, there's no way of shortening that, you can only contract
is and not and make it isn't, Are and not and make it aren't. But remember the constant
thing is the verb plus the ing to show continuous.
The next tense we have is the future continuous. Now when will you use the future continuous?
When you talking about something that is going to happen some kind of a future plan. So let's
jot that down. This is a future plan. Something that is going to happen in the coming time.
Over here it's extremely simple, because irrespective what your subject is, I, you, we, they, he,
she, someone's name. You would always use will plus be. Remember this little word be
is extremely important that's how the subject agrees. The subject plus will plus be and
one more time your verb plus your ing to indicate it's a continuous tense. So for example, “She
will be going to the market tomorrow" So if you noticed will plus the all-important be
and I use the verb go plus ing to indicate going continuous. So she will be doing something,
she will be going to the market tomorrow in the future.
The next example, “They will be waiting for you at the mall". So even though I've
used they over here I've used she, I’ve used they here. However remember I told you,
you’ll use will everywhere and will be. You've used the verb which is wait plus ing
to indicate a continuous action. So they will be waiting for you at the mall.
So this is how you can make present continuous and future continuous tenses. Similarly if
you want to make a future continuous sentence negative. What will you do? I think you should
know by now, you'll simply add the word not. So she will not be going to the market tomorrow.
And they will not be waiting for you at the mall. Also you can contract will plus not
and make it won't. Remember you can contract will and not and make it won't. As simple
as that guys. If you know, if you follow this particular structure that I've given you.
It'll be really easy to form continuous or progressive tenses. It’s a very important
tense, very useful in spoken English.
Do make sure that you go through this lesson thoroughly. Practice your English speaking.
I'll be back soon with a new lesson. Till then you guys take care. And have a nice day.
Bye, bye.