The present continuous tense can be a little confusing because it has several different uses.
In this video we are going to look how we can use the present continuous tense
to talk about the future.
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In the last video we looked at the main use of The Present Continuous tense,
which is to talk about an action that is in progress. Here is an example from that video:
“I am taking a break.” The action of taking a break is happening now,
it is in progress now and will continue for some time into the future.
That is why is it call the Present Continuous. That makes sense right?
Yes it does. But the name of this tense only refers to this use, the main use.
Look at this example: “I am having dinner with a friend tomorrow.”
Here were are talking about the future, tomorrow.
So why is is called the present continuous tense?
When it can be used to talk about
Well like I said that name refers to the main use.
But we can also use it like this, and
in this context the name present continuous doesn’t really seem to make sense.
But it makes more sense if you think of it like this: At this moment I have an arrangement
or a commitment that will continue until tomorrow.
So we can use the Present Continuous tense
to talk about a future arrangement.
All you need to do to form the present continuous
for future arrangement is add a time reference. Here is an example:
I am walking home this evening. So you start with Present continuous as normal,
with the auxiliary verb ‘to be’. in the correct form am, is or are, then the
main verb in the ing form. And then you add the time reference,
in this case it is this evening.
It doesn’t matter if the time reference
is soon or not for a long time, as long as it is in the future it could be used with
the present continuous if it’s being used to talk about an arrangement.
It could be: next year.
next month. tomorrow.
in a minute. at 6pm.
or next.
Here are some more examples.
You’re going to university next year.
He’s working from home next month.
It’s happening tomorrow.
She’s leaving in a minute.
We’re arriving at 6pm.
The doctor is seeing me next.
The time reference could also come at the beginning of the sentence.
So these examples could be: This evening I’m walking home.
Next year you’re going to university. Next month he’s working from home.
Tomorrow, it’s happening. In a minute she’s leaving.
At 6pm, we’re arriving. Next, the doctor is seeing me.
So in this video we have looked at how we can use the present continuous tense to talk
about arrangements in the future. To recap what we have learned, we started
by looking again at the main use of the Present continuous and why it is called that.
Then we looked how it can be used to future arrangements
After that we learned how this affects the form of the sentences.
Then we looked at some more examples of this in action.
This videos is the second one we have made about the present continuous.
In the the last video we looked more at the main use, to talk about an action in progress at or around the
time of speaking. And in the next video we will look at how
sometimes the present continuous tense is used to talk about things that happen more
frequently that is expected.
Well thanks for watching and I hope you have found this useful.
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