Objectives: Students can use the present continuous to refer to temporary situations and changing situations.

They can also use the present continuous with 'always' and other adverbs of frequency to express negative attitude.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

a. to refer to temporary situations. They are not John is working in Chicago this month.
expected to continue for a long time. (but he will be back in his office in New York next
month).

b. to refer to changing situations The hole in the ozone layer is becoming bigger and
bigger.
The number of cars on the road is increasing day by
day.

c. with adverbs such as always, constantly, continuously You are always losing your keys.
etc. for frequently repeated actions to express negative I am constantly picking up your dirty socks!
attitude.

EXERCISE 1
Complete the sentences with Present Continuous Tense and match them to uses a-c in the box above.

1. You _______________________ (always/leave) your newspaper on the floor. ______

2. Kim and Jack _______________________ (look for) a new flat these days. ______
3. No wonder the phone bills are so high! You _______________________ (constantly/talk) on the phone! ______
4. More and more people _______________________ (move) to the countryside these days. ______
5. Katie _______________________ (continuously/interrupt) me when I’m talking. ______
6. Mike _______________________ (drive) his friend’s car because his own car is in the workshop. ______
7. She __________________ (live) with her aunt nowadays. She will stay there until she finds an apartment. ______
8. Unfortunately, my sister’s health _______________________ (slowly/improve). ______
9. The earth _______________________ (get) warmer day by day. ______
10. We _______________________ (renovate) our kitchen this month, so we _______________ (eat) out. ______

EXERCISE 2
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in parentheses. Use the SIMPLE PRESENT or the
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE.

Dear Kate,
How are you? I 1_________________ (write) to you from Bali. The weather is hot and sunny, so I
2_________________ (get) a great tan. As you know, I visit Bali in the summer holidays every year. During my
holiday, I 3_________________ (get) up early and 4_________________ (go) swimming every morning. After that, I
5_________________ (usually/lie) on the beach and 6_________________ (read) a book. Nowadays, I
7_________________ (read) a psychology book to understand people and human behaviour. My boss
8_________________ (always/complain) about something. It’s so annoying! I hope I will understand his behaviour
when I finish reading the book.
What 9_________________ (you/do) these days? I remember that you also have some problems with your boss.
10________ you ____________ (look) for a new job?
I 11_________________ (look) forward to hearing from you soon.
Love,
Jenny
EXERCISE 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in parentheses. Use the SIMPLE PRESENT or the
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE.

Bridget 1____________________ (go) to school every morning at 8 o’clock. Right now, she 2____________________
(sit) next to her friend, Sue. Their teacher 3____________________ (talk) to them about Argentina and they
4____________________ (try) to find it on the globe. Bridget 5____________________ (love) Geography, but she
6____________________ (hate) Maths. Every month, the teacher 7____________________ (show) the class a film
about another country. Bridget really 8____________________ (enjoy) these films. In fact, she
9____________________ (want) to be a Geography teacher one day.

EXERCISE 4
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in parentheses. Use the SIMPLE PRESENT or the
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE.

Jason and Tricia have been friends for two months. They 1____________________ (usually/spend) time together at
the weekends. It’s Saturday and they 2____________________ (go) to the theatre tonight. Jason
3____________________ (always/drink) a cup of coffee during the intermission and they 4____________________
(enjoy) going to a cafe after the show. This play 5____________________ (finish) at 10 o’clock, so there will be plenty
of time to have another cup of coffee.

EXERCISE 5

Complete the dialogue with the correct form of the words in parentheses. Use the SIMPLE PRESENT or the
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE.

Rupert: Hi Nigel! How are you?

Nigel: Fine. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? So tell me about yourself.
Rupert: Well, nowadays I 1____________________ (work) in a language school in Cairo, but I
2____________________ (want) to change my job as soon as I find a better-paid one.
Nigel: I see. What 3____________________ (do/you) here in London?
Rupert: I 4____________________ (have) a holiday.
Nigel: That’s lovely. And what 5____________________ (think/you) of Cairo?
Rupert: Actually, I like it very much. It is a very exciting place.
NigeI: And what about your job? Is it difficult?
Rupert: Not really. I 6____________________ (usually/teach) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then later again from 6.30 to
9.30. In the evenings, my friends and I 7____________________ (go) into town very often. We prefer to come
together at each other’s houses and chat.
Nigel: You 8____________________ (seem) to enjoy your days in Cairo. When are you going to go back?
Rupert: Next week on Friday. My plane 9____________________ (leave) early, at about 7.00 a.m.
Nigel: By the way, how is your brother?
Rupert: Chris… oh, he’s OK. He is married with two children. These days he 10____________________ (play) a lot of
football. I 11____________________ (guess) he wants to get fit!