English Grammar Tenses II: Continuous Tenses

The Present Continuous Tense

(Be: am, is, are + -ing verb)

The Present Continuous Tense describes something that is happening now. We add the suffix
–ing to the verb to create examples like the following.
• • I’m eating sushi right now.
• • I’m not eating anything at the moment
• • Is she eating burgers again? I can’t believe it!
• • Why are you eating that type of food?

The Past Continuous Tense

(Be: was / were + -ing verb)

The Past Continuous Tense describes something that was happening at a momento in the
past and over a period of time.
• • What were you eating last night for dinner?
• • I was eating fish last night for dinner.
• • I was studying French at 4 pm yesterday
• • As I was eating, the phone rang. *** (combination of tenses)
• • They weren’t taking notes when the listening ended. *** (combination of tenses)

The Future Continuous Tense

(Be: will be / won’t be + -ing verb)

The Future Continuous Tense describes certain specific future arrangements and plans that will
happening at a time in the future.
• • I will be having dinner at my parents’ house tomorrow at 9:15 pm
• • They will be studying for the test today in the afternoon.
• • Where will they be working next month?
• • Susan will not be developing her project next week because she will be working abroad.

EXAMPLE DIALOGUE: CONTINUOUS TENSES IN ACTION

A: Hi, how are you doing?
B: I’m good, what about you?
A: I’m also OK. You know, I called you last night at 9, but you didn’t answer
B: Oh, sorry, I was working with my new team
A: Really? And where were you working at that time?
B: We found a new place downtown so we were working over there. We will be travelling
to Canada next semester, so we are now developing our new Project.
A: That sounds cool! What are you developing? Any new type of product?
B: I mean, we are not precisely developing a new product, but we are working on a
special type of software to improve the performance of some processes.
A: Wow, and when will you be travelling to Canada? In July?
B: No, we won’t be travelling in July because we will be finishing the last steps of the
project that month, but I think we will be flying there in August
A: I see, so you will be coming back in September, right?
B: Probably, we are still defining our return date, but we are not so sure about that yet.
But tell me about you, what were you doing yesterday near the university campus, I
saw you there.
A: Oh, I was getting ready for my oral presentation this week
B: An oral presentation? That sounds difficult….were you preparing it alone or with some
of your classmates?
A: Why are you asking me that? Do you want to know something specific?
B: No, no, I’m sorry, I was just trying to know about your activities…
A: It’s OK, don’t worry, …Oh, it’s near noon time, and I will be having classes in some more
minutes, I gotta go….Bye and see you later
B: Bye, see you.