Present continuous

The Present Continuous is used:
1. For actions taking place now, at the moment of speaking.
e.g She's cooking dinner.
2. For temporary actions; that is actions that are going on around now but not at the moment of speaking.
e.g. She is working hard these days.

The present continuous is used with the following time expressions: now, at the moment, these days, at present, tonight, nowadays, still, etc.

Spelling rules for the formation of the present participle.

Consont+ e. drop the -e and and -ing
e.g: make - making, dance-dancing, come-coming

However, when a verb ends in an e which is not silent, the final e is not dropped before the ending ing is added. e.g. : to be- being to see- seeing

b. Verbs ending in ie When a verb ends in ie, the ie is changed to y before the ending ing is added. to die -dying to lie -lying
When a verb ends in y, no change is made before the ending is added. fly-flying

c. One-syllable verbs ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel.
the final consonant must be doubled before the ending ing is added. put-putting, sit-sitting
Except when the final consonants are w,x, and y e.g. show-showing, fix-fixing, say-saying

d. When a verb of more than one syllable ends in a single consonant other than w, x or y preceded by a single vowel, the final consonant is doubled to form the present participle only when the last syllable of the verb is pronounced with the heaviest stress.

In these examples, the syllables pronounced with the heaviest stress are underlined. For example: to ex'pel- expelling ,to be'gin-beginning ,to o'ccur- occurring ,to o'mit-omitting

Exercise: add -ing to the follwing verbs
cry, mix, read, stop, dance, move, run, take, repair, play, save, wash, get,put,smile,wear,hope, rain,stay,get, save, wash, type, plan, add, hurry, fire, agree, swim.

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