The present continuous tense is used to talk about things that are happening at the moment of speaking. For example, I am working on my computer at the moment. What are you doing? You are reading this article.
Form: Subject + is / am / are + -ing form of the verb
- What is your mother doing now? Is she cooking? No, she is watching TV.
- What is your sister doing at the moment? She is writing a letter.
- What is your brother doing now? He is playing chess with his friend.
- What is your father doing now? He is reading the newspaper.
More examples are given below.
- What are the birds doing? The birds are chirping.
- What is the baby doing? The baby is sleeping.
- What are the children doing? The children are playing cricket in the garden.
- What are you doing now? I am learning about the present continuous tense.
Suggested activity
Take a story book with lots of pictures. Go through the pages and ask yourself questions based on the pictures.
- What are the girls doing now? They are dancing.
- What is that cat doing now? It is chasing a mouse.
- What are the birds doing now? They are flying in the sky.
- What are the boys doing? Are they playing cricket? No, they are flying kites.
- What is that girl holding in her hand?
- Is she holding a bird? No, she is not holding a bird.
- She is holding a puppy in her hand. The puppy is howling in pain because it has hurt its leg.
- What is that old man doing?
- Is he sleeping? No, he is not sleeping. He is sitting under a tree.
- What are the dogs doing? Are they chasing a cat? No, they are not chasing a cat. They are fighting for a bone.