Reference · module 11
Happening right now
Everything this module explains, on one page.
I'm working
Say what is happening at this moment.
- The form is be plus -ing: I am working, she is reading, they are waiting. Two words together, and the be is what changes.
- It means right now, or around now: I'm reading a good book means you have not finished it, not that the book is in your hands this second.
- Spelling: a final e goes — write becomes writing. A short vowel doubles the consonant — sit becomes sitting, run running.
The mistake you are about to make
I working now.
I'm working now.
The meaning sits in the -ing, so the be in front feels like decoration. It is not: without it there is no verb in the sentence at all.
I work or I'm working
Choose between a habit and a moment.
- I work in a bank is my job. I'm working in a bank is what I am doing at present, perhaps not for long. The tense carries that difference alone.
- The time words give it away. every day, usually, often go with the simple. now, at the moment, today go with the continuous.
- Some verbs are almost never continuous: know, want, like, need, believe. I am knowing is not English, and I know is the whole answer.
The mistake you are about to make
I am knowing him.
I know him.
The continuous looks like the all-purpose way to say "right now". State verbs refuse it: know, want, like, need and believe stay simple.
I was working
Say what was going on when something happened.
- was or were plus -ing: I was working, they were waiting. It describes something in progress at a point in the past.
- It is usually the background and the simple past is the event: I was cooking when the phone rang. The longer thing is continuous, the shorter one is simple.
- while goes with the long thing and when with the short: While I was cooking, the phone rang. Either word can start the sentence.
The mistake you are about to make
While I cooked, the phone rang.
While I was cooking, the phone rang.
While marks the long action, so the verb after it has to be long too. The short event beside it takes the simple past.
Plans already made
Talk about arrangements for the coming days.
- The same continuous form also talks about the future, when the plan is already fixed: I'm meeting Anna tomorrow.
- The test is whether it is in your diary. I'm flying to Rome on Friday means the ticket exists; I fly to Rome would be a timetable.
- So the everyday question is What are you doing this weekend? and the answer takes the same shape: I'm seeing friends.
The mistake you are about to make
I will meet Anna tomorrow.
I'm meeting Anna tomorrow.
Will looks like the future form, so an arranged meeting gets it too. Something already in the diary takes the continuous instead.