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The Present Continuous tense.
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The use of the Present Continuous.
Something happening at the time of speaking.
Examples:
Juan Gonzales is in his office. He is working. He is looking at last month's sales figures and comparing them with figures from last year. The Managing Director is speaking to the Advertising Manager. What are you doing at the moment? I'm not watching this programme.
Something happening around the time of speaking.
Examples:
Heanz isn’t working on this project this month. He's planning the sales conference and preparing his presentation.
My daughter's learning to drive.
Tom's writing a book about golf.
They arc building a new road in the city centre.
Are you working on the report this week? - Yes, I am. (He may not be
doing this exactly at the time of speaking).
Changing situations.
Examples:
The company is making a loss because the cost of components is
increasing and product sales are decreasing.
The rate of inflation is rising very fast.
We're not getting any younger.
Profits are increasing.
The weather is changing.
Future arrangements.
Examples:
The Sales Manager is flying to Rome on Monday. He's arriving at
11.00 a-m. and he's meeting the client at 2.00 p.m.
We're making a presentation to the directors tomorrow.
I'm having lunch with the Financial Director on Monday.
Are you coming to the theatre with us on Saturday? - No, I’m not. I'm
meeting John.
EXERCISES
Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form.
1. Mr Straub ___ in his office. (work)
2. ___ you ___ your holiday? (enjoy)
3. John ___ to the meeting. (go)
4. Sales of the product___ rapidly. (increase)
5. The demand for these products ___. (fall)
6. I hope we ___ our time on this project. (not / waste)
7. The price of petrol in Germany ___. (rise)
8. My secretary ___ the report at the moment. (type)
9. Why ___ you ___ that report? (read)
10. The Financial Director ___ to Paris with me tomorrow. (travel)
11. He ___ on Fiat project at the moment. (not / work)
12. The Sales Manager ___ dinner with a new client tomorrow. (have)
13. Excuse me. I ___ to find the Post Office. Is it near here? (try)
14. The economy ___ at the moment. (improve)
15. What __ he on Friday afternoon? (do)
16. The economic situation ___ worse. (get)
17. We ___ at the Hilton Hotel. (stay)
18. The local construction company ___ a lot of new flats. (build)
19. He and his wife ___ for a new house. (look)
20. At the moment they ___ me figures from the USA. (analyze)
21. The market outlook ___ better. (get)
22. James ___ the stock in the warehouse today. (check)
23. He ___ in London at the moment but he usually works in Madrid. (work)
Put the verbs into the correct form in this dialogue.
"Hello Bill. Nice to see you. What (1) ___ you ___ (do) these
days?"
"Hello Graham. Well, I (2) ___ (work) in London just now but we
(3) ___ (move) to France next month. We (4) ___ (start) a new
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business there."
Decide whether the verbs in these sentences are right or wrong. Correct those which are wrong. (Some sentences need the Present Simple and some need the Present Continuous).
1. Look at that man! What does he do?
2. The sun is rising in the East.
3. Are you meeting your friend tomorrow?
4. "Where's Jane? "She plays tennis."
5. He is usually staying at the Sheraton Hotel when he goes to Brussels.
6. I always do the shopping on Saturdays.
Work in pairs. Look at the extracts from newspaper articles below. Underline all the examples of the Present Tense (Present Simple and Present Continuous). Discuss together why you think the writer used each tense.
1. The Leclerc hypermarket empire is continuing its expansion in Poland. The Leclercs want a return on their investment in the near future but know that success depends on developing Polish expertise. At the moment 90% of the shares belong to the French but the management is already local.
2. Renault is closing its car plant at Setubal in Portugal despite a long-term agreement made in 1980. The factory manufactures the Clio model, whose production cycle will end in 1997.
3. Pepsi Cola is launching a blue can for its famous drink in an effort to fight the dominance of Coca-Cola, which sells twice as much cola worldwide.
4. The Banco di Napoli is looking for buyers for the two newspapers which it owns after it made a net loss of L3,160 billion ($1.99bn) in 1995.
5. Dutch brewing giant Heineken is starting a major marketing campaign in Russia despite the country's strict rules on advertising. Russian law forbids the advertising of any alcoholic drink on electronic media.
6. The number of wealthy individuals in the world is increasing. However, private banking is coming increasingly competitive as more and more banks are offering special services for the rich.
Work in pairs. Think of the activities below and prepare to tell your teacher:
a) three regular activities of your company.
b) three current activities of your company.
c) three of your company's plans.
STATIVE VERBS
Some verbs are not used in Continuous tenses. This is because they describe states, not actions. They are called stative verbs. There are three basic categories:
1. Opinions and emotional states, e.g. He dislikes working at the weekend.
2. Knowledge and states of mind. e.g. We understand Spanish.
3. Other states. e.g. They own two cars.
Put the following stative verbs into the correct category.
like, want, own, know, understand, love, dislike, contain, remember, belong (to), prefer, hate, believe, depend (on), forget.
Work in pairs. Close your books. There are fifteen stative verbs in Exercise 5. Can you remember all of them? Take turns to make true sentences using each verb.
With some words the Present Simple can be used or the Present Continuous tense. It depends on the situation. Can you explain the using of each form in the situations below?
Present Simple: Present Continuous:
I have a headache. I'm sorry, Mrs Castelli's having
lunch
at the moment
This wine tests really good. I'm just tasting this wine to
check
that it's OK.
The verb think is used to talk about our opinions, the Simple form is
used. e.g. I think it's a good idea.
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The verb think is used to talk about possible plans, and the Continuous
form is used.
e.g. We're thinking of opening a new factory in the south of the
country.
Work in pairs. Say three things that you are thinking of doing personally. Say three things that your company (or somebody in your company) is thinking of doing.
Examples:
Personal: I’m thinking of moving a house.
Company. My company is thinking of expanding its business in the
USA.
Write the correct form (Present Continuous or Present Simple) of the word in brackets in each gap.
1. Now the company ____ (continue) its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe.
2. At the moment we ____ (own) three subsidiaries in other countries.
3. They normally ___ (manufacture) the XY10 model in Spain only but demand is so high at the moment that they ___ (produce) it in Italy.
4. Our industry ___ (become) increasingly competitive.
5. At the moment 51% of the shares ___ (belong) to the Government.
6. We ___ (think) of opening an office in Munich.
Continue each sentence about possible plans. Write something true.
1. I'm thinking of
2. My wife / husband / partner is thinking of
3. My company is thinking of
4. My boss is thinking of
5. The Government is thinking of
Write a paragraph about the current activities of your company.
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