Progressive Tense

Past Progressive Tense
• Negatives – was not/ were not + verb-ING
• Yes/No Questions - Was/Were (Wasn’t/Weren’t) +
Subject + verb-ING
• Wh-Questions - Wh-word + was/were
(wasn’t/weren’t) + Subject + verb-ING
• Tag Questions - positive sentence in the past
progressive + was/were (wasn’t/weren’t) + pronoun

Negatives in the Past Progressive (Continuous)
• Examples:
1. I wasn’t sleeping when you came home last
night.
2. When Ms. Foster came in, the girls weren’t
studying.
3. Sam wasn’t lying when he said he loved you.

Yes/No Questions in the Past Progressive
(Continuous)
• Examples:
1. Was I talking to you?
2. Were you writing the report when the electricity went
off?
3. When you came home, was he singing in the shower?
4. Wasn’t Tom sitting in the cafe when you drove past?

Wh-Questions in the Past Progressive
(Continuous)
• Examples:
1. Where were you standing when the trouble
started?
2. Who was I talking to? I can’t remember.
3. Why wasn’t she waiting at the meeting point?

Tag Questions in the Past Progressive
(Continuous)
• Examples:
1. I was snoring last night, wasn’t I?
2. They were all rushing for the exit, weren’t they?
3. When Mr. Thomas called, David was solving crossword puzzles,
wasn’t he?
4. Jennifer wasn’t trying very hard, ________?
5. The trains weren’t running on schedule yesterday, ________?

Present Progressive Tense Structure
• Positive form (+) - Subject + BE ( am / is / are ) + Verb-ING
• Negative form (-) - Subject + BE ( am / is / are ) + NOT +
Verb-ING
• Questions (+/-) - BE ( am / is / are ) /(not)+ Subject + Verb-
ING
• Short answer form (+/–) - YES / NO + Subject + BE / BE
NOT

Present Progressive Tense Structure
POSITIVE (+) NEGATIVE (-) QUESTION (?)
I am starting I am not (I’m not)
starting
Am I starting…?
You are starting You are not (aren’t)
starting
Are you starting…?
He/She/It is starting He/She/It is not
(isn’t) starting
Is he/she/it
starting…?

Positive Sentences ( Sbj + BE + Ving )
• Examples:
1. She is listening to music now.
2. We are learning English at this moment.
3. My mother is cooking dinner in the kitchen now.
4. Look! A car is coming.

Negative Sentences ( Sbj + BE NOT + Ving )
• Examples:
1. She is not (isn’t) listening to music now.
2. We are not (aren’t) learning English at this moment.
3. My mother is not (isn’t) cooking dinner in the kitchen
now.
4. That car is not (isn’t) coming here.

Question Sentences ( BE + Sbj + Ving )
• Examples:
1. Is she listening to music now?
2. Are they learning English at this moment?
3. Is your mother cooking dinner in the kitchen now?
4. Is that car coming here?

Future Progressive Tense
• The man is excited because he will be seeing his long-
distance girlfriend over the holiday weekend.
• The woman said that she will be running for mayor last
year, but that she was uncertain about how much good
she could really do.

Future Progressive Tense
• The man is excited because he will be seeing his long-
distance girlfriend over the holiday weekend.
• The woman said that she will be running for mayor last
year, but that she was uncertain about how much good
she could really do.

Future Progressive Tense
• The Moscow State Circus will be performing in Cheltenham for
the next 3 weeks.
• We will be celebrating like kings if it works.
• The next time you see a spider's web, please pause and look a little
closer. You will be seeing one of the most high-performance
materials known to man. (Biologist Cheryl Hayashi)
• She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes.

Perfect Progressive
Tense

Past Perfect Progressive Tense
• She had been painting the door before the dog scratched it.
• The jury had been considering its verdict for several hours
when the judge effectively ordered them to find Jones guilty.
• He just couldn't summon the energy. He had been working
at the dock all afternoon.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense
• It is used for:
1. A continuous activity that began in the past and
continues into the present. For example:
Ex. Those workmen have been fixing the roads.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense
• It is used for:
2. continuous activity that began in past but has now
finished (usually very recently).
Ex. John has been baking cakes.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense
• Julie has been relying on a pay rise to pay her student
loan.
• Mr and Mrs Cox have been taking the wrong pills for
years.

Future Perfect Progressive Tense
• The future perfect progressive tense is typically used with two
time expressions: one specifying a time in the future and one
stating the length of the activity. For example:
1. By six o'clock, John will have been baking a cake for an
hour.
2. They will have been painting the fence for two days by
Saturday.

Future Perfect Progressive Tense
• In July next year, you will have been studying for eight
months.
• I will have been playing poker for 30 years by then.
• By the time the boat arrives, they will have been living
without proper food for two weeks.

Future Perfect Progressive Tense
• In July next year, you will have been studying for eight
months.
• I will have been playing poker for 30 years by then.
• By the time the boat arrives, they will have been living
without proper food for two weeks.