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We can use the present continuous to talk about the past when we are: telling a story: The other day I'm just walking down the street when suddenly this man comes up to me and asks me to lend him some money. Well, he's carrying a big stick and he looks a bit dangerous, so I'm wondering what to do ….
The choice of going to or present continuous depends on how the speaker sees the situation. Going to describes an intention which the speaker sees as possibly still changing, which present continuous describes something the speaker sees as sure to happen.
Do you know all the different uses of present simple and continuous? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you. Look at these examples to see how we use the present simple and continuous.
We use both the present perfect simple (have or has + past participle) and the present perfect continuous (have or has + been + -ing form) to talk about past actions or states which are still connected to the present.
Grammatically, there's no problem with using present continuous to explain what you are doing in that moment (I'm cutting here ... I'm looping it ...). The present continuous focuses on what's happening at a particular moment.
Learn about the different present tense forms (present simple, present continuous and present perfect) and do the exercises to practise using them.
When we know about the future, we normally use the present tense. 1. We use the present simple for something scheduled: We have a lesson next Monday. The train arrives at 6.30 in the morning. The holidays start next week. It's my birthday tomorrow. 2. We can use the present continuous for plans or arrangements: I'm playing football tomorrow.
The present perfect continuous is formed with have/has been and the -ing form of the verb. We normally use the present perfect continuous to emphasise that something is still continuing in the present: She has been living in Liverpool all her life. It's been raining for hours. I'm tired out.
Past continuous and hypotheses. We can also use the past continuous to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages: Past tense; Verbs in time clauses and conditionals; Wishes and hypotheses
Do you know how to use the present simple? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you. Look at these examples to see how we use the present simple. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. My dad phones me every day. She doesn't like her job. What time do you get up at weekends?