Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow are three words that all of us are familiar with. We love to remember our past, to live for the present and to think about the future. How does the English language help us to relate to the past, the present and the future? The answer is tenses.
Tenses help us to pinpoint the time when an action takes place. Since action is involved verbs come into play and tenses are primarily associated with verbs. The English language has three broad tenses, past, present and future. Each of these is further subdivided into four states representing an indefinite state, continuous or progressive state, perfect state and a perfect continuous state. The use of tense helps us to express a request or an order, a general truth or a recurring or habitual action. In the next three quizzes we take up the continuous or the progressive state and see how it is treated in the present and past tenses.
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The way to form the present continuous tense is to add the helping verb "to be" (in the present tense - ARE, IS and AM) to the PRESENT PARTICIPLE of the main verb. The rules governing the use of the verb are these:
- IS is used with HE, SHE or IT - ‘HE IS watching a movie’, ‘SHE IS watching a movie’ and ‘IT IS a good movie’.
- AM is used with I - ‘I AM watching a movie’
- and ARE is used with YOU, WE, THEY and PLURAL NOUNS - ‘YOU ARE watching a movie’,'WE ARE watching a movie’, 'THEY ARE watching a movie’ and 'MY FRIENDS ARE watching a movie’.
- The present continuous tense is used to express continuing action or action in progress.
- The tense is also used to express the continuity of the action. For instance, ‘the boys ARE PLAYING a cricket match’.
- For expressing in the negative form the word ‘NOT’ is placed between the helping verb and the main verb (present participle). For instance, ‘The dignitary IS NOT GOING’.
- For expressing in the interrogative form the helping verb is placed before the subject. For instance, ‘WAS TENDULKAR BATTING?’
Take the quiz that follows and see how much you understand the present continuous tense.
1.
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"The friends --- in the hotel." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Are meeting |
[ ] |
Is meeting |
[ ] |
Are meet |
[ ] |
Meeting |
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2.
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"Trupti --- a novel now." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Is writes |
[ ] |
Are writes |
[ ] |
Is write |
[ ] |
Is writing |
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3.
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"Milk --- from the nozzle." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Are dripping |
[ ] |
Is dripping |
[ ] |
Am dripping |
[ ] |
Is drip |
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4.
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"Look! The Boeing 747 ---." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Am landing |
[ ] |
Are landing |
[ ] |
Is landing |
[ ] |
Is landed |
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5.
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"They --- for Bangalore tomorrow." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Is leave |
[ ] |
Am leaving |
[ ] |
Is leaving |
[ ] |
Are leaving |
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6.
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"The cars --- side by side." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Are running |
[ ] |
Is running |
[ ] |
Am running |
[ ] |
Is run |
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7.
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"Why --- you --- so slow?" Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blanks. |
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[ ] |
Is --- walk |
[ ] |
Is --- walking |
[ ] |
Are --- walking |
[ ] |
Am --- walking |
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8.
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"Vikram --- to the conference." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Is uncoming |
[ ] |
Is not coming |
[ ] |
Are not coming |
[ ] |
Am not coming |
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9.
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"--- it --- outside now?" Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blanks. |
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[ ] |
Is --- rain |
[ ] |
Am --- raining |
[ ] |
Are --- raining |
[ ] |
Is --- raining |
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10.
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"Why --- he --- such a noise?" Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blanks. |
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[ ] |
Is --- making |
[ ] |
Are --- making |
[ ] |
Am --- making |
[ ] |
Is --- make |
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1.
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"The friends --- in the hotel." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
|
[x] |
Are meeting |
[ ] |
Is meeting |
[ ] |
Are meet |
[ ] |
Meeting |
|
|
2.
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"Trupti --- a novel now." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
|
[ ] |
Is writes |
[ ] |
Are writes |
[ ] |
Is write |
[x] |
Is writing |
|
|
3.
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"Milk --- from the nozzle." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
|
[ ] |
Are dripping |
[x] |
Is dripping |
[ ] |
Am dripping |
[ ] |
Is drip |
|
|
4.
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"Look! The Boeing 747 ---." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
|
[ ] |
Am landing |
[ ] |
Are landing |
[x] |
Is landing |
[ ] |
Is landed |
|
|
5.
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"They --- for Bangalore tomorrow." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
|
[ ] |
Is leave |
[ ] |
Am leaving |
[ ] |
Is leaving |
[x] |
Are leaving |
|
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6.
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"The cars --- side by side." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
|
[x] |
Are running |
[ ] |
Is running |
[ ] |
Am running |
[ ] |
Is run |
|
|
7.
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"Why --- you --- so slow?" Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blanks. |
|
[ ] |
Is --- walk |
[ ] |
Is --- walking |
[x] |
Are --- walking |
[ ] |
Am --- walking |
|
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8.
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"Vikram --- to the conference." Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blank. |
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[ ] |
Is uncoming |
[x] |
Is not coming |
[ ] |
Are not coming |
[ ] |
Am not coming |
|
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9.
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"--- it --- outside now?" Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blanks. |
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[ ] |
Is --- rain |
[ ] |
Am --- raining |
[ ] |
Are --- raining |
[x] |
Is --- raining |
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10.
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"Why --- he --- such a noise?" Choose the verbs expressing the present continuous tense to fill up the blanks. |
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[x] |
Is --- making |
[ ] |
Are --- making |
[ ] |
Am --- making |
[ ] |
Is --- make |
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