Present Continuous: Actions Right Now
The Present Continuous is the tense English uses for what’s happening at this moment: The teacher is standing at the whiteboard, Two students are talking in the corner, Look! It’s snowing outside. The form is straightforward (am/is/are + verb-ing), but the -ing spelling rules trip learners up early — write → writing (drop -e), run → running (double consonant), study → studying (no change), lie → lying (-ie → -y). And the signal words (now, right now, at the moment, today, Look!, Listen!) anchor every example.
This worksheet builds A1–A2 confidence with the Present Continuous through picture description and gap-fill in real-time contexts. Students describe what is happening in a busy classroom scene, drill the -ing spelling rules, and form yes/no questions and negatives.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- Grammar Box with form, -ing spelling rules (default, drop -e, double consonant, -ie → -y), and signal words
- Picture description: five named characters in a busy classroom — write what each one is doing
- Open production: write one negative and one yes/no question about the same picture
- Gap-fill (10 items): present continuous form including two-gap question layout and a have fixed-expression item
- Full Answer Key with model answers plus Teacher Notes on the -ing spelling drill and mime-game extension
Common mistakes addressed: wrong -ing spelling (runing, lieing, writeing), missing auxiliary (I working now), and confusion between have as state verb (~~I am having a car~~) and have in fixed expressions (I’m having lunch).
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR A1–A2, in beginner and pre-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Picture-description tasks of exactly this kind appear in Cambridge A2 Key (KET) Speaking, where candidates describe everyday scenes using the continuous. Part of the Present Tenses collection — the natural sibling is Present Simple: Daily Routines, which builds the habit-tense foundation that anchors the simple-vs-continuous distinction.
