The Present Continuous Tense: Future Arrangements

Grammar - The Present Continuous Tense: Future

We use the verb be and the present participle (infinitive-ing).

For I, we use am.

For You, We and They, we use are.

For He, She and It, we use is.

• SUBJECT + BE + INF.-ing
• BE → am/are/is
• I + am + INF.-ing
• I am working tomorrow.
• You/We/They + are + INF.-ing
• They are meeting next week.
• He/She/It + is + INF.-ing
• He is coming later.

Grammar - The Present Continuous Tense: Contractions

We contract am, are and is into 'm, 're and 's.

• am → 'm
• I'm working tomorrow.
• are → 're
• They're meeting next week.
• is → 's
• He's coming later.

Grammar - The Present Continuous Tense: Negatives

We often contract the negatives are not and is not into aren't and isn't.

We can contract the negatives are not and is not into 're not and 's not.

• am not → 'm not
• I'm not working tomorrow.
• are not → aren't/'re not
• They aren't meeting next week.
• is not → isn't/'s not
• He isn't coming later.

Grammar - The Present Continuous Tense: Questions ➤ Many Answers

Be comes before the subject in questions.

For open questions (questions with many possible answers), we use a question word.

• Q. + BE + SUBJj + INF.-ing ... ?
• BE → am/are/is
• Q. + am + I + INF.-ing ... ?
• When am I starting?
• You're starting tomorrow/on Monday/... .
• Q. + are + you/we/they + INF.-ing ... ?
• When are they meeting?
• They're meeting next week/tomorrow/... .
• Q. + is + he/she/it + INF.-ing ... ?
• When is he coming?
• He's coming later/soon/tomorrow/... .

Grammar - The Present Continuous Tense: Closed Questions ➤ Yes/No

For closed questions (for the responses: yes and no), we use the verb be for short answers.

Short answers are the same as with be in the present simple tense.

• BE + SUBJ. + INF.-ing ... ?
• Yes, + SUBJ. + BE
• BE + SUBJ + INF.-ing ... ?
• No, + SUBJ. + NEG. BE
• BE → am/are/is
• Yes, + I + am.
• Are you working tomorrow?
• Yes, I am.
• No, + I + 'm not.
• Are you coming later?
• No, I'm not.
• Yes, + you/we/they + are.
• No, + you/we/they + aren't.
• Are they meeting tomorrow?
• No, they aren't.
• Yes, + he/she/it + is.
• No, + he/she/it + isn't.
• Is he playing later?
• No, he isn't.