The present continuous: much more than just an ongoing action

Transcript

0:00 I'm not answering questions. Wait, that sounds like a flat out refusal, doesn't it? Not just a description of what's happening. She is quitting the team, but she hasn't actually left yet, so why are we using the present continuous? He's always losing his keys. Always, like every single second. That's literally impossible. Strange, right? This is the present continuous. Don't underestimate this tense, it's about way more than just ongoing actions.

0:19 That's actually just the tip of the iceberg. Today we're breaking down the 7 different ways to use the present continuous to help you get a little bit closer to native level fluency. So here's the full framework. The present continuous has 7 distinct uses. Number 1. Incompletion. An action is in progress. She's writing an essay. The action isn't finished. We don't know if she is at the beginning, middle or end of writing it.

0:44 What matters is the action is unfinished. She is right in the thick of it. In most cases, you don't know exactly where the action stands between the start and finish. However, there are sometimes two special flavours of this. The incoherentive, the start, it signals the very beginning of an action. Like when you say, the bus is leaving, it's just starting to move, or I'm getting hungry, you're just beginning to feel those hunger pangs.

1:09 Or the terminative, the end, it's about the final seconds of an action. The train is stopping. It hasn't reached a full halt yet, but it's pulling into the station, it's slowing down to a complete stop. It's in those final few inches before it comes to a dead stop. In all these cases, the logic is the same. The action is not yet complete. Number 2. The specific situation.

1:29 Specific here means that a situation is unusual, temporary or exceptional. I'm working in a supermarket. Wait, if I say I work in a supermarket, that's my career, that's who I am. But if I say I am working, I'm implying that this is just temporary or exceptional. Maybe it's just a summer job, or I'm just covering a shift for a friend one day. This isn't my permanent position.

1:45 It's just what's happening these days. It's the difference between a permanent state and a passing phase. So in this second use, it's still about now, just a larger now. Think of it this way. Number 1 is about right now. Number 2 is about now as a period of time. It's the difference between what you're doing with your hands and what you're doing with your life these days.

2:05 And here's something interesting. Sometimes this specific situation use lets speakers inject emotion for an action that's considered unique. You can express emotions such as surprise, honey, your hands are freezing, irritation, I'm melting in this heat, or criticism. What the hell are you doing? The continuous amplifies the speaker's emotional reaction to the unusual situation. Number 3, the frame. Using the present continuous is the backdrop for other events.

2:29 When I arrive, they're watching TV. Think of the present continuous here as the backdrop. You're painting a picture of a scene in motion to describe the environment that another event, in this case, my arrival, steps into. The watching TV isn't the news, it's the atmosphere. It's already happening when the main action occurs. By using this tense, you're telling the listener this was the state of a room at that specific moment.

2:53 It's very common in stage directions. Mark is pacing the room, Sarah is staring out the window, outside a storm is brewing. These continuous actions paint the scene. They're an ongoing background against which the main action will unfold. Think of it like a movie. The continuous sets the scene and describes it, and the simple present delivers the plot. Number 4, commentary. To explain, justify, or emphasize something. The present continuous lets speakers comment on something already known, to explain, justify, or emphasize.

3:19 As an explanation, I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just trying to understand. The speaker feels misunderstood, so the continuous clarifies intention. As a justification, I'm sorry, I can't help you move this weekend. I'm attending a wedding. The continuous introduces the reason. It's basically saying because I'm attending a wedding, or as an emphasis, no, please don't go down that path, I'm urging you. The continuous reinforces what's already been said.

3:46 The pattern is when a speaker wants to add a commentary, to add commentary to something already stated or understood. The continuous lets them layer in extra meaning. Number 5, commitment for the near future. It signals the subject's intention or decision. She is quitting the team. She hasn't left yet, but the decision is made. We use the continuous here to show a firm intention or a fixed plan is already set in the subject's mind, even if it hasn't started yet.

4:12 Number 6, refusal or prohibition with not. It's the hard no. I'm not answering questions, it's a flat out refusal to perform the action. Or you are not wearing that dress, it's a firm prohibition or a firm command from the speaker to the subject. Number 7, evaluative use with always or an equivalent adverb like constantly or rather continually, incessantly or ceaselessly. The result, exaggerated judgment, positive or negative.

4:40 He is always losing his keys. This isn't a literal count of every second, it's an evaluation. When we add always or constantly, we're expressing a feeling usually about the speaker's irritation at the subject's habit that repeats over and over again. Most of the time, this is used for annoyance, but it can also be used for admiration, though that's a bit rarer. For example, she's always helping others.

5:01 In both cases, you aren't just stating a fact, you're judging the person's character. The present continuous is more complex than I'm eating. It's a tense with 7 personalities. Once you understand these uses, you will finally get why I'm not answering sounds like a refusal, she's quitting works even though she hasn't quit yet, or he's always losing his keys sounds like a complaint. It all makes sense now.

5:22 Here's a challenge. Why is the present continuous used in each of these three sentences? Sentence one, I'm attending a conference next week. Sentence two, you're not going out dressed like that. Sentence three, she's constantly interrupting me during meetings. Are they expressing incompletion, temporary situation, frame, commentary, commitment, refusal or judgment? Drop your answers in the comments, and if you want to upgrade your English, check out erosophia.eu's blog. See you next time, language nerds.