Learn English Online - free beginner's course - Unit 2

Lesson 9 - Present Continuous Questions - What are you doing?

Remember It

Questions

Who?	People
What?	Things
Where?	Places

The verb to be

Check you know the forms of this important little verb Read this

Spelling tip

Check you know how to spell the continuous form Read this

Present Continuous

Present continuous form=am/is/are + verb + ing (something is happening NOW)

You can use the short forms.

Learn It

What am I doing? What is he/she/it doing? What are we/you/they doing?

Am/Is/Are doing
	What am I doing?	"I'm standing. I'm not sitting."
	What is he doing?	"He's sitting. He's not (He isn't) standing."
	What is she doing?	"She's walking. She's not (She isn't) running."
	What is it doing?	"It's running. It's not (It isn't) walking."
	What are they doing?	"They're playing. They're not (They aren't) working."
	What are we doing?	"We're surfing the Internet. We're not (We aren't) watching television."

Try to guess what Mr Bean is doing (requires Macromedia Shockwave Player.)

Click on Mr Bean

What to say - Open and closed questions

Answering Yes

Closed Question - answer = yes or no	Long answer	Short answer
"Am I learning English?"	"Yes, you're learning English."	"Yes, you are." or "Yes."
"Is he/she learning English?"	"Yes, he/she's learning English."	"Yes, he/she is." or "Yes."
"Are you learning English?"	"Yes, I'm learning English."	"Yes, I am." or "Yes."
"Are we learning English?"	"Yes, we're learning English."	"Yes, we are." or "Yes."
"Are they learning English?"	"Yes, they're learning English."	"Yes, they are." or "Yes."

Answering No

Closed Question - answer = yes or no	Long answer	Short answer
"Am I learning German?"	"No, I'm not learning German."	"No, I'm not." or "No."
"Is he/she learning German?"	"No, he/she's not (he/she isn't) learning German."	"No, he/she's not (he/she isn't)." or "No."
"Are you learning German?"	"No, you're not (you aren't) learning German."	"No, you're not (you aren't)." or "No."
"Are we learning German?"	"No, we're not (we aren't) learning German."	"No, we're not (we aren't)." or "No."
"Are they learning German?"	"No, they're not (they aren't) learning German."	"No, they're not (they aren't)." or "No."

Answering in full

Open Question - can't answer yes or no	Long answer	Short answer
"What are you doing?"	"I'm learning English."	"Learning English."
"What is he doing?"	"He's learning English."	"Learning English."
"What is she doing?"	"She's learning English."	"Learning English."
"What are we doing?"	"We're learning English."	"Learning English."
"What are they doing?"	"They're learning English."	"Learning English."

Naturally speaking:-

You:- "Are you learning English?"

Me: - "No, I 'm not."

You:- "What are you doing?"

Me: - "I 'm teaching English."

You:- "What language are you learning?"

Me: - "I 'm learning German."

Test It

Test the present continuous - write some questions using the words given - Write It!

Practise It

On the Forum - Ask me what I'm doing.

For homework read and do the exercises in Essential Grammar in Use (Unit 4 - Pages 16 and 17 Parts A and B - Exercises 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 - answers on page 265.)

Print Version - You can print this lesson out here

Next lesson "Colours"

Week 9

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