Use the Present Continuous to talk about:
- actions happening NOW or around now
- temporary situations
- developing or changing situations
- [future planned events]
Compare this with the Present Simple, which is used to talk about:
- actions that happen regularly
- permanent situations
- [future timetabled events]
Examples
Something that’s happening NOW:
- 🙇♂️ I’m preparing for my IELTS test.
Temporary situations:
- 🏠 I’m living in London at the moment.
Developing or changing situations:
- 👩💻 Online education is becoming more popular.
- 🌃 The population is increasing rapidly.
- ✈️ More and more people are choosing to study abroad.
Future planned events (‘Diary’ future):
- 📆 I’m leaving on Saturday.
- 🚞 I’m getting the 9.00 train.
FORM
SUBJECT + BE + (NOT) VERB + ING
👍 I’m leaving.
👎 I’m not leaving.
❓Are you leaving?
- He/She’s (not) leaving.
- You’re (not) leaving.
- They’re (not) leaving.
- We’re (not) leaving.
- It’s (not) changing.
Pronunciation
In Speaking, the Present Continuous is usually contracted (e.g. I am – I’m).
Practise using these contractions – they sound much more natural.
⚠️ Remember that the contracted forms sound EXACTLY like other words and spellings:
- we’re = wear = where /weə/
- they’re = their = there /ðeə/
- you’re = your /jɔː/
- it’s = its (possessive)
SHORT answers
Use the FULL form in short answers:
- Are you a student? Yes, I am.
- Are your friends interested in this too? Yes, they are.
Present Continuous in IELTS
Speaking Part 1:
Describing temporary situations
- Question: “Do you live in a house or apartment?”
- Answer: “At the moment, I’m flat-sharing with a friend.”
- Question: “Do you work, or are you a student?”
- Answer: “I’m a nurse but I’m doing a Master’s at the moment.”
Speaking Part 3:
Describing changing situatons
- Question: How is the way people communicate changing in your country?
- Answer: It’s changing quite rapidly. More people are using messaging apps instead of phone calls, and social media is becoming the main way to stay in touch. Even older generations are starting to use these platforms more frequently.
General Training Letters
📆 Talking about plans:
- ‘I’m taking the kids to Paris to see the sights.’ (Informal)
- ‘We’re thinking of coming to visit you next week if you’re free’. (Informal)
- ‘I’m so happy you’re coming to see us next week!’ (Informal)
- ‘Let me know what time you’re arriving‘ (Informal)
💌 Openings: ‘I am writing to ask about the course schedule’. (Formal)
👋 Introductions: ‘How are you doing? I hope you’re keeping well’. (Informal)
😖 Complaints: ‘I am currently staying in your hotel. The noise is very distracting, especially when I am trying to study.’ (Semi-formal)
👨💼 Job applications: ‘I am currently working as a teacher in a local school’. (Formal)
👨💼 Work emails: ‘So sorry to hear you’re leaving!’ (Informal)
Academic Writing Task 1
📈 Use the Present Continuous to describe trends that are happening NOW.
- The graph shows that the unemployment rate is increasing.
Writing Task 2:
Use the Present Continuous to describe developing trends or current changes, especially in the General Statement (first line).
- Many cities are becoming more crowded.
- Nowadays, more and more people are working from home.
- Many governments are investing more in renewable energy.
- Universities are offering more online courses.
IELTS Listening
The Present Continuous often leads you to the correct answer in the Listening Test.
For example, in Section 2, you often get questions about what has or hasn’t been done.
Examples:
- Which TWO changes have been made so far during the refurbishment of the theatre?
- Which TWO facilities/workshops does the theatre currently offer to the public?
Tapescript
- We’re looking into the possibility of opening a cafe in due course.
- We’re also considering hiring out costumes to amateur drama clubs.
- We intend to run courses in acting, but we’re waiting until we’ve got the right people in place as trainers.
- A number of people have enquired about workshops on make-up, and that’s something we’re considering for the future.
- A surprise success is the workshop on making puppets…It was so popular we’re now running them every month!
- Our backstage tours are proving very popular.
Compare:
- We’ve replaced the seats with larger ones.
- We’ve taken the opportunity to install seats that can easily be moved.
- We’ve also turned a few storerooms over to other purposes..
- We recently started a programme of workshops.
- Our lighting workshop has already started.
Full Listening here (Bronze Members)
Common Mistakes
Learners often mix up the simple and continuous forms.
Remember:
- Present simple = permanent situations, facts, habits
- Present continuous = temporary actions, things happening now or about now
Choose the right form for the right situation. Examples:
- I live in Berlin. (permanent)
- I’m living in Berlin while I study. (temporary)
- People use smartphones every day. (habit)
- People are using smartphones more and more. (a developing, changing situation)
'Stative' and 'active' verbs
Some verbs are NOT normally used with -ing.
These are called stative verbs (‘heart and head’ verbs):
❤️ Feelings: love, hate, like, prefer, want, wish.
🧠 Thoughts and opinions: know, believe, understand, remember, mean, agree
👀 Senses: appear, seem, hear, see, smell, taste
🐕 Possession: have, own, possess
With many of these verbs, both uses are possible
- I have a dog. (state)
- I’m having a great time! (action)
- I think it’s a great idea! (state)
- I’m thinking of going on holiday next month (action)
Common Mistakes
❌ I’m agreeing with you.
❌ I’m agree with you.
✅ I agree with you.
Spelling rules
No change
read → reading
study → studying
Double the consonant
run → running
stop → stopping
Drop the final e
make → making
use → using
Change “ie” to “y”
die → dying
lie → lying
Practice
The spelling rules are tested in the LISTENING test.
I’ve taken some ‘ing’ gapfill answers from my Listening Gapfill Booklet.
Can you spell these verbs correctly in their -ing form?
- write
- clothe
- clap
- breathe
- knit
- balance
- advertise
- run
- bully
- train
- writing
- clothing
- clapping
- breathing
- knitting
- balancing
- advertising
- running
- bullying
- training
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Check out my Complete Guide to IELTS Grammar
- Present Simple Complete Guide
- Past Simple Complete Guide
- Present Perfect Complete Guide
- Essential Prepositions for IELTS
- How to use Personal Pronouns
📚 Resource Libary
- Advanced Prepositions for IELTS
- Complete guide to countable and uncountable nouns
- How to use ‘few’ ‘a few’ ‘little’ ‘a little’ in IELTS
- Conditionals – a complete guide
- Conditionals review and practice
- Modals of deduction
- How to use ‘The more…the more’
- How to use the Past Perfect
- How to use Past Participles
- How to use ‘such’ as a reference word
- Present Participle as a linking word
- Nouns as adejctives
- ‘Willing to’ and ‘want to’
- ‘Worth’ and ‘worthy
- ‘Rise’ and ‘raise’
- Have or get something
- Despite and In spite of
- ‘Although’ and concession
- Not only but also (inversion)
- Twice as much/as many
- ‘ing’ verbs vs infinitive verbs
- Future tenses: how to make predictions (Task 1)
- The difference between ‘will’ and ‘going to’
- How to make your writing more complex
About Fiona
Fiona is an IELTS trainer, ex-examiner and course creator based in the UK. She has a Master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Distinction) and over 35 years of teaching experience. She has helped thousands of IELTS candidates develop the language and exam skills needed to achieve their target scores.
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