Unit 2 – I am doing

Vidéos pour l’unité 2 de votre livre, Free English Grammar.

Vidéo 2

He is reading a book

They are running

The sun is shining

The verb ‘to be’ can be used as an auxiliary verb before other verbs. The verb that follows always has the ending ‘-ing’.

‘to be’ represents a present state, so when it’s followed by a verb (-ing) it refers to a present activity.

• I’m a teacher, but I’m not teaching now, I’m preparing a lesson

• Janet is wearing a pretty dress today

• Take an umbrella, it’s raining

Spelling

Note the following spelling changes:

write  writing run  running lie  lying sit  sitting

come  coming swim  swimming dance  dancing

Some verbs are not usually used in the present progressive. Often, these verbs don’t describe physical actions:

The state verb ‘to be’ is sometimes used in the present progressive:

• Ignore him – he’s just being silly

• They said they can’t help us, but I think they’re being difficult.

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