Review of the Present Continuous and the Present Participle
Grammar

First, let's review the present continuous. As we mentioned earlier, this tense is used to describe actions that are happening right now. To form the present continuous, we combine a form of the verb to be (am, is, are) with a present participle (the form of the verb that ends in -ing).

Examples of the Present Continuous
I am walking.
He is walking.
She is walking.
They are walking.
You are walking.
We are walking.

Remember that to form the present participle, you add -ing.

play → playing

If the word ends with the letter e, we change it to -ing.

drive → driving

If the word ends with a consonant, followed by a vowel, then another consonant, and the stress of the word is on the last syllable, we repeat the last consonant before writing -ing (except for the letter "w").

run → running
swim → swimming

Exercise - The Present Continuous

Describe what they are doing using the given verb. Make sure you have correctly capitalized the letters and included the period at the end.

example
He/ride a horse

corredores

basketball

swimming

skiing

hiking

bicycle

The Verb like

The verb like can be used with two forms of the verb: the form of the verb ending in -ing or the infinitive (the word "to" followed by the verb). Both forms are correct and have very similar meanings. For example:

I like to swim.
I like swimming.

Note: While we previously learned that the -ing form is called the "present participle," when it's used as a noun, as it is with the verb "like," it is called a "gerund." The present participle and the gerund are formed in the same way, however. Both end with -ing.

Exercise - The verb like

Describe whether you like or don't like doing these activities. You can write the answer with the infinitive ("to" and the verb) or with the gerund (-ing form).

example
run

Possible answers
I like to run. -or- I like running. -or- I don't like to run. -or- I don't like running.

Formation of nouns with "-er"

In English, nouns can be formed by adding the ending -er to verbs, to refer to a person who performs that activity.

Regular verbs:
We add -er directly to the verb:
play - player
Verbs that end in the letter e:
If the verb ends with the letter e, we only add the r.
skate - skater
Verbs with a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern:
If the verb ends with consonant-vowel-consonant and the stress of the word is on the last syllable, the last consonant is doubled before adding -er
swim - swimmer

Exercise - er

Practice
What person does these activities?

example
teach

Find the Mistake

Instructions
Identify the error in the following sentences and write the corrected version.

example
He are a student. → He is a student.

Writing

Write a paragraph describing what you think your family and friends are doing right now.

example Kim is cleaning the house. Mike is working on his computer. etc.

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