Present Continuous

Present Continuous ( or present progressive)

The present continuous refers to:

• actions in progress at the moment of the speaking Eg.: "I am waiting for someone to really discover America" (I Am Waiting ,By Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
  

• actions in progress around the time of the speaking. refers to an action which is not happening at the time of the speaking, but in the period, maybe that year or season Eg.: "Singer AMY WINEHOUSE is writing a book of poems about her troubled life, according to reports." (Contact Music). She was not writting exactly when the reporter said that, still he could use the present continuous to refer to that period of time.

• temporary situations. Eg.: "Hilton is facing a felony drug possession charge" (Radar Online).

She is facing the felony now, but the situation is temporary, as she will be free from that as soon as the judge decides her charge, and she pays it.

• complaints. Eg.: "but my friend is always complaining about her boyfriend to me. I mean always saying how annoying he is, and how she likes to be away from him, but yet after all these years she is still together with him" (HilltopperPJ)
  

• repeated actions Eg.: "Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river" (Proud Mary)
  

• describing changes and development. Eg.: "I'm not an older person, I'm a person who's growing older" ( Jane Barratt)

*Some verbs do not have a continuous form, following the grammar, they are called Stative Verbs, those describe state, feelings, senses. Some of those are:



Some verbs have an active meaning and a different stative one, as:

to be, to depend, to measure, to feel, to have, to see, to taste, to measure, to think, to weight.

*It is each time more commom to see stative verbs used in the continuous form, it is said that this occurs due to the influence of other languages on English through the contact among English speaking people and other peoples.

" Because I love you" (Stevie B)













" Because I'm loving you" (Double you)

In the following poem, by Pablo Neruda, we can notice the influence from the Spanish in the English language, as the original poem was writen in Spanish, when translated to English the -ing is used in stative verbs, still it is not present continuous.


Sonnet LXVI: I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

"I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly. (...)"

Be careful to distinguish verbs from nouns, a verb can be turn into a noun by using the -ing, it does not mean it is present continuous, the present continuous requires to be verb.

Compare

Eg1.: And now there's nothing I can do
Because I'm loving you ... ( love in present continuous)



Eg2.: I go from loving to not loving you ( love in the gerund, but it is not continuous)

Eg3.:

"Because I love you and I’ll do anything (love as a stative verb)
I’ll give you my heart, my everything
Because I love you, I’ll be right by your side
To be alive, to be your guy"

For more information check:

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/ingform/menu.php

http://www.cursoanglo.com.br/WebStander/disciplinas/index.asp?Cod=118 (in Portuguese)