Present continuous | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
The present simple (we eat) would describe a habit or typical action, whereas the present continuous describes an event in progress around a certain time, just as you said. Peter The LearnEnglish Team
Present tense | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
Learn about the different present tense forms (present simple, present continuous and present perfect) and do the exercises to practise using them.
Present simple | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
Grammatically, there's no problem with using present continuous to explain what you are doing in that moment (I'm cutting here ... I'm looping it ...). The present continuous focuses on what's happening at a particular moment.
Present perfect simple and continuous | LearnEnglish - British …
We use both the present perfect simple (have or has + past participle) and the present perfect continuous (have or has + been + -ing form) to talk about past actions or states which are still connected to the present.
Present simple | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
Do you know how to use the present simple? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you. Look at these examples to see how we use the present simple.
Advanced present simple and continuous - LearnEnglish
You can describe the current situation using present simple (is) or describe a present result of a past action (lack of action) using present perfect (has been). Similarly, you can look at the past situation as a point of time in the past using past simple (rode) or as an action which began in the past and continued to the present (have ridden).
Past continuous | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
Past continuous and hypotheses. We can also use the past continuous to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages: Past tense; Verbs in time clauses and conditionals; Wishes and hypotheses
Future forms: 'will', 'be going to' and present continuous
The choice of going to or present continuous depends on how the speaker sees the situation. Going to describes an intention which the speaker sees as possibly still changing, which present continuous describes something the speaker sees as sure to happen.
Present perfect | LearnEnglish - LearnEnglish - British Council
Present perfect continuous. The present perfect continuous is formed with have/has been and the -ing form of the verb. We normally use the present perfect continuous to emphasise that something is still continuing in the present: She has been living in Liverpool all her life. It's been raining for hours. I'm tired out. I've been working all day.
Talking about the future | LearnEnglish - British Council
When we know about the future, we normally use the present tense. 1. We use the present simple for something scheduled: We have a lesson next Monday. The train arrives at 6.30 in the morning. The holidays start next week. It's my birthday tomorrow. 2. We can use the present continuous for plans or arrangements: I'm playing football tomorrow.