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What is Grammar?
English Grammar Terms
The 8 English Parts of
Speech
These are the words that you use to make a sentence.
There are only
8 types of word - and the most
important is the Verb!
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Verbs |
be, have, do, work |
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Nouns |
man, town, music |
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Adjectives |
a, the, 69, big |
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Adverbs |
loudly, well, often |
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Pronouns |
you, ours, some |
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Prepositions |
at, in, on, from |
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Conjunctions |
and, but, though |
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Interjections |
ah, dear, er, um |
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Hot Links
Verbs
Passive voice
Modal verbs
Conditionals
Questions
Irregular
verbs
Going to
Gerunds
Phrasal Verbs
Tenses
Nouns
(Un) Countable nouns
Adjectives
Articles
Pronouns
Preposition List
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| Grammar Quizzes
Parts of Speech Quiz
Verb Classification Quiz
Main Verb Forms Quiz
Active or Passive Quiz
Subjunctive Quiz
Future Time Quiz
Continuous Tense Verb
Quiz
Used to do or Be used to
Quiz
Have to,
Must, Must not Quiz
Can, Could, Be able
to Quiz
Questions Quiz
Tag Questions
Quiz
Infinitive or
-ing Quiz
Gerunds Quiz
Phrasal Verbs
Quiz
Conditionals Quiz
For or Since Quiz
Present Simple
Present Continuous
Present Perfect
Simple
Present Perfect
Continuous
Past Simple
Questions
Comparative
Adjectives
Superlative
Adjectives
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Be and Continuous Tenses
The verb be can be an auxiliary verb (Marie is learning
English) or a main verb (Marie is French). On this page we look at the verb
be as a main verb.
Usually we use simple tenses with the verb be as a main
verb. For example, we say:
- London is the capital of the UK. (not London is being
the capital of the UK.)
- Is she beautiful? (not Is she being beautiful?)
- Were you late? (not Were you being late?)
Sometimes, however, we can use the verb be with a
continuous tense. This is when the real sense of the verb is "to act" or "to
behave". Also, of course, the action is temporary. Compare the following
examples:
| Mary is a careful person. (Mary is always careful - it's her
nature.) |
John is being careful. (John is acting carefully now, but
maybe he is not always careful - we don't know.) |
| Is he always so stupid? (Is that his personality?) |
They were being really stupid. (They were behaving really
stupidly at that moment.) |
| Andrew is not usually selfish. (It is not Andrew's character
to be selfish.) |
Why is he being so selfish? (Why is he acting so selfishly at
the moment?) |
Notice that we also make a difference between "to be sick" and "to
be being sick":
- She is sick (= she is not well)
- She is being sick (= she is vomiting)
| EnglishClub.com Tip |
Here is the structure of
the verb be in the continuous present tense:
I am
being
You are being
He, she, it is
being
We are being
You are
being
They are being |
Now check your understanding
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