Forming the present continuous with the verb to be.
Which sentence says that a student is reading right now?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: B)She is reading a book now.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "She is reading a book now". The present continuous needs both parts, the auxiliary to be and the -ing form, and students who drop either one produce a sentence with no verb. The now is a useful confirmation for students, since a clearly present moment removes any doubt about whether the continuous is the right form.
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Respuesta correcta: B)She is reading a book now.
A)She read a book now.The bare present simple is used for habits and repeated actions rather than for something happening at this moment.
B)She is reading a book now.The present continuous is the auxiliary is with the -ing form reading, and now confirms the action is happening at this moment.
C)She reading a book now.The -ing form needs the auxiliary is, so the sentence would have no finite verb without it.
D)She reads a book now.The third person form reads is present simple, which does not describe an action in progress right now.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "She is reading a book now". The present continuous needs both parts, the auxiliary to be and the -ing form, and students who drop either one produce a sentence with no verb. The now is a useful confirmation for students, since a clearly present moment removes any doubt about whether the continuous is the right form.
Pregunta 2
Pregunta 2 · D3Bloom: Remember
Choosing the correct auxiliary for the present continuous.
Complete the sentence: "They ________ playing football at the moment."
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: D)are
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "are". The auxiliary of the present continuous is the verb to be, which means the whole agreement table from the first period comes back with every new tense. Recognising that the -ing form does not change the auxiliary choice is what lets a student build a longer sentence with more than one subject without losing track of which form is required.
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Respuesta correcta: D)are
A)beThe bare infinitive be has no subject attached to it, so the sentence would lack a finite auxiliary.
B)isIs goes with a singular subject such as he, she or it, and it does not agree with they.
C)amAm goes only with the subject I, and it does not agree with they.
D)areThe subject they is plural, so the present continuous takes the auxiliary are with the -ing form.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "are". The auxiliary of the present continuous is the verb to be, which means the whole agreement table from the first period comes back with every new tense. Recognising that the -ing form does not change the auxiliary choice is what lets a student build a longer sentence with more than one subject without losing track of which form is required.
Pregunta 3
Pregunta 3 · D4Bloom: Understand
Reading what a person is doing at a stated moment.
Read: "Right now, Laura is doing her homework and her brother is watching television." What is Laura's brother doing?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: A)He is watching television.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "He is watching television". The text gives one continuous action per person, and the student has to attach the right one to the right subject. This is the same referent tracking the personality and family weeks required, and it is what stops a student from answering about Laura when the question was about her brother.
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Respuesta correcta: A)He is watching television.
A)He is watching television.The text says directly that her brother is watching television, and watching is the -ing form in the sentence.
B)He is doing his homework.The homework belongs to Laura in the text, and it is being done by her rather than by him.
C)He is playing football.No football appears in this text, and the activities named are homework and television.
D)He is going to school.Going to school is not mentioned, and the text restricts both people to what they are doing right now.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "He is watching television". The text gives one continuous action per person, and the student has to attach the right one to the right subject. This is the same referent tracking the personality and family weeks required, and it is what stops a student from answering about Laura when the question was about her brother.
Pregunta 4
Pregunta 4 · D4Bloom: Apply
Choosing between the present simple and the present continuous for a real situation.
Which sentence describes a student who is studying at this moment?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: C)She is studying right now.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "She is studying right now". The choice between the two present tenses turns on whether the action is happening now or as a habit, and a student who has only practised the present simple reaches for it every time. The distractor that is a correct sentence about a different situation is the useful one, because it shows the student that both forms can be right and the time expression decides which one to use.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: C)She is studying right now.
A)She studies every day.This is a correct present simple sentence, but it describes a daily habit rather than the single moment the question asks about.
B)She study right now.The bare infinitive study has no auxiliary and no -s, so it cannot form a present tense verb here.
C)She is studying right now.Right now places the action at this moment, and the present continuous is the form that reports an action in progress.
D)She is study right now.After the auxiliary is the bare infinitive is required, and the -ing form study does not belong in that position.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "She is studying right now". The choice between the two present tenses turns on whether the action is happening now or as a habit, and a student who has only practised the present simple reaches for it every time. The distractor that is a correct sentence about a different situation is the useful one, because it shows the student that both forms can be right and the time expression decides which one to use.
Pregunta 5
Pregunta 5 · D4Bloom: Apply
Spelling the -ing form of a verb in the present continuous.
Which sentence is correctly spelled?
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Respuesta correcta: A)He is running to the bus stop.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "He is running to the bus stop". Spelling the -ing form is a detail that the present continuous forces students to get right, because the form is written every single time the tense is used. The three wrong versions are the two standard student errors, dropping the y and doubling the consonant too far, and recognising them by sight is faster than re-deriving the rule each time.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: A)He is running to the bus stop.
A)He is running to the bus stop.When a verb ends in a consonant and y, the y is dropped before -ing, which gives running with a double n.
B)He is runing to the bus stop.A verb ending in a consonant and y drops the y before -ing, so the correct form is running.
C)He is runing to the bus stop now.Adding the time expression does not correct the spelling, and the -ing form still has to be running.
D)He is runnning to the bus stop.The double n is added once and not twice, so runnning has one n too many.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "He is running to the bus stop". Spelling the -ing form is a detail that the present continuous forces students to get right, because the form is written every single time the tense is used. The three wrong versions are the two standard student errors, dropping the y and doubling the consonant too far, and recognising them by sight is faster than re-deriving the rule each time.
Pregunta 6
Pregunta 6 · D4Bloom: Apply
Saying what is happening in the classroom at a given moment.
It is 10 a.m. and the class is in progress. What does a student say?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: D)We are doing an English exercise now.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "We are doing an English exercise now". Reporting what is happening in the room at this moment is the ordinary reason a student reaches for the present continuous, and the naturalness of the result shows the tense being used for its real purpose. Each distractor substitutes a different tense or a wrong verb form, so the item shows what each alternative would claim about the timing.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: D)We are doing an English exercise now.
A)We are do an English exercise now.After the auxiliary are the -ing form is required, so the verb should be doing rather than do.
B)We do an English exercise every day.This describes a repeated routine, which is true of a class but does not report what is happening at 10 a.m. today.
C)We did an English exercise.The past simple places the action before now, and the class exercise is still in progress.
D)We are doing an English exercise now.The present continuous reports an activity under way at this moment, which is the situation the class is in.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "We are doing an English exercise now". Reporting what is happening in the room at this moment is the ordinary reason a student reaches for the present continuous, and the naturalness of the result shows the tense being used for its real purpose. Each distractor substitutes a different tense or a wrong verb form, so the item shows what each alternative would claim about the timing.
Pregunta 7
Pregunta 7 · D4Bloom: Apply
Using the present continuous with two subjects in one sentence.
Which sentence is correct?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: B)My sister is cooking and my brother is washing the dishes.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "My sister is cooking and my brother is washing the dishes". Each clause joined by and carries its own subject and its own auxiliary, and the agreement has to be made twice independently. Students who try to carry one auxiliary across both halves get one of these three versions, so the item makes the repetition of the auxiliary visible and deliberate.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: B)My sister is cooking and my brother is washing the dishes.
A)My sister is cooking and my brother are washing the dishes.The second subject is singular, so the auxiliary there has to be is rather than are.
B)My sister is cooking and my brother is washing the dishes.Each clause has its own subject and its own auxiliary, and is agrees with the singular brother in the second one.
C)My sister are cooking and my brother is washing the dishes.The first subject is singular, so the auxiliary in the first clause has to be is rather than are.
D)My sister is cooking and my brother washing the dishes.The second clause has lost its auxiliary, so it would have an -ing form with no finite verb.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "My sister is cooking and my brother is washing the dishes". Each clause joined by and carries its own subject and its own auxiliary, and the agreement has to be made twice independently. Students who try to carry one auxiliary across both halves get one of these three versions, so the item makes the repetition of the auxiliary visible and deliberate.
Pregunta 8
Pregunta 8 · D4Bloom: Analyze
Working out what is happening now from a text that contrasts two times.
Read: "Every day Andrés studies in the morning. Right now it is the afternoon and he is playing football." What is Andrés doing at this moment?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: A)He is playing football.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "He is playing football". The text deliberately sets a general habit against a present action, and picking the right one requires holding the two time frames apart. Students who read the first sentence and stop will answer about the morning, so the contrast structure here is a genuine test of reading to the end rather than skimming for a matching word.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: A)He is playing football.
A)He is playing football.The text states directly that he is playing football right now, and the present continuous marks the current action.
B)He is studying.Studying belongs to the morning routine, and the text says the morning is over in this scene.
C)He is sleeping.No mention of sleeping appears in the text at any point, so nothing supports this.
D)He is going to school.The text says nothing about school today, so this is an invention rather than a reading.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "He is playing football". The text deliberately sets a general habit against a present action, and picking the right one requires holding the two time frames apart. Students who read the first sentence and stop will answer about the morning, so the contrast structure here is a genuine test of reading to the end rather than skimming for a matching word.
Pregunta 9
Pregunta 9 · D4Bloom: Analyze
Finding the error in a sentence about a current action.
A student writes: "She is watch a film on her phone." What is the problem?
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Respuesta correcta: D)The -ing form is needed after the auxiliary.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "The -ing form is needed after the auxiliary". Everything else in the sentence is correct, including the preposition and the agreement, so this isolates the single rule that the present continuous depends on. The three distractors each propose a fault that a student might suspect but that is not actually present, which is what makes this a useful diagnostic rather than a guess.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: D)The -ing form is needed after the auxiliary.
A)The preposition on is wrong before a phone.On is the correct preposition for something happening on a device, so the preposition is not at fault.
B)The auxiliary is should be are.The subject she is singular, so is is the correct auxiliary and the agreement is not the fault here.
C)A film cannot be watched on a phone.Watching films on a phone is an entirely ordinary thing to do, so the activity itself is not the problem.
D)The -ing form is needed after the auxiliary.After the auxiliary is the verb has to take its -ing form, so it should be watching rather than watch.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "The -ing form is needed after the auxiliary". Everything else in the sentence is correct, including the preposition and the agreement, so this isolates the single rule that the present continuous depends on. The three distractors each propose a fault that a student might suspect but that is not actually present, which is what makes this a useful diagnostic rather than a guess.
Pregunta 10
Pregunta 10 · D4Bloom: Evaluate
Deciding which tense a message about a real event should use.
You send a message to a friend: "I ________ dinner right now. Can we talk later?" Which is best?
Elige una opción para comprobar tu respuesta.
Respuesta correcta: C)I am having
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "I am having". A message written at a moment of activity needs the tense of that moment, and the now makes the choice unambiguous. Judging which tense fits the situation rather than which one is most familiar is the practical skill the week introduces, and it is the same judgement the exam asks for when a text reports what people are doing at a particular time.
Ver respuesta
Respuesta correcta: C)I am having
A)I hadThe past simple places the action before now, which contradicts the right now in the message.
B)I haveThe bare form has has no auxiliary and no -s, so it could not form a present progressive sentence.
C)I am havingThe present continuous reports the action under way at the moment of writing, which is what right now requires.
D)I will haveWill points to a future occasion, and the message is about what is happening as it is sent.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "I am having". A message written at a moment of activity needs the tense of that moment, and the now makes the choice unambiguous. Judging which tense fits the situation rather than which one is most familiar is the practical skill the week introduces, and it is the same judgement the exam asks for when a text reports what people are doing at a particular time.
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