| When teaching the present progressive, or | | | | tiring, this film is boring" etc. Expressions like "running |
| continuous, tense, we often concentrate on | | | | water" or "living space" contain "-ing" adjectives. |
| structure: you have a subject, followed by the | | | | When saying "I am" we are invariably talking about a |
| auxiliary, "be" followed by the "-ing" form of the verb. | | | | present state, so what's the difference between "I |
| A lot of teachers have started calling this verb "the | | | | am tired", and "I am working"? To say "I am |
| -ing verb", and rightly so, as I am convinced that | | | | working" also indicates my present state, even if |
| virtually nobody can say for sure what the correct | | | | technically speaking "working" is the present participle, |
| term for it is. | | | | not an adjective. Interestingly, in French there is no |
| Would you call it the gerund? No, because the gerund | | | | present progressive tense, they use an adjectival |
| is the noun derived from a verb, not a verb itself. | | | | phrase which translates, "I am in the process of to |
| Here we have a completely different discussion, and | | | | work". A fine line indeed between adjectives and |
| another lesson to prepare. You probably do a free | | | | participles! |
| time/interests lesson where you ask the question | | | | All these thoughts have led me to believe that they |
| "what do you like doing?". Your students have the | | | | should not discussed with your students, being indeed |
| opportunity to practise real gerunds, as in sentences | | | | pointless grammatical debate that will not help them |
| like, "I like playing football, going skiing, painting, | | | | one little bit to communicate more effectively. |
| reading, shopping..." | | | | Instead of trying to have your students build |
| You, of course, as a serious ESL professional, know | | | | sentences from pre-defined parts, i.e. aux + verb+ing |
| that in a sentence like "I am having a shower", the | | | | = present progressive = something happening now |
| "-ing" verb is actually the present participle. Are we | | | | why not make a mind map of all the possible things |
| sure about that?participles or adjectives? | | | | we could say starting with "I am". After all, "I am |
| If I say, "I am tired", I know that "am" is the verb | | | | English" is a present, just like "I am working". You |
| and that "tired" is obviously an adjective, given that | | | | could brainstorm emotions, physical condition, |
| "to be" is a verb of state, and an adjective is used | | | | nationalities, age, jobs, and what is happening now. |
| to add detail to a noun, in this case a pronoun, "I". | | | | This way, rather than focussing on meaningless |
| But tired is also the past participle of the verb "to | | | | grammatical structure, you are giving your students |
| tire". Just as past participles can be used as | | | | functional language that they can use outside the |
| adjectives, so can present participles: The match was | | | | classroom. |