Presents Progressive / Continous

1.) Actions in progress at the moment of speaking

We use the Present Progressive to describe actions or events which are in progress at the moment of speaking. To emphasize this, we often use adverbials like now, at the moment, just, etc.:

• Someone's knocking at the door. Can you answer it?
• What are you doing? - I'm just tying up my shoe-laces.
• He's working at the moment, so he can't come to the telephone.

2.) Temporary situations

The Present Progressive can be used to describe actions and situations which may not have been happening long, or which are thought of as being in progress for a limited period:

• What's your daughter doing these days?
• She's studying English at Durham University.

Such situations may not be happening at the moment of speaking:

• Don't take that ladder away. Your father's using it. (i.e. but perhaps not at the moment)
• She's at her best when she's making big decisions.

Temporary events may be in progress at the moment of speaking:

• The river is flowing very fast after last night's rain.

We also use the Present Progressive to describe current trends:

• People are becoming less tolerant of smoking these days.

3.) future reference

We use the Present Progressive to refer to activities and events planned for the future. We generally need an adverbial unless the meaning is clear from the context:

• We're spending next winter in Australia.

This use of the Present Progressive is also commonly associated with future arrival and departure and occurs with verbs like arrive, come, go, leave, etc. to describe travel arrangements:

• He's arriving tomorrow morning on the 13.27 train.

The adverbial and the context prevent confusion with the present progressive to describe an action which is in progress at the time of speaking:

• Look! The train's leaving. (i.e. it's actually moving)