Grammar: Present Progressive, Adverbs and Sentence Types

Class 6 English · Chapter 3: Rama to the Rescue · NCERT Poorvi section pp. 28–32

Learn

Present progressive tense: look at "I am feeling sleepy", "What are you looking at?", "Somebody is trying to get in." Each describes an action going on right now, at the moment of speaking. It is made with am / is / are + verb-ing: I → am; he, she, it, one person → is; we, you, they → are.

Spelling -ing: most verbs just add -ing (play → playing, read → reading). Verbs ending in silent e drop it (write → writing, dance → dancing). Short verbs ending in one vowel + one consonant double the last letter (sit → sitting, run → running, swim → swimming).

Adverbs give more information about a verb: how, when or where. "I'd better listen closely." (How does he listen? closely) "I'll call out softly… then very loudly." Many adverbs end in -ly: quickly, smoothly, beautifully, gracefully, slowly, sweetly, peacefully.

Sentence types: sentences that show a strong feeling are exclamatory and end with an exclamation mark (!): "Oh, hum! What a hard day it has been!" Sentences that ask are interrogative and end with a question mark (?): "What should we name our child?" A plain statement ends with a full stop (.).

Explore: exclamatory, interrogative or statement?

1. Sort each sentence.

Remember

• Present progressive (am/is/are + verb-ing) shows an action happening now.
• Adverbs tell how, when or where; exclamatory sentences end with !, interrogative with ?.

Quick check

Choose the present progressive: "My mother ____ food in the kitchen."

1. is cooking
2. are cooking
3. cooked
4. cook

Think about it

Look around you and write three present progressive sentences about what people are doing right now.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.