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

Planned actions: future reference

We use the present progressive [and be going to > 9.46.3] 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 li ke 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)

Repeated actions

The adverbs always (in the sense of 'frequently'), constantly, continually, forever, perpetually and repeatedly can be used with progressive forms to describe continually-repeated actions:

She's always helping people Some stative verbs can have progressive forms with always, etc.:

I'm always hearing strange stories about him [> 9.3]

Sometimes there can be implied complaint in this use of the progressive when it refers to something that happens too often: Our burglar alarm is forever going off for no reason

Verbs, verb tenses, imperatives

The present tenses in typical contexts

The simple present and present progressive in commentary

The simple present and the present progressive are often used in commentaries on events taking place at the moment, particularly on radio and television. In such cases, the simple present is used to describe rapid actions completed at the moment of speaking and the progressive is used to describe longer-lasting actions: MacFee passes to Franklyn Franklyn makes a quick pass to Booth Booth is away with the ball, but he's losing his advantage