a. Questions
In the Present Continuous, the verb to be acts as an auxiliary. As is the case with other English tenses, it is the auxiliary which is used to form questions and negative statements.To form a question in the Present Continuous tense, the auxiliary is placed before the subject. For example:
| Affirmative Statement | Question |
| I am working. | Am I working? |
| You are working. | Are you working? |
| He is working. | Is he working? |
| She is working. | Is she working? |
| It is working. | Is it working? |
| We are working. | Are we working? |
| They are working. | Are they working? |
5. Change the following affirmative statements into questions. For example:
It is snowing.
Is it snowing?
They are being cautious.
Are they being cautious?
b. Negative statements
To form a negative statement, the word not is added after the auxiliary. For example:
| Affirmative Statement | Negative Statement | |
| I am working. | I am not working. | |
| You are working. | You are not working. | |
| He is working. | He is not working. | |
| She is working. | She is not working. | |
| It is working. | It is not working. | |
| We are working. | We are not working. | |
| They are working. | They are not working. |
6. Change the affirmative statements given in Exercise 5 into negative statements. For example:
It is snowing.
It is not snowing.
They are being cautious.
They are not being cautious.
c. Negative questions
To form a negative question, the auxiliary is placed before the subject, and the word not is placed after the subject. However, when contractions are used, the contracted form of not follows immediately after the auxiliary. Although there is no universally accepted contraction for am not, the expression aren't I? is often used in spoken English. For example:
| Without Contractions | With Contractions |
| Am I not working? | [Aren't I working?] - used in speaking |
| Are you not working? | Aren't you working? |
| Is he not working? | Isn't he working? |
| Is she not working? | Isn't she working? |
| Is it not working? | Isn't it working? |
| Are we not working? | Aren't we working? |
| Are they not working? | Aren't they working? |
7. Change the affirmative statements given in Exercise 5 into negative questions. Except when the subject of the verb is I, write both the form without contractions and the form with contractions. For example:
It is snowing.
Is it not snowing?
Isn't it snowing?
They are being cautious.
Are they not being cautious?
Aren't they being cautious?
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