Clear and Present Tenses
By Angela Arlia

aaaahe more I teach English, the more I realize how hard it is to learn this incredibly fickle language. For instance, in a recent class, I was explaining the present progressive tense to my students. I told them that this tense is formed with the present tense of "to be" and then another verb with "-ing" on the end, as in I am walking. I told them that we use this tense whenever we talk about things happening right now.
aaaaIt all seemed simple and clear enough until I sent them out on their first task. Their mission was to scour a local newspaper for use of the present progressive. The error buzzers began to ring. It was time for the host to tell me to play again next time.
aaaaWhen we summed up the activity, my students pointed out examples like "health care spending" and "exploding costs". (Let me back track a bit and tell you that these students are at a high intermediate level.) Yes, they were looking solely for examples of words that had "-ing" at the end of them, which, of course, is not what I told them to do. (But that is not why I am writing this essay.)
aaaaWhy is it that we have words that look like verbs that become nouns as in "spending" (from my students' "health care spending" example)? For native speakers, this may not be so complicated. However, for foreigners this must be super confusing. I did point out that the present progressive needs to have the verb "to be" in the present tense along with the "-ing" form of a verb to be used correctly.
aaaaBut what about this example: The programs are being announced on an ongoing basis by the governor. Technically, this example has a present tense "to be" verb and a verb in the "-ing" form. Even so, I had to tell my students that this wasn't entirely the present progressive either. Their confusion grew even more obvious and I'm sure they were visualizing me burning at the stake. I could also envision myself digging deeper into the English grammar grave. This example was really the use of the passive tense. ARGH!!! I'm sure even you are saying it at this point.
aaaaI felt very empathetic to their plight. How were they supposed to locate examples of this tense when almost every example they provided was being shot down? I did explain how the above phrase about the programs uses the passive tense, rather than the present progressive. I also mentioned that, in searching for the present progressive, they had to see how each of the words functioned in the sentence. Now would they ever really be able to know each word's function without the benefit of diagramming sentences? Probably not.
aaaaHonestly, I told them, English is a slippery language and most English speakers don't get it right. (As if this news were some kind of consolation prize.) Case in point: How many of you native English speakers reading this article knew what the present progressive tense was before I explained it? That's what I thought. And to demonstrate my frustration, I am closing this article now.