English Grammar & Punctuationusually ages 9–10

Progressive and Continuous Tenses

Form and use the progressive (continuous) verb tenses — past progressive (was walking), present progressive (am walking), and future progressive (will be walking) — to convey ongoing actions at different times

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Write sentences using past progressive to describe an action that was ongoing at a particular time, e.g. 'She was reading when the phone rang'
Distinguish present progressive from simple present, e.g. 'I am eating lunch' (right now) vs 'I eat lunch at noon' (habitual)
Form the future progressive using 'will be' + present participle to describe an action that will be ongoing, e.g. 'Tomorrow at 3pm I will be travelling'

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Try this together

If your child wants to describe an action that was happening over a period of time in the past — like "I was reading when the phone rang" — can they write the verb in the right ongoing-past form?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Simple Past, Present and Futureages 8–9Progressive tenses build on simple tenses; learners must control simple past/present/future before forming progressive (was walking, am walking, will be walking)

Past, Present and Progressive Tenseages 6–9Year 2 progressive forms (is drumming, was shouting) introduced the concept; G4 extends to all three progressive tenses

Progressive and Continuous Tensesthis skill · ages 9–10

Unlocks

Choosing Tenses for Precise Meaningages 10–11Verb tense variety builds on progressive tenses

Consistent verb tenseages 10–11Recognising tense shifts is enriched by knowledge of progressive tenses, which are a common source of unintentional shifts

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

This skill sits outside the F–6 Australian Curriculum — no candidate code matched (v0.1). No NSW K–6 outcome code matched (v0.1). No Victorian Curriculum 2.0 code matched (v0.1).

Nearby on the map

Adjective Order in Sentencesages 9–10 Brackets and dashes for parenthesisages 9–10 Cohesion within paragraphsages 9–11 Commas Before Joining Wordsages 9–11

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