How to Talk in English about Something Youve been working on
okay i think it’s rolling great hi
everybody and welcome back to our weekly
live stream my name is alicia and in
this week’s
live lesson we are going to talk about
how to talk about
something you are working on so this is
something you can use
to talk about your projects to talk
about your professional work
and maybe just your home projects too
that’ll also work
today’s focused grammar points will be
present progressive
or continuous present perfect my name is
alicia
uh we’ll talk about present progressive
or continuous
present perfect and we’ll also talk
about present
perfect continuous i want to practice
these three grammar points
to describe your current status or your
current situation
cool so let’s get started uh actually
before we start as always a couple of
quick announcements
uh first announcement as always at the
bottom
is this banner here this pdf banner you
can take a look
uh there are a bunch of pdfs for you to
download
to practice vocabulary phrases and
there are some conversation use
pdfs now you can check out those are
i don’t have them printed here but take
a look at the link
to check those out you can find some
pdfs for
talking on the phone and for everyday
like uh
everyday use phrases like super super
basic phrases you can use
around town so check those out uh from
the link below the video if you’re
watching on youtube or above the video
if you’re watching on facebook take a
look you can print them out and practice
announcement too is as always if you
have questions for me
if you have questions for me about
vocabulary grammar
uh whatever other little questions
something you think of someday send it
to me
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hello everybody
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okay everyone is here so as you join
please make sure to like and share this
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can find today’s lesson i am going to
share
the video boom and then i’ll show you
today’s
lesson boards this is what we’re going
to talk about
today okay today’s lesson topics quickly
present progressive or continuous
present perfect
and finally present perfect progressive
so i know these grammar points seem kind
of similar
and many people ask or many people write
in the comments like
what’s the difference between this one
and that one so that’s
what we’re going to focus on in today’s
lesson
uh but like the focus topic will be
your work or your projects um something
that you are doing
now so let’s get started and of course
uh send your questions live in the chat
i’ll try to answer but
there’s a lot so okay let’s get started
so first
let’s begin our first grammar point for
this week
is present progressive or present
continuous we can use the same
vocabulary words
uh or rather we can use either word
progressive
or continuous to talk about this point
so for today’s lesson
uh i’ve made a diagram at the bottom
of each board just to refresh your mind
about
when we use this or what the purpose of
this grammar point is
so a short reminder we use present
progressive or present continuous
to talk about a temporary action
something continuing now
here’s a quick guide to how to make
a simple very simple present progressive
sentence so for example i
am and verb in the ing
form the ing form in my case for example
i am teaching or you are watching
you are listening or
it is raining for example so
we can use present progressive or
present continuous
to talk about something temporary
continuing
now something temporary is a key uh a
point
many learners make a mistake with
sometimes they use uh this tense
to talk about a regular action so for
example
if you work in new york city sometimes i
hear learners say
i am working in new york city but if
that’s your regular workplace
you can’t use it that way use simple
present tense to do that
okay so here’s how we make a simple
statement
to make it not or to make it negative we
use
not before the verb okay so you can send
me your example sentences
in the chat i will try to check them
okay
let’s go so let’s look at a few examples
now let’s look at a few examples
you can use to express uh to express
some like work or some status project
update some project status updates for
example
i am working on my
website i am working on
my website so i want to introduce a few
key verbs so some vocabulary words you
can use
uh in these situations so i am
working on a common point or common
mistake is
learners forget this on i am working my
website
can’t use that not correct i am working
on working on my website so don’t forget
those little words
i’m working on my website okay
another one he is learning how to code
he is learning how to code so we have
this embedded point here how
to something something you can change
this verb
so for more intermediate or advanced
learners
change this verb right here to the topic
of your studies he is learning how to
cook he is
learning how to sing he is learning how
to
dance i don’t know whatever so learning
how to like infinitive verb form
to change this okay learning how to
okay next one she is studying
studying for an examination
or an exam or a test it’s also okay
all right she is studying four again
point here this uh four you have to use
four okay john lego says alicia do we
have to use the verb in the ing form yes
to make the progressive form you have to
use an ing
here someone wrote i’m going to
blah blah blah that’s good so i’m going
to i’ve missed it i missed it in the
chat
i’m going to school i think it was in
the chat that looked pretty good
uh okay then uh one more i wanted to
include a negative here
a couple of negatives here uh to
show the reduced form in particular so
we aren’t this aren’t aren’t is the
pronunciation aren’t
um aren’t is the reduced form of
are not are not we are not
working at the office right now we
aren’t working
at the office right now you could say we
aren’t working
in the office right now as well both are
fine
finally they aren’t returning
our calls they aren’t returning our
calls
this one i wanted to include because
it’s common
so to return someone’s call means like
you received a call from someone
but you didn’t uh pick up you weren’t
there sorry
you called someone but they did not pick
up the phone
and uh they didn’t call you back
so to call someone back another way to
say call someone back
is to return a call this means
someone some group of people like a
client for example
is not returning our calls so it sounds
like they’re avoiding
you or they’re ignoring you or they’re
running away or something
you might hear this sometimes he isn’t
returning my calls she isn’t returning
my calls
and so on okay good
so a couple points so i showed you the
reduced form here of are
not yeah they aren’t aren’t
up here i didn’t use the reduced forms
but it’s very natural
to use the reduced forms in speech so
she is becomes
she’s she apostrophe s he is becomes
he’s and i am becomes i’m
i’m so uh another thing i’ve noticed
learners sometimes don’t pronounce the
sound when they reduce this in speech so
for example
sometimes i hear learners say i working
on my website
incorrect can’t say that not i working
i’m i’m working i’m working
i hear that mistake a lot a lot
okay your examples uh babna says they
aren’t received
our emails receiving
so the big point here is to use the ing
form they aren’t receiving our emails
there’s a technical
problem okay uh hey around says how can
i get the pdfs check the link below
oh you’re on facebook check the link
above this video on facebook in the
description for this video
okay uh how to spell
i’m and i am says someone in the youtube
chat you just spelled it
that you you just wrote it you just
spelled it
okay um all right
present continuous is used as an event
that is happening
now yes that’s a nice way to express
today’s
grammar okay nice it seems that this
sounds good let’s go to making questions
then
so how do we make a question with
present
progressive or present continuous so
here i have at the beginning wh
question yeah so who what where when why
how wh question to get information
plus are or is or am
so same verbs as up here
yeah match them to your subject so
what are you verb in the ing
form again for example what are
you doing what are you doing
very common question very common
question
at native speed that sounds like what
are you doing what are you doing
or maybe even what you doing what you
doing
another one what is she working on
what is she working on so to ask for
a status update about someone else
what is she working on at native speed
this sounds like
what’s she working on what’s she working
on
here’s another one where are they
going for lunch where are they going
for lunch at native speed i say where
are they going for lunch oh where are
they going for lunch
and finally who is he talking to
who is he talking to okay so a few
examples
of uh questions also to make
this this this pattern right here this
is an
information question yeah so you use
this pattern you’re looking for
an answer to this what or where or who
right but to make a simple yes or no
question
same pattern just remove this
are you something is he
am i this part i should point out this
one
am i verbing like for example wait
am i streaming right now like if i want
to check my settings or
wait am i am i running late
something like that this pattern we use
this pattern
am i verbing to talk to ourselves
like to confirm something with ourselves
okay
all right i’m looking for your uh
someone i missed your name in the chat i
think it was on facebook
what are you talk about i think i saw uh
again use what are you talking
about so ing verb form here yeah what
are you talking about what are you
talking about
raquel wright writes am i going crazy am
i going crazy
good example good example okay so and
again
a quick uh reminder this is what we use
uh this is a visual an image of this
grammar point so
here’s the future up in the future
present
now is this star and the past this blue
line this continuing line
it’s like a temporary action so
uh short term action that’s true
now this is what we use the present
progressive
to do okay uh good some other examples
are coming in on youtube
uh jermaine asks okay what are you doing
i’m learning live on youtube with alicia
perfect nice example nice example
victor says what are you doing i’m
working as a forensic expert ooh that
sounds
interesting very nice great okay very
nice
other people say i’m working on my
language skills
good ah some other ones
okay lots and lots of other other ones
so i’ll move on i think this sounds good
nice sentences everybody let’s take one
short break and then we’ll go to part
two
uh present perfect present perfect so
again if you missed it today’s live
lesson is about how to talk about
something you’re working on so
you can use these grammar points to talk
about your professional
project updates your studies
or even your hobbies like home projects
and so on so
i hope it is helpful also if you have
not already please make sure
to like and share this video so other
people can find
today’s lesson and if you have not
please check the link below the video on
youtube or above the video
on facebook you can download a bunch of
pdfs oh these are for emergencies
important to know so you can refresh
your vocabulary
i saw someone ask a question earlier
about how to get
these yeah uh check the link on facebook
above the video
youtube below the video uh you need your
name and email address and then someone
said
they couldn’t get past the first page uh
at the bottom of the first page there’s
a link to get
uh to get to these unless the team
changed it it should be at the bottom of
the page i tried it
so check that out if you had trouble
getting it
before okay so let’s go to
part two present perfect tense present
perfect
sense all right um so let’s go to the
next grammar point
for this lesson today i’m looking for
your questions hello
everyone who is joining now who has
joined
okay present perfect everybody loves
present perfect
right present perfect so what do we use
present perfect to do
first let’s refresh our minds present
perfect
is used as in this diagram here
two full talk about an action
that started in the past and continues
to the present we use continuous to do
this
also i will talk about that point later
or it’s an action that happened in the
past
but it affects the present so there’s
some kind of
effect a direct effect in the present
so let’s look at some examples
here is how we make the present perfect
tense
so we have two groups of subject
i you we and they
plus have and the past participle
form of the verb so i’m not going to
cover this uh a list of these today you
can use your
google skills to find this out so
uh if your subject is he she or it we
use
has and the past participle verb so
i have verb or he has verb
to make your sentence negative not
not okay so not comes before your verb
have not verb has not verb
today in this lesson i want to focus
mostly
on the negative form of this it’s useful
to to show you’re thinking about the
next
step in whatever you’re working on so
first one this will be just a positive
sentence to begin
i’ve finished my to-do list
for today i’ve finished my to-do list
for today
this i’ve is i have
the reduced form i have finished my
to-do list
for today finished is the past
participle
verb form of finish so i’ve
finished my to-do list
to-do list my task list for
today so this means i had a list of
things to do
just for today today’s to-do list that’s
what this expresses
okay so let’s go
to some negative examples then
here he hasn’t finished
the proposal he hasn’t
finished the proposal here
hasn’t he hasn’t this hasn’t is
has and not he hasn’t
finished the proposal proposal means
an idea like a professional idea
he hasn’t finished this proposal
all right another one she
hasn’t submitted
the paperwork yet she hasn’t
submitted the paperwork yet
submit this is the base verb here to
submit
she hasn’t submitted to submit something
means to
turn something in to to give
someone a document to give someone
paperwork
officially to submit she hasn’t
submitted
the paperwork yet this point here
i want to talk about this has yet
this sentence does not have yet he
hasn’t finished the proposal what’s the
difference
we’re going to talk about this next week
but
yet at the end of a sentence
like this shows expectation
so i expect she
will submit the paperwork i have some
expectation
she’s going to do it but it has
not happened it has not happened this
sentence
he hasn’t finished the proposal is like
a report
i have no expectation or i don’t
communicate
an expectation yet shows the expectation
this is the difference here
okay um all right
some others how do you know these
classes are really live rafael
does that help you okay let’s go to the
last one
we haven’t taken a break today
we haven’t taken a break today this is a
very common one
if you have a very busy day
we haven’t taken a break today
here haven’t this is the reduced form of
have not have not we haven’t
taken taken this is the past participle
verb form
of take we haven’t taken a break today
so again the negative form maybe we
don’t practice it a lot
but this is very useful to express the
next
step or something we plan to do in the
future
john carlo lanois says we haven’t scored
d at the end of score yeah we haven’t
scored a touchdown we haven’t scored a
touchdown
okay all right uh john
legos says i haven’t finished my
homework yet that’s true
good luck with your homework very nice
uh shongs
says he hasn’t finished his homework yet
nice nice uh he hasn’t given my money
back yet says babna nice example
sentence
uh jantani says alicia hasn’t finished
her broadcast yet that is correct yes i
have
oh not very long to finish this
um oh conwell g writes he’s not
started learning french yet and don’t i
would not recommend using he’s
not use he has
not or he hasn’t if you want to make the
negative form
don’t reduce he and has into he’s
reduce these two he hasn’t he hasn’t
that’s not and then that sounds perfect
he’s
he hasn’t started learning french yet
uh chosen rights i haven’t free time
today yet
very close i haven’t you need a verb
here
we need a verb we haven’t had free time
today so i
have not had free time today and then
it’s perfect
so don’t forget your verb there okay
all right um oh sunshine writes i
haven’t returned
in my assignment yet very close with the
verb to return
something means to give something back
to the original
owner you don’t want to do that i
haven’t
turned in i haven’t turned in
or submitted i haven’t submitted my
original
assignment yet okay
all right other questions
all right okay great so nice example
sentences i hope that helps you
so uh let’s be done let’s finish
the present perfect part and go on to
the final part
for today’s lesson present perfect
progressive
so today we’re building on these three
grammar points okay
so let’s go uh also if you have not like
this video please like this video
share the video it helps us it helps
others find it yeah
so um let’s go to the last part
the last part for today bottom
present perfect progressive or present
perfect continuous
and also uh some of the vocabulary words
in today’s lesson uh you can find
some key verbs there’s a new there’s a
new pdf
that’s about common verbs i don’t have
the printed version but i saw it and
there’s a new pdf
about common verbs that you can download
so if you want to practice these grammar
points you can use that pdf to do it so
check the link above or below the video
to download that
okay let’s go so final grammar point
today last grammar point
present perfect progressive or present
perfect continuous both are fine
what do we use this to do all right
let’s look at our diagram so we use
present perfect continuous
to talk about an action the action
started
in the past so here’s my timeline past
now and the future we use it to talk
about an
action that started in the past and
continued continue to continue
and is continuing we’ll probably
continue
after the conversation
so yes there are cases
in which it’s okay to use this grammar
point
or just present perfect so for example
ah i have lived in new york for
10 years or i have been living in new
york for 10 years they’re both 100
correct so there are some cases where
you can use
both but sometimes we want to
emphasize we want to communicate more
strongly the continuing
status of something so we use this
grammar point
to do it okay so how do we make it
very very very very similar to
just basic present perfect so this part
is the same we have these two subject
groups i you we they have
and then we use bin
and a verb in the ing form
i have been teaching you have been
listening
she has been watching and so on so
have been and has been
are used before an ing
verb phrase then typically usually
at the end we use for or
since four or since these
we have to choose one only one we use
four before in this case two
hours so a period of time
since before a point in time
this part tells us when the action
started okay so let’s practice with some
examples
i have been cooking dinner for
two hours i have been cooking dinner
for two hours maybe a very
difficult complex dinner alberto cool
thanks very much for supporting us on
youtube that’s super nice
okay someone writes a fun funny kid says
i have been watching this video yeah
good
so i have been watching this video for
30 minutes maybe 30 minutes or so
okay so another example he
has been building his website
since last month
he has been building his website since
last month
last month is my point in time
so i use synths to describe them
next example my friend
has been advertising
her business in a local
magazine for six months
my friend has been advertising her
business in a local magazine
for six months final example
we have been taking care
of our neighbors pets
since friday we have been taking care
of our neighbors pets since friday
oh there are so many example sentences i
will read some
uh now i’ll choose a few a lot of people
are writing about their english studies
i have been learning a lot of english
grammar
about a lot of english grammar uh con
maljeet says i’ve been learning from
alicia
since last year good example uh jose
says i have been cooking rice for one
hour nice one
okay uh shang says i have been studying
english yes great uh hudson says it has
been raining for two days non-stop
really where are you um raquel says we
have been ah
we have been working out in that gym
since january great examples everybody
okay um oh my gosh there are so many
comments coming very quickly
she has been running at the park says
everybody alicia how long have you been
studying
english all my life i’m still studying
everybody’s always still studying you
learn new things
all the time actually side note i just
posted on
twitter yesterday there is a great list
of kind of
new vocabulary words like slang
vocabulary words
and many native english speakers
particular like uh
many native english speakers were
writing wow i don’t know these new words
so we’re always learning okay so your
example sentences look really good
uh rocio oh one of our members had i
have been working as
a software developer as a software
developer
since 10 years ago you can say that
or for 10 years for the last
10 years remember four before a time
period so the last 10 years is a time
period
okay all right phew great lots of
example sentences
time oh i’m out of time let’s go to the
last part for today’s lesson
some of you are making great questions
already
but here is how to make questions or
question making pattern
with present perfect progressive
so again we have our wh question who
what where when why how
quick i know so who or what have
subject been verbing so
what have you been doing what have you
been doing you might say to
a little kid making a mess in a room
what have you been doing so this
communicates the action started in the
past and continues
to the present and you’re like what have
you been doing
so this shows you’re communicating the
action
started in the past for example another
example
what have you been working on
recently what have you been working on
recently or what have you been working
on lately
what have you been working on
this part a pronunciation point what
have you been working on
we reduce this this what have you
becomes what what of you what of you or
very very short what you’ve been working
on what you’ve been working on
really really short yeah so a
real quick point there this one where
have you been taking classes where have
you been taking classes
about a hobby or new study topic
we reduced this to where have you been
to where you’ve been where you’ve been
where you’ve been taking classes
oh where you’ve been taking classes so
this part reduces
where have you been finally
who have you been talking to all day so
someone is on the phone or texting
all day you might say who have you been
talking to all day
who have you been talking to all day so
some people ask like
should i use whom in this question
you can you can in general everyday
speech we tend to use these who patterns
more so not to whom have you been
talking
all day so technically correct yes but
we don’t use
uh well i would say most in every in
most everyday conversations we don’t use
that pattern
we typically use who you’ve been talking
to all day who have you been talking to
all day
okay that was a lot
i have to finish it’s time so great
examples everybody
uh didn’t i s did i miss something
russia i see your same example sentence
again like oh
oh oh maybe i did miss something okay so
great so we’ll finish there um
that was a lot so that was present
progressive present perfect oh i’ll just
show you the lesson boards you can take
a picture
if you want to keep this if you’re ready
boom there you go so present progressive
present perfect and present perfect
progressive
tense that’s kind of hard to say it’s a
lot of information
so i hope this was helpful for you and
you can
express uh your current status
with these grammar points we are going
to use them
uh again next week so i’m trying to
uh create more chances to review in live
lessons
uh in next week’s lesson that will be
february 10th
wow already that’s just amazing we’re
going to talk about how to give
status updates again so similar topic
here
and we’re going to focus on yet already
and still how do we use these words to
communicate
more depth how do we give more detail
about our expectations we use these
words
to do that so please join me next week
to cover this
topic okay let’s
wrap it up there so if you missed it uh
please don’t forget to check out the
pdfs for you to download
from the link below the video as i said
uh there are some
uh i would recommend for today’s lesson
maybe
the verbs pdf this one’s different uh
the verbs pdf would be a nice one to
download to practice
uh changing the verb forms with today’s
grammar points so check that out
link below or above the video all right
so uh do i have any time oh my gosh i
have to finish
someone says do you teach once a week
nancy yes i do you can find me here
every week uh wednesday or thursday
depending on your time zone
you can get a notification if you
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update there the link is in the
description
i gotta wrap up thanks very much for
joining me i will see you again