Reflection: Is easy to find the present continuous tense by recognizing the formula (am/is/are)+ verb+ ing. The difficulty is to identify the stative verbs which are not used in this tense. 

Example: "I have worked on this dissertation for two years."

Example found in authentic material: “There have been many untimely, unexpected funerals in this northern Donbas town in recent months.” Newspaper article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64446436 

Reflection: It is difficult to understand the difference between present perfect and present perfect continues. If the sentence is already written is easy to recognize the different structures: in the case of the present perfect the verb tens is in past participle and in the present perfect continues case the structure of the verb has an “ing” at the end. But when you are thinking to express some idea or fill in the blanks, they are very similar, as they are states or activities beginning in the past and sometimes ongoing in the present.

Example: "I had been working on my online homework since Monday when the light went out."

Example found in authentic material: “That has intensified in recent weeks, as Mr. Smith’s staff — led by Thomas Windom, a veteran prosecutor who had been working out of the office of the U.S. attorney in Washington — has pored through hundreds of witness transcripts turned over by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack.” Newspaper article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/us/politics/pence-subpoena-trump.html

Reflection: The clue is to identify the first activity when there is a relation in a sentence of two past activities, which the first one must be in the past perfect continuous tense.

Examples: "I´m so hungry. I´ll make dinner." / "I think I´m going to stay in Austin for one more year."

Example 1 found in authentic material: “The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday it will investigate a December flight in which a United Airlines plane descended to within less than 800 feet (250 meters) of the ocean surface after taking off from Hawaii..” Newspaper article: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/plane-steep-dive-maui-hawaii-sfo-ntsb-to-investigate/

Example 2 found in authentic material:“I do think clerical white-collar work is going to be able to be replaced by this,” Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM, told the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday" Newspaper article: https://fortune.com/2023/02/16/ibm-ceo-ai-will-replace-clerical-work-and-avert-labor-crisis-population-crisis/

Reflection: The clue is to identify the intention in the activity: quick decisiones and de use of adverbs such as "maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably, and definitely"; if the acction is a planned future activity, typically, "be going" is used for plans in the future.

Example: " You shouldn´t quit your job yet."

Example 1 found in authentic material: “Biden must follow Roosevelt’s ‘arsenal of democracy’ example."

Example 2 found in authentic material: "Some U.S. military officials have suggested that Ukraine should slow the rate at which it fires artillery shells, or pick its targets more selectively."

Reflection: Modals are a way to express weaker or stronger forms of telling something, and are used in different scenarios to advise, prohibit, obligate, or show necessity. 

Example: "She accepted having eaten all the cookies."

Example 1 found in authentic material: “Inspectors rated it inadequate having found "widespread and significant shortfalls" in care."

Reflection: It is important to recognize the perfect gerund in a sentence where the time is not clear, and identify the order of the activities. 

Example: "Maria, who is the best in the class, got B+ in the grammar exam."

Example 1 found in authentic material: “Wyoming police have identified two men who were fatally shot Friday, March 31, outside of a house on Buchanan Avenue SW.e."

Reflection: It is important to recognize when the adjective is describing the subject or object of the main sentence and if it is necessary or not to add commas if it is not essential information.  

Example: "Since he missed the bus, he was late for the interview."

Example 1 found in authentic material: “USC coach Lincoln Riley had compiled a history of winning big at the collegiate level by the time he arrived as the head man in Los Angeles, and his first year with the Trojans proved to be no different."

Reflection: It is essential to recognize these clauses by the subordinator, the structure of the sentences if is independent or dependant, and understand that this clause shows time, gives reasons, shows concession or contrast, shows a place or a purpose.

Example: "I don´t know what happened at the game."

Example 1 found in authentic material: “It is important that we recognize Bruce for all he has done and will continue to do,” Gov. Phil Murphy says."

Reflection: This clause can follow verbs of necessity and advise, and also can be subject complements or adjective and noun complements of the main sentence.