the usage of english tenses.

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Hi everyone,
I really like this forum as it is full with good people. thanks a lot again ! This time my question is a little bit longer one.

An expression of place can sometimes come between the auxiliary be and the -ing verb in a progressive tense.

a) - what is Tom doing?
- He is studying in his room.
b) - where is Tom?
- He's in his room studying

In (a) the focus of both the question and the answer is on Tom's activity, i.e. ,
on what he is doing .
In (b) the focus of both the question and the answer is on Tom's location, i.e., on where Tom is

And at last my question is this: Do all English tenses follow this rule? I have a good grammar book by Betty Azar ( I really do respect this author). The author gave this information in her book but didn't inform whether all English tenses follow this rule.

thanks for your attention in advance !

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Not sure what you are asking.

a) - what is Tom doing?
- He is studying in his room.
b) - where is Tom?
- He's in his room studying

There is no difference between these two sentences. The "in his room" is simply an adverb that describes "where" he is studying.

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@ificouldreturnit,

I don't see that a rule is in play here.

In the first reply the action being preformed by Tom is studying.

In the second reply the action being preformed by Tom is being in.

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"An expression of place can sometimes come between the auxiliary be and the -ing verb in a progressive tense."

This is NOT a "rule." It just means that you may come across this when using the present progressive verb.

She is in the back room laughing about the joke.

She is laughing in the back room about the joke.

She is laughing about the joke in the back room.

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Dear members, first of all many thanks for your attention and replies! It is really kind of you.

I meant, is it possible to say, for example, She in her room studied English or she studied English in her room (the past simple), She in her room has been learning English or She has been learning English in her room (the present perfect progressive)etc.

I wanted to ask you in my previous question whether all tenses can be used like this ? Or only present progressive can be used in this structure?

many thanks in advance,

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@ificouldreturnit,

Quote:

I wanted to ask you in my previous question whether all tenses can be used like this?

Yes.

He studies in his room.

He studied in his room.

He will study in his room.

He will have studied in his room.

If he were to study in his room.

If he were to have studied in his room.

He had studied in his room.

He would study in his room.

He would have studied in his room.

He has been studying in his room.

He will be studying in his room.

He will have been studying in his room.

He would be studying in his room.

He would have been studying in his room.

Use commas if you're going to put the prepositional phrase before the verb.

"She, in her room, studied English."

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@ificouldreturnit,

She in her room studied English. No, wrong
She studied English in her room. Yes

She in her room has been learning English. No
She has been learning English in her room. Yes

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Dear members, Thank you so much for spending your time on answering my question! I understand it very clearly now. Accept my thanks for your replies.
You have really helped me out a lot.

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the usage of english tenses.

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