As ships piled up in home ports, american commerce threatened to come to a standstill affecting the entire national economy. the cabinet grew seriously alarmed. although wilson possessed the executive authority to arm ships, he was reluctant to take the step that would inevitably start the shooting. he preferred to ask congress for authorization, thus touching off the great debate and filibuster on the armed ship bill. how does the author organize the text to support her viewpoint in the paragraph?

abruptly

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.

what he !

provide the full question .