Sunday, September 25, 2016

Present Simple Vs Present Continuous

Present Simple VS Present Continuous

Present SimplePresent Continuous
Things which are always true:
  • Water boils at 100 degrees.
Things which are happening at the moment of speaking:
  • The water is boiling now, so you can put in the pasta.
Permanent situations (or nearly permanent; true for a few years at least):
  • Julie lives in London.
Temporary situations:
  • Julie is living in Paris for a few months (usually she lives in London).
Situations which are slowly changing:
  • I'm getting better and better at speaking English.
Habits or things we do regularly:
  • drink coffee every morning.
Temporary or new habits:
  • I'm drinking too much coffee these days because I'm so busy at work.
Annoying habits (usually with 'always'):
  • My flatmate is always leaving the kitchen in a mess!
Future events which are part of a timetable:
  • My plane leaves at eight tonight.
To talk about the future after certain words ('when' 'until' 'after' 'before' 'as soon as'):
  • I'll call you when I get home.
Definite future plans:
  • I'm meeting John after class today.
To talk about what happens in books, plays and films:
  • At the end of the book, the detective catches the killer.
To talk about people in pictures and photos:
  • In this photo, my mother is walking beside a lake.
Remember:
  • We use the present simple with stative verbs. We can't use any continuous tense (including the present continuous tense, of course) with stative verbs
Thanks: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-or-present-continuous.html !!

No comments:

Post a Comment