4: Simple vs Continuous Tenses - englishwithseonaid.com

1 8 Perfect English Grammar PLUS Seonaid Beckwith 4: Simple vs Continuous Tenses Here are the broad differences between how we use the Simple Tenses in general and how we use the Continuous Tenses in general. There are some differences in how each particular tense is used which we ll look at in more detail soon. Simple Continuous 1. Complete actions (no change) incomplete actions (with change) 2. Regular habits irregular habits 3. Permanent temporary 4. Sequential or simultaneous with other actions overlaps other actions 1: Complete vs incomplete actions We can use the Simple Tenses for things that are finished and the Continuous Tenses for things that aren t finished yet.

2 This is particularly true with action with ending verb phrases. I wrote an email last night. I was writing an email last night. They are still working on the road. But if we say they work on the road , it doesn t really make sense because it s not a short action that is finished now. If we use this sentence, we expect that it has a habitual meaning. They work on the road every day. This is one of the reasons that we use the present Continuous to talk about things that are happening now. Things that are happening now are generally unfinished. The exception is when we are talking about a sports game or a cookery demonstration where the actions we describe are happening so fast that they are over as soon as we have said the words, and so we can use the present Simple as the action is finished.

3 But usually, things like I am working or she s reading are things that we are in the middle of so they are naturally unfinished. 9 Perfect English Grammar PLUS Seonaid Beckwith 2: Regular vs irregular habits We can use the Simple Tenses to talk about regular habits, like when we do something every Tuesday or once a month . On the other hand, we use the Continuous Tenses to talk about habits that don t happen regularly (these are called irregular habits ), but do happen a lot. Instead of a time expression like once a week or on Saturdays , we use always , forever and continually with the Continuous Tenses . Sometimes, when we talk about irregular habits, we think that the thing happens too often, and we use the Continuous to show that we re a little bit annoyed about this.

4 It can also show that the thing happens surprisingly often. However, this isn t always the case. I get up at seven am every morning. He s always getting up late. She s always smiling. She always smiles when she sees me. They re continually going on holiday. They go on holiday every summer. My father was always planning trips to museums when I was little. My father often planned trips to museums when I was little. 3: Permanent vs temporary This is a more Simple distinction. We use the Continuous Tenses for two kinds of temporary situations Continuous situations and repeated actions. There isn t an exact amount of time that makes something temporary.

5 The difference is in the head of the person who is speaking. I m working now. (We use the present Continuous with actions like this both because they are temporary and because they are unfinished.) Compare with I work in a bank . 10 Perfect English Grammar PLUS Seonaid Beckwith She s living in London. (For six months) Compare with she lives in Warsaw . He s taking swimming lessons (this is a temporary repeated series of actions.) Compare with he takes swimming lessons every week and he s taking a swimming lesson now . In the past: She was working as a waitress for a few months. Compare with she worked as a waitress for years . I was living in Kyoto last month.

6 I lived in Kyoto as a child. In the present , we don t need to have a time expression, but we can. It s often something like these days or nowadays or currently . In the past, we generally use a time expression, such as at that time , in those days or for a few months . We when use the present Simple and the past Simple with stative verbs, they can have this temporary meaning. For other verbs, if the thing is temporary, we have to use a Continuous tense. Where is Luke? He is at our other office this afternoon. ( Be can have a temporary meaning here even though it s in the present Simple because be is a stative verb.) He works at our other office this afternoon.

7 (This isn t possible because work isn t a stative verb, so work can t have a temporary meaning in the present Simple . We need to say he is working at our other office this afternoon .) 4: Sequential vs overlapping actions 11 Perfect English Grammar PLUS Seonaid Beckwith Because the Continuous Tenses are unfinished, we use them to show that a longer action is still in progress when another shorter action happens. We can also use a time instead of the shorter action. Here are examples with the past Continuous and the future Continuous . For both of these examples, the eating starts before Julie arrives and probably continues afterwards. When Julie arrived, we were eating dinner.

8 When Julie arrives, we ll be eating dinner. Notice how this is different from using two Simple Tenses . When Julie arrived, we ate dinner. (We hadn t started before she arrived. She arrived and then we ate.) When Julie arrives, we ll eat dinner. We can also use it to show that the action in the Continuous tense was in progress at a certain time. That is, the action in the Continuous tense started before the time and continued afterwards. You need to say the time for the past Continuous and the future Continuous . At 8pm last night, we were eating dinner. At 8pm tomorrow, we ll be eating dinner. Again, this is different from using a Simple tense. Both of the examples below mean that the eating started / will start at 8pm, and not before.

9 At 8pm last night, we ate dinner. At 8 pm tomorrow, we ll eat dinner. With the present Continuous , we assume that the time is now. Usually, we don t use another action (like when Julie arrives ). Instead, the present Continuous crossed the present moment. We re eating dinner. However, we can use the present Continuous with another action when we re using the historic present or with a demonstration or commentary. I ll talk more about this in the present Continuous section. 12 Perfect English Grammar PLUS Seonaid Beckwith This overlapping of time is why we re sometimes told that the past Continuous is used for the background to a story (and the past Simple is used for the action).

10 John was walking down the road. The birds were singing and the sun was shining. Then John met Julie. This use works easily for both continuing action and action with endpoint verbs. It s even possible to use the Continuous like this with single point verbs, to stretch out the action of the verb so that we can talk about an even shorter action that happened during the first action. The plane was taking off when suddenly .. As well as a relationship between a longer Continuous action and a short action, we can also use the Continuous Tenses to show that a series of repeated actions overlaps another action or a time. When I arrived, Lucy was jumping up and down. When I arrive, Lucy will be jumping up and down.