{"id":2070,"date":"2020-06-12T13:14:59","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T17:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/?p=2070"},"modified":"2020-06-16T07:50:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T11:50:24","slug":"how-to-use-continuous-tenses-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/how-to-use-continuous-tenses-in-english\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Continuous Tenses in English"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>First of all, it is important to acknowledge that the continuous form in English is often referred to as the \u2018progressive\u2019 form. Please note that that continuous and progressive forms are one and the same.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The continuous (or progressive) forming English is formed with an auxiliary (be) plus the verb in the \u2018ing\u2019 form. Here is an example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I am listening to music.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The continuous form exists in various time tenses, as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Present continuous<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The present continuous is used to signify an action that is in progress at the moment of speaking. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I\u2019m wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt.<\/p><p>I\u2019m writing this article.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>With this verb tense, you would expect to see time expressions such as \u2018now\u2019, \u2018currently\u2019 or \u2018at the moment\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Present continuous for future<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The present continuous looks exactly the same when it is used to speak about an arrangement in the future. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>I\u2019m going<\/strong> to Cuba for my vacation.<\/p><p><strong>I\u2019m having<\/strong> spaghetti for my dinner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>With this verb tense, you would expect to see time expressions such as \u2018tonight\u2019, \u2018tomorrow\u2019 or anything that represents the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n    \n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Past continuous<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Past continuous is usually used for two distinct reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To emphasize that a past action continued for a long time<\/li><li>To compare two actions in the past, where one, shorter action (past simple), interrupted another, longer action (past continuous).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are examples of both of these uses of past continuous, with the reason (1 or 2) in brackets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I <strong>was living<\/strong> in New York for 17 years. (1)<\/p><\/p><p>I <strong>was watching<\/strong> TV last night when the electricity went out. (2)<\/p><p>I <strong>was watching<\/strong> TV all night. (1)<\/p><p>I <strong>was living<\/strong> in New York when I met Jane. (2)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Future continuous<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The future continuous tense is used to express an action that will be in progress at a certain point in the future. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>This time next year <strong>I\u2019ll be living<\/strong> in Mexico.<\/p><p>Call me at 6pm as <strong>I\u2019ll be driving<\/strong> and will have time to speak.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other continuous forms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continuous forms also exist in the perfect tense, such as present perfect continuous and past perfect continuous. Here are examples of both of those tenses in action;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>I have been working<\/strong> here for 3 years. (present perfect continuous)<\/p><p><strong>I had been running<\/strong> so I was tired when I spoke to her. (past perfect)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The present perfect continuous tense must be learnt in collaboration with the present perfect simple in order to fully understand the slight differences in meaning that exist between the two forms, but generally speaking, the continuous form is used to emphasize the duration of the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same can be said for the difference between the past perfect continuous and the past perfect simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Stative &amp; dynamic verbs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to understand that not all verbs in English can be used in the continuous form. That is because not all verbs are \u2018actions\u2019. Some are, in fact, \u2018states\u2019. These two types of verbs can be referred to as \u2018stative\u2019 and \u2018dynamic\u2019 (or \u2018active\u2019) verbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following verbs are examples of stative verbs (please note that this list is not comprehensive).<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>understand, know, be, love, like, hate<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Because they are not actions, stative verbs cannot be used in the continuous form. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><s>I\u2019m understanding you very well.<\/s><\/p><p>I understand you very well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><s>I\u2019ve been knowing John for ten years.<\/s><\/p><p>I\u2019ve known John for ten years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Dual meaning verbs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it is important to remember that some verbs can in fact be both stative and dynamic, depending on the meaning they are trying to convey. Here is a classic example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><s>I\u2019m thinking Italy is a wonderful country.<\/s><\/p><p>I think Italy is a wonderful country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>When \u2018think\u2019 is used to express anopinion, it is a stative verb, so cannot be used in the continuous form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I\u2019m thinking about what you said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>When \u2018think\u2019 means to use your mind to consider something, then it is a dynamic verb, so can be used in the continuous form if it is an action in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is always important to consider whether a verb is stative or dynamic in nature for these grammatical reasons.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First of all, it is important to acknowledge that the continuous form in English is often referred to as the \u2018progressive\u2019 form. Please note that that continuous and progressive forms are one and the same.&nbsp; The continuous (or progressive) forming English is formed with an auxiliary (be) plus the verb in the \u2018ing\u2019 form. Here [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[636,15,14],"class_list":["post-2070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-continuous-tenses","tag-grammar","tag-how-to"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.8 (Yoast SEO v24.8.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Use Continuous Tenses in English - Linguix Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/linguix.com\/blog\/how-to-use-continuous-tenses-in-english\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Use Continuous Tenses in English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First of all, it is important to acknowledge that the continuous form in English is often referred to as the \u2018progressive\u2019 form. 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