Today's lesson is by Caroline
What is the difference between these two tenses and when do we use each one? Here's a brief explanation of present simple and present continuous as well as a quick test to see how much you remember!
Present Continuous is used to describe an action that’s happening at the moment, but it’s also sometimes used to talk about a future plan.
The form of the Present Continuous is:
Today's lesson is from Amy Whiting, EC Cape Town English language school.
Present Simple is used to talk about routines and habits, it uses the form Subject + Verb
Example: We eat turkey at Christmas time
Today's lesson comes from Deborah Jane Cairns, EC Cape Town English language school:
"This shirt costs $50."
"This shirt is costing $50."
Which is correct? Why?
The first sentence - "This shirt costs $50" - is correct because the price of the shirt is fixed; it's a fixed state and therefore we use a state verb, costs.
To make continuous verbs add -ing to the base verb:
'They love it' or 'They are loving it'?
When a verb describes a state and not an action we do not use the continuous tense. For example, 'play' is an action so we can say 'playing' whereas 'be' is a fixed state which does not change: 'To be, or not to be'.
New Update: EC offers various English courses, including online English speaking courses
'I surf / I am surfing.'
What's the difference between the Present Simple / Present Continuous and how to use them.
