Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about English tenses and in particular the difference between the simple and continuous form of the present tense. When do we use present simple and when do we use present continuous? Let’s find out more…

We normally use the present simple in English to talk about things that usually happen or things that are generally true, so it’s useful to talk about habits or repeated actions. For example, “I HAVE eggs for breakfast every day”. So we don’t say: “I AM HAVING eggs every day”. That sounds strange.

We use the present continuous to talk about a temporary situation, an action that is happening right now. So you could say: “I AM HAVING breakfast”. This means you are eating now, you are busy, you can’t do anything else. This action is in progress now.

You could emphasise that by saying “I AM HAVING breakfast at the moment” or “I AM HAVING breakfast right now”, but it should be clear if you just use the present continuous on its own.

So going from present simple to continuous normally changes the meaning of what we want to say. For example, if you say: “I LIVE in London”, this means London is your permanent home. However, if you say: “I AM LIVING in London”, this suggests that the situation is temporary and you will probably move or return home soon.

You could develop that sentence by saying “I AM LIVING in London at the moment, but I LIVE in Paris”. London is your temporary home and Paris is your permanent home. 

So, you ARE LEARNING English right now of course, but DO you LEARN English every day? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM to make learning about English tenses your daily habit, a true and repeated action! See you soon!

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