Present Simple

& Present Progressive

1.Present Simple

2. Present Progressive (Continuous)

3. State Verbs

4.Simple or Continuous?
We use the Present Simple for:

• facts or general truths

(Water boils at 100*C)

• routines or habits
(Lucy always goes to the shopping on Friday)

• permanent states
(He is a great student)

• timetabled events in the future

(The bus departs at 10 am on Friday)

• narratives
(Jim passes to Larry who shoots and scores)
The Present Progressive, also known as the Present Continuous, is
used for:
• actions that are in progress at the time of speaking
(I’m reading at the moment)

• actions that are in progress around the time of speaking

(I’m looking for a new perspective job)

• temporary situations
(I’m working as a teacher, but, in general. I’m a psychologist)

• annoying habits
(You’re always making mistakes!)

• describing what is happening in a picture

(Some kids are running around)

• future plans
(I’m meeting my friends tomorrow)
• situations that are changing or developing in the present
(The air pollution is increasing)
State verbs (also stative verbs, non-action verbs) are verbs that hardly
used in the continuous form (-ing form).

Some examples: small, taste, feel, etc.

State verbs often relate to:

• opinions and thoughts (agree, suspect, doubt, believe, etc.)

• feelings and emotions ( love, hate, adore, like, etc.)

• senses and perceptions (appear, be, feel, smell, taste, etc.)

• possession and measurements (belong, have, own, etc.)

Dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as "action verbs") usually
describe actions we can take, or things that happen

Some verbs can be both stative and dynamic. Here are a few
examples:

• Be
be = it is usually used as a stative verb - stative
He's an excellent guitarist.
be = when it means behave or act, it can be used as a an action verb in
the continuous form. - dynamic
You are being silly.

• Think
think = to express an opinion, to believe - stative
I think it's a fantastic idea.
think = consider, to reason about or reflect on, ponder, to have or
formulate in the mind - dynamic
I am thinking about my friend
 • Have
have = to possess, to own - stative
He has a beautiful car
have = when it doesn't mean own or possess - dynamic
He's having lunch.

• See
see = to perceive with the eye, to understand - stative
I see what you mean.
see = to meet, to be in the company of, to escort, to attend - dynamic
He's been seeing the same woman for eight years.
 Here are some exceptions

We can use the Present Progressive with some state

verbs (e.g. attract, like, look, love, sound) to
emphasize that a situation is temporary

Lilly stays with us quite often. The children love

having her here

Lilly is here at the moment. The children are loving

having her here
Some verbs (e.g. cost, expect, feel, fit, have, imagine, measure,
think, weight) have different meanings when they are used in
the continuous form.

We expect you are hungry

We are expecting a phone call

This car costs only $24 000

This car is costing me more than I expected
With some verbs describing mental states (e.g. find, realize,
regret, think, understand), we can use the Present Continuous
to emphasize that we have recently started to think about
something or are not sure about something

I regret that the company will have to be sold

I’m regretting my decision to give her job
We use the Present Simple with verbs which perform the
action they describe
(= performatives)

I suggest you park outside the city and

get the bus to the center

We request that you read the terms and

conditions carefully
Acknowledge
Admit Guarantee
Advise Name
Apologize Order
Beg Permit
Confess Predict
Congratulate Promise
Declare Refuse
Deny Remind
Forbid Request
Think
Warn