Grammar reference. We use the Present Simple:

We use the Present Simple:

1 when the fact or event is always true:

People drive on the right in most European countries. Water freezes at 0° Centigrade.

2 to talk about regular or repeated actions or events:

He usually arrives at school at 8.00 a.m.

3 with future meaning for timetables:

The train for London leaves at 6.26 from Platform 8.

4 to describe the plot of a book or film:

Mr. Darcy eventually proposes to Elizabeth, and she accepts.

5 when the speaker is commentating on a sporting event:

... and Hingis serves. Davenport returns the ball with ease...

6 for newspaper headlines (when the event is in the past):

President arrives in China. (When the event is in the future, we usually use the infinitive: President to visit China next month.)

We use the Present Continuous:

1 to describe an action happening at the moment of speaking:

She can't come to the phone; she' s having a shower.

2 to talk about temporary situations:

She normally lives in London, but at the moment she' s living in Athens.

3 to talk about developing situations:

Prices are rising every year.

4 to talk about annoying/amusing habits + always/constantly:
He 's always complaining about something.

Note:

The following verbs are not usually used in the continuous form:

a) denoting mental activity – to know, to believe, to doubt, to imagine, to suppose, to forget, to remember etc;

b) denoting abstract relations – to seem, to appear, to have, to belong, to consist of, to own, to possess, to lack etc;

c) denoting sense perception – to see, to hear etc;

d) denoting wish and feeling – to want, to wish, to love, to like, to hate, to prefer etc;

e denoting physical properties of objects – to taste (have a flavour), to smell (give out a smell), to weigh (have weight) etc.

Some verbs have different meanings in the Present Simple and Present Continuous:

I 'm thinking about it. – I'm considering it (denoting a process of thought).

I think it's wrong. – It is my opinion.

I' m seeing him on Thursday. – I am meeting him.

Every morning, I see the children on their way to school. – I notice, look at them.

You don't look very well. – You don't seem well.

What are you looking at? – What can you see?

Date: 2016-02-19; view: 612; Нарушение авторских прав