PRESENT TIME

Explanations

Basic contrasts:

present simple and present continuous

State verbs and event (action or dynamic) verbs

Present simple generally refers to:

• Facts that are always true

Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

• Habits

British people drink a lot of tea.

• States

/ don't like gangster films.

• Present continuous (progressive) generally refers to actions which are in progress at the moment. These can be temporary:

I'm staying in a hotel until I find a fiat.

• They can be actually in progress:

The dog is sleeping on our bed!

• Or they can be generally in progress but not actually happening at the moment:

I'm learning to drive.

• State verbs describe a continuing state, so do not usually have a continuous form. Typical examples are:

believe, belong, consist, contain, doubt, fit, have, know, like, love, matter, mean, need, own, prefer, seem, suppose, suspect, understand, want, wish

• Some verbs have a stative meaning and a different active meaning. Typical examples are:

be, depend, feel, have, measure, see, taste, think, weigh

• Jill's being noisy.
• We're having an interesting conversation!
• David's thinking about getting a new job.
• I'm just tasting the soup.
• I'm feeling terrible.
• We're weighing the baby.
• Bill, I'm depending on you to win this contract for us.