Unit 3 The difference between the Present Simple and the Present Continuous

1 The Present Simple is preferred to the Present Continuous when the action itself attracts the attention of the speaker and the idea of progress is unimportant at the moment.

You’ve always treated me badly and now you insult me.

You leave me no choice.

I repeat she has been rude again.

2 The Present Simple is preferred to the Present Continuous when the speaker doesn’t concentrate on the progress of the action but rather on the circumstances attending that action.

You speak so slowly. – The manner of the action

Why do you look at me like that? – The cause of the action

3 The Present Simple is used instead of the Present Continuous to denote actions and states happening at the moment of speaking with stative verbs. Stative (or state) verbs refer to states. So they have no beginning and no end. They can’t be used in the continuous aspect.

There are several groups of stative verbs:

1 verbs denoting physical perception: to hear, to notice, to see, to sound, to smell, to taste

2 verbs denoting emotions: to adore, to care for, to detest, to dislike, to hate, to like, to love, to respect

3 verbs denoting wish: to desire, to want, to wish

4 verbs denoting mental processes: to admire (= to be of high opinion), to appreciate, to assume, to believe (= to consider), to consider (= to regard), to doubt, to expect (= to suppose), to feel (= to consider), to forget, to imagine, to know, to mind (= to object), to perceive, to presume, to realize, to recall, to recognize, to recollect, to regard, to remember, to suppose, to think (= to consider), to trust, to understand

5 relational verbs: to apply, to be, to belong, to concern, to consist, to contain, to depend, to deserve, to differ, to equal, to exist, to fit, to have, to hold (= to contain), to include, to involve, to lack, to matter, to measure, to need, to owe, to own, to possess, to remain, to require, to resemble, to result, to signify, to suffice, to weigh

6 some other verbs: to agree, to allow, to appear (= to seem), to astonish, to claim, to consent, to displease, to envy, to fail to do, to feel, to find, to forbid, to forgive, to intend, to interest, to keep doing, to look, to look like, to manage to do, to mean, to object, to please, to prefer, to prevent, to promise, to puzzle, to refuse, to remind, to satisfy, to seem, to succeed, to suit, to surprise, to tend, to value.

Compare progressive and non-progressive uses of some of the verbs listed above