Continuous aspect

Level: intermediate

We use continuous aspect:

for something happening before and after a specific time:

He's getting on the train. (before and after the moment of speaking)
It was a quarter past ten. We were watching the news on television.

for something happening before and after another action:

Mother will be cooking the dinner when we get home.
We were waiting for the bus when it started to rain.

for something continuing for some time:

Everybody will be waiting for us.
They had been working hard all day.

for something happening again and again:

They've been doing that every day this week.
The children were always shouting.
He will be practising the piano every night.

for something temporary:

We are renting an apartment until our house is ready.
He was working in a garage during the vacation.

for something new:

We have moved from Birmingham. We're living in Manchester now.
He had left university and was working in his father's business.

to describe something changing or developing:

Everything has been getting more difficult.
He was growing more bad-tempered every day.

Continuous aspect 1: Matching_MTYzMzg=
Continuous aspect 2: GapFillTyping_MTYzMzk=

We can use continuous aspect:

with perfect aspect:

How long have you been sitting there?
I don't know how long she had been learning Spanish.

with modal verbs:

Your friends will be looking for you.
They might be playing tennis.

with both modal verbs and perfect aspect:

You should have been driving more carefully.
Soon we will have been living here for 25 years.

Continuous aspect 3: Matching_MTYzNDA=
Continuous aspect 4: GapFillTyping_MTYzNDE=

We do not normally use the continuous aspect with stative verbs. We use the simple instead:

I don't understand you. (NOT ~~am not understanding~~)
When I got home, I really needed a shower. (NOT ~~was needing~~)
I've always liked John. (NOT ~~been liking~~)

Average

Hello LearnEnglish team,
“Go home,” said the fish. “She is already queen.”
The fisherman went home and found that his wife was the queen. She was sitting on a high throne studded with gold and gems. She wore a long, silk dress and gold jewelry. Servants were scrubbing the floor and bringing her food. A doorman stood by the door.
In the above para, I don't understand the use of the verbs wear and stand. Why the writer has used simple past wore and stood though both the action were in progress at that time while scrub, bring and sit are in progressive tense. I always get confused with these two verbs wear and stand. Please
explain it clearly....

Hello jitu_jaga,

In literature (and this is clearly from a fairy tale) the writer has a lot of latitude in terms of how they choose to express themselves. A progressive form is often used to show something which is in progress but is not typical, while a simple form suggests the opposite.

It's often useful to imagine the example with the alternative form and consider how it would be different. In your text you could say 'a doorman was standing by the door', but this would suggest that the doorman's position was not normal or typical. In other words, it would suggest that the doorman had made a decision to stand there today but that it was not normal. The simple form, by contrast, gives us the impression that the doorman's position is normal and part of his duties: if you were to visit the house (presumably now a palace) at any time you would find the doorman there.

The progressive is also common for activities which we catch in the middle of their occurrence. In other words, the activities need to have a start and end point. Scrubbing the floor and bringing food fit this, but doing duties such as standing guard (probably all day long until a replacement arrives for his shift) are seen as more permanent and unchanging, hence the simple form.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello! could you tell me about this? I saw this sentence 'Have you been smoking? I can smell smoke!' can i say 'Have you smoked? I can smell smoke!'? are they the same meaning? Thank you !

Hello englishlearningenglish,

Although 'Have you smoked?' is possible in this context it would be very unusual. We generally use the continuous form when we are describing a visible (audible etc - any senses) result of an activity. The simple form would be used when we have a single action rather than one which has duration or is repeated. For example:

Have you been smoking?

Have you been cooking?

but

Have you called him?

Have you installed the program?

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Dear teachers,
I am quoting a para from "the romance of a busy broker" by O. Henry-
And this day was Harvey Maxwell’s busy day.

Beside his table stood a machine. From this came a long, narrow, endless piece of paper, bringing him business news as soon as it happened."
For past continuous action we use continuous tense. But here in the above paragraph the author has written- Beside his table stood a machine. I think it should have been - Beside his table a machine was standing. If I am wrong, please make me understand the grammar here.

Hello jitu_jaga,

O. Henry's usage is correct here. It's as if 'stand' were a stative verb -- it describes the state of the machine in this case. As far as I can think, we don't typically use 'stand' in a continuous form with inanimate objects for this reason.

Does that make sense?

All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Hello Dear teachers,
But from merriam Webster dictionary site I found below examples where standing is used with house(inanimate object) and stands is used for trees(animate object) why? Please clarify.
The house she grew up in is no longer standing. [=the house has been destroyed or knocked down; the house no longer exists)

The mansion stands on a hill.

A row of trees stands between the two houses.

Hello again jitu_jaga,

Please note that stative verbs can sometimes be used in continuous forms, as is explained near the end of the explanation above. In the case of 'The house is no longer standing', there seems to be an emphasis on now or on some kind of contrast with expectations, which the continuous form draws attention to.

'trees' are of course alive, but cannot move -- in this sense, they are not animate.

Please do not post comments more than once; we will have to block your account if you continue to do this.

All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Hi, teachers, I found a sentence "We hadn't been waiting long before the taxi arrived" as an example for past perfect continuous form, can you explain why this sentence is correct? Why it is not just a past perfect form?
Thank's in advance :)

Hi rachl,

The past perfect simple would also be fine: We hadn't waited long before the taxi arrived.

The continuous form gives a stronger sense of the 'waiting' action having a duration and lasting some time.

I hope that helps to understand it.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

Hello, teachers,
Would you be so kind to say how to do this exercises:
A. Fill in the blanks with a verb in the continuous aspect (present, present perfect, past or past perfect).
0 Food is being served (serve) in the school hall while the kitchen is being redecorated.
1 He ________________________ (divide) his time between working at the office and selling his own products before his manager found out and warned him.
2 The committee ________________________ (suspend) its activities from Thursday at 16.00.
3 I ________________________ (phone) the delivery company now to come and get the boxes.
4 He ________________________ (try) to finish the programme for weeks.
5 I am certain that he ________________________ (negotiate) an agreement last week but I don’t know if it was successful.
6 I ________________________ (drive) all night so I needed some sleep before we set off again.
7 There is little evidence to suggest that the cost of living ________________________ (increase).
8 Humans ________________________ (live) on the island until the terrible storms of 1826.

B. Replace the incorrect verb phrase with the perfect aspect.
0 We already met the Deputy Minister.
have (already) met__
1 Consider the choices you suggested last week, I think we should take a week off in June.
__________
2 I completely gave up hope of getting a place at university when the acceptance letter arrived.
__________
3 Breakdowns were happening for weeks and we need to deal with it before it’s too late.
__________
4 Cockroaches are known to live hundred and thousand of years before humans.
__________
5 When the police finally arrived, we gave up ever being rescued.
__________
6 Leaving his job, it took him six months to find another.
__________
7 She was trying to get hold of him for days before he finally picked up the phone.
__________
8 Jane will be waiting for six hours by the time he gets home.
__________

Thanks in advance,
Monica

Hello Monica,

In A, it's important to look at the time of the other verbs in the sentence. This should help you figure out what time you need to use in the gap.

For example, in A.0, 'while the kitchen is being decorated' shows that a process ('being decorated') is happening in the present ('is'). In A.1, you need to look at 'before his manager found out and warned him' -- what time is that (present, past or future)? Notice that the verbs just after the gap ('working' and 'selling') are continuous forms. If it makes sense for the verb in the gap to also be in continuous, then that's probably your best option.

In B, you need to look at the times and aspects of the verbs and correct the one that doesn't fit with the other. To be honest, I'm not sure what's wrong with 1, but in 2 for example, it would make more sense to say 'I had completely given up hope' because it makes more sense to give up hope before the letter arrives than after.

I hope this is helpful. We're all teachers at LearnEnglish, and so doing what looks to be homework is something we're not interested in. It's also really helpful when you tell us what you think the answers should be so that we can better see where you're making mistakes.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello teachers ,

I would like to thank you all for your dedication to our education and if you allow me i have question .
(for something happening) is this continuous tense ?
And by the way can we enough with just verb (ing) without verb be in continuous tense sentence if the listener understand the context .

Regards

G-ssan

Hello G-ssan,

There are two ways to look at this. You could see it as a reduced relative clause:

We use continuous aspect for something (which is) happening before and after a specific time.

In this analysis the verb is present continuous and the auxiliary is simply omitted along with the relative pronoun 'which' when the sentence is reduced.

A second way to see the example, which is the way I prefer, is to see this as a participle clause adding extra information to the sentence. You can read more about participle clauses and how they are formed and used, on this page:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/participle-clauses

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello LearnEnglish Team,
would you please tell me in which semantic contexts the following sentences can be used?
1) "Hurry up, you are late for school."
2) "Hurry up, you are being late for school."
3) "Hurry up, you are going to be late for school."
4) "Hurry up, you will be late for school."
Thanks in advance.
Christopher

Hi Christopher,

In 1) the person is already late (i.e., school has already started).

In 3) and 4), school has not started yet so the person is not late yet, but they will be (after taking into account how long it takes to travel to school, for example). There is little or no difference between 3) and 4).

Sentence 2) is not a regular usage. The phrase "You are being ..." is used to present a person's behaviour as temporary and possibly unusual or out of character for them (rather than a characteristic that they normally have). For example, "He's being nice today". This means that it is today in particular that he is behaving that way, and it may imply that he is not usually nice. Being late for school isn't a personal characteristic, so "you are being ..." doesn't fit here.

I hope that helps to differentiate them.

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello LearnEnglish Team,
can you tell me the difference in meaning between the following sentences:
1) "I am looking forward to hearing from you soon."
2) "I look forward to hearing from you soon."
Thanks in advance
Christopher

Hello espe,

There is no significant difference in meaning between them, though the first one suggests a stronger felt desire and so is a little more informal than the second one. So the second one would be more appropriate in most formal communications, whereas the first would generally be better in communication with close friends or family.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Peter Kirk and Jonathon,
While reading books most of the times
I find some verbs that authors use interchangeably like these-
Ben was standing/ stood behind me on the bus.
Ben was sitting/sat by the pond.
A lantern was hanging/ hung off the ceiling.
She was waiting/waited at the bus stop.
My question is - we use continuous Tenses
for actions in progress. Then, why the authors use simple past Tenses and sometimes use continuous Tenses like above for those verbs for action in progress.
I don't understand the grammar here. Please explain.

Hi jitu_jaga,

Even though both the past simple and continuous may be grammatically correct, I wouldn't say that they are interchangeable because they do have different meanings. To see those meanings clearly, we need to look at a larger piece of text. We cannot look only at a single sentence, because the meanings refer to other actions/verbs in the text.

Here are some examples from a story called 'Love me, love me not' (you can find the full story here).

She sat down next to him at the table. He was eating in front of a big pile of books, looking cute with a pen behind his ear.

Here, the past continuous shows us that he started eating before she sat down. It would not have the same meaning if the writer had used past simple here ("She sat down ... He ate ..."). Instead, that would mean a repeated action (i.e., he always ate in that way), or perhaps a single action that started after she sat down.

Kate was putting clothes away while the baby slept. She picked up one of Michael's favourite jumpers and held the soft material next to her cheek.

Here, the past continuous shows that the action (putting clothes away) is a background action for the main story events (the baby slept / she picked up Michael's jumper). By using the past continuous, the writer shows the reader that putting clothes away is not a main event, and that something else more important happened during it. In contrast, if the writer had used past simple ("Kate put clothes away"), it would present the action as a main story event (these are normally told using the past simple, in a past narrative).

So, writers use the past continuous to relate the action to others in the story. In this way, writers of stories can create more stories that are more interesting and realistic. On the other hand, using the past simple for most or all verbs in a text is more typical of factual reports, where writers aim to simply report what happened event by event.

I hope that helps to understand it.

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks a lot Jonathan for your effort.

Hello Jonathan,
why not say "Kate was putting clothes away while the baby was sleeping."? From my understanding at first the baby fell asleep and sometime after that Kate started putting clothes away while the baby slept on. So, sleeping would be the background process. Since putting clothes away also took a while (overlapping time spans) the continuous form is appropriate here too. What do you think?
Christopher

Hi Christopher,

Good question. Yes, I think the continuous form (was sleeping) would also work. I don't think there would be anything wrong with that.

However, it seems important to note that in the story (click here to read the full story), immediately before the part I quoted, the baby's sleeping problems are the main topic. It says "The baby hadn't stopped crying for two hours", and Kate expresses some anger. It might be unusual in this context, therefore, to say "while the baby was sleeping" in the very next paragraph because that would present it as a mere background for other events, de-emphasising it, when actually the baby sleeping seems significant and even surprising in the context of the story. Perhaps this is the reason for using the past simple (slept).

I'm not the author of this story - that's just my understanding of it :) What do you think?

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello everybody, just a question. Which of the following sentences are correct / incorrect? Or do they transmit different ideas? 1. It has been raining, 2. It is been raining. Thank you!!!

Hi felps,

Sentence 1 is correct but 2 is not. Sentence 2 is a mix of "It is raining" (present continuous) and "It has been raining" (present perfect continuous).

I hope that helps!

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Greetings!
Could you please help me?
Which of the two sentences is correct?
-'Scientists announced the launch of the new drug they had been developing for over 3 years.'
-'Scientists announced the launch of the new drug they have been developing for over 3 years.'

Hi Mohammad00089007,

I would choose the first one. In the second one, 'have been developing' would be OK if the first verb is in present perfect too (i.e., 'Scientists have announced ...'), or if a specific time is mentioned (e.g. 'This morning, scientists announced ...').

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello everyone, Is this correct to say: "While we were waiting we were doing crosswords" or "While we were waiting we did crosswords" Thank you in advance!

Hello Natasa Tanasa,

Both forms are possible here; it's really a question of the broader context and the speaker's intention.

The simple form (did) would be used if you wanted to suggest that the crosswords were finished, while the continuous form does not imply this (but does not preclude it either). Other than that difference it depends what you want to emphasise: the activity (it was long and boring, for example) or the result (we finished four crosswords!).

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Team. Could you tell me the difference between the past simple and the past continuous in the following sentence? I think "past simple" is wrong here. 1- I didn't believe that most famous people were doing hard jobs all their childhood. 2- I didn't believe that most famous people did hard jobs all their childhood. Thank you.

Hello Ahmed Imam,

I think both forms are possible here and there is very little difference in meaning. The continuous form emphasises that the state or situation is temporary and I think it sounds a little better, but the reference to childhood already makes this point clear so I think either form is possible.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello dear team, the matter has already been brought to the attention of the parents. Is the position of "already" right? Or should it go after been? Thanks a lot

Hello Hosseinpour,

You've put the adverb in the correct place -- well done!

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you sir for the time and help, means a lot.

Hi great team, I am confused about the'-ing clause' For instance, when I say 1)''I see him sitting on the sofa.'' A website says (-sitting on the sofa) is 'a -ing clause'. But I learnt that it is a participle clause. Which one is true? ,teacher. Could you please explain difference to me? After asking a question, I want to thank all our helpful teachers and our moderator for helping us to learn English.I am very grateful to have that opportunity.

Hi Nevı,

Both are true! There are two types of participle clauses:

Present participle clauses (using the -ing verb form)
Past participle clauses (using the -ed verb form).

Your example is the first type. You can read more about participle clauses on this page. I hope it helps!

We're happy to read your kind comments :) Thank you for visiting our site.

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks for page link teacher. So I understand that '-ing' clause involve gerund clauses and present participle clauses. For example, -I like walking my dog. walking my dog is -ing ( gerund) clause. -I see him sitting on the sofa. sitting on the sofa is -ing(participle) clause. Teacher,Do I understand correctly? Thanks a lot.

Hi Nevı,

Yes, exactly :)

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks a lot teacher, I know I asked 2 questions. But I really want to learn that topic well and that is my last question probably :). While I was going over information about '- ing clauses' , I just saw one site says "A clause is a group of words which contains a verb."(Collins Dict.) Other site says(Longman dict) "Group of words that contains a subject and a verb." Which one is true, teacher? Could you please explain me why? Best wishes!

Hi Nevı,

No worries :) Both are true, actually. A clause always has a verb in it, and a verb has a subject. But, the subject isn't always stated in the clause, e.g.:

Waiting for Ellie, I made some tea. ('Waiting for Ellie' = present participle clause; subject is not stated)
While I was waiting for Ellie, I made some tea. ('While I was waiting for Ellie' = clause with subject and verb)

The first example is a type of clause called a non-finite clause (i.e. a clause with a verb in the infinitive, participle or gerund form). With non-finite clauses, the subject is often not stated.

I hope that helps.

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks a lot, teacher. I learnt lots of things from your answers . And I want to sum up your last massage to ask you If I understand correctly; Non-finite clauses(gerund, participle infinitive and - to infinitive clauses usually has no stated subject. For instance ; -I let him eat ice cream. (eat ice cream is infinitive clause and subject is not stated.Because subject is obviously him) -I want to play football. (to play football is -to infinitive clause and subject is not stated. Because subject is obviously me) Best wishes, teacher Jonathan.I am very grateful.

Hi Nevı,

Yes, exactly :)

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

How have you been? Or how are you? In what situation do we use "how have you been"? thanks

Hello Gendeng,

'you have been' is the present perfect and 'are' is the present simple. In this case, the present perfect refers to a period of time beginning at some point in the past up until now. When this period began may be clear from the context, or it may be that the speaker asks it casually. Much of time, it's as if the question were 'How have you been lately?' or 'How have you been since I last saw you?'

The present simple form generally refers more to the present and less to the recent past.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello everybody. When someone says 'how are you', the response is 'I have been very well' or 'I'm very well'?

Hello again Plokonyo,

There are many ways to respond, but in general, the second one is better.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

I had been watching TV all day( i mean yesterday) or I was watching TV all day. In grammar book "Oxford Practice Grammar" i saw example "We were working all afternoon"( why there isn't had been working?) I mean, that there is duration like all afternoon or all day.

Hello Hatchaitchi88,

The forms you are asking about here are past continuous (was watching/were working) and past perfect continuous (had been watching/had been working). Duration is not an issue in choosing between these.

We use the past perfect when we have two past time references and want to emphasises that (1) one action preceded the other and (2) the earlier action had an influence on the later action in some way.

Your examples are isolated without any context, so there is no reason to use the past perfect. If there were a context including a second past action then the past perfect might be possible, but that would depend on the two actions and their relationship.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, teachers Could you please tell me the differences among the four sentences: 1. My car wouldn't start this morning, so I was late. 2. My car wasn't starting this morning, so I was late 3. My car didn't start this morning ,so I was late. 4. My car hadn't started this morning, so I was late. I really appreciate your clarification. Best Wish

Hello Sokhom,

We sometimes talk about machines as if they were people and have a will of their own. This is the use of wouldn't start in the first sentence; it has a similar meaning to refused to start.

The third sentence describes two actions in the past which form a sequence.

The action of not starting is a single completed action, so there is no reason to use the continuous form (the second sentence) here. The action is not repeated or interrupted.

The fourth sentence is inconsistent as 'this morning' has a present time reference, while the past perfect would indicate a past time reference. You could use the past perfect if you were looking back from a later date and telling the story: My car hadn't started so I was late that morning and my boss was angry.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Continuous aspect

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