Continuous or simple

Question

Hello,

I have doubts as to which form is correct and why. Could you, please, help me?

-Some people are not convinced of what they say/are saying.

-I told to to behave yourself when you are taking/ take care of him.

-While they are telling/ tell me about weaves, they show me why they put them in.

-I normally look after the children when she practices/is practising.

-Whenever I called in on Sam, he talked/was talking on the phone.

-Always when I do/am doing my homework, my dog comes into my room.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

If you have a doubt, it means that you think you know the answer but you are not sure.

So, what do you think about these?

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

-Some people are not convinced of what they say/are saying.

I would say both tenses are ok. They both describe a permanant situation with a slight difference in meaning. The simple form indicates a habit or permanant situation. We are only interested in a mere fact that something takes place. Whereas its continuous counterpart would emphasise the duration. I do not know how to phrase it out otherwise but for me it is like one instance of a habitual situation when some people are not convinced of what they say.

I have also come across a number of such cases in one grammar book where one can observe sentences like the following:

'When we tell a joke we often describe the main events using the present simple...'.

'When we talk about something that happened in the past , but we don't specify precisely when it happened we use the present perfect'.

'We use the past perfect with these (some verbs listed) when we are talking about how long something went up to a particular past time'.

-I told you to behave yourself when you are taking/ take care of him.

I would use both. The simple form would mean that we just state the activity, irrespective of 'taking care ' being a continuous situation rather than an instantaneous one, whereas Present Continuous would emphasise the duration.

-While they are telling/ tell me about weaves, they show me why they put them in.

This sentence expresses a permanant, habitual situation, thus, Present Simple should be applied in both clauses. On the other hand the act of 'telling me about weaves' serves as a background which should be expressed in Present Continuous.

-I normally look after the children when she practices/is practising.

As above.

-Always when I do/am doing my homework, my dog comes into my room.

As above.

-Whenever I called in on Sam, he talked/was talking on the phone.

Past continuous idicates that Sam is in the middle of talking and this is precisely when I call. I would not have problems with the sentense if it looked like: 'When I called in on Sam, he was talking on the phone'. But it starts with 'whenever', which implies a permanent past situation that according to grammar book shoul be expressed in Past Simple.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Some people are not convinced of what they say/are saying.

I would say both tenses are ok. They both describe a permanant situation with a slight difference in meaning. The simple form indicates a habit or permanant situation. We are only interested in a mere fact that something takes place. Whereas its continuous counterpart would emphasise the duration. I do not know how to phrase it out otherwise but for me it is like one instance of a habitual situation when some people are not convinced of what they say. I think you have a pretty good understanding of this.

I have also come across a number of such cases in one grammar book where one can observe sentences like the following:

'When we tell a joke we often describe the main events using the present simple...'.

'When we talk about something that happened in the past , but we don't specify precisely when it happened we use the present perfect'.

'We use the past perfect with these (some verbs listed) when we are talking about how long something went up to a particular past time'.

Yes, all these sound fine.

-I told you to behave yourself when you are taking/ take care of him.

I would use both. The simple form would mean that we just state the activity, irrespective of 'taking care ' being a continuous situation rather than an instantaneous one, whereas Present Continuous would emphasise the duration.

-While they are telling/ tell me about weaves, they show me why they put them in.

This sentence expresses a permanant, habitual situation, thus, Present Simple should be applied in both clauses. On the other hand the act of 'telling me about weaves' serves as a background which should be expressed in Present Continuous.

-I normally look after the children when she practices/is practising.

As above.

-Always when I do/am doing my homework, my dog comes into my room.

As above.

-Whenever I called in on Sam, he talked/was talking on the phone.

Past continuous idicates that Sam is in the middle of talking and this is precisely when I call. I would not have problems with the sentense if it looked like: 'When I called in on Sam, he was talking on the phone'. But it starts with 'whenever', which implies a permanent past situation that according to grammar book shoul be expressed in Past Simple.

Yes, I agree with all that you have said.

Clive

Cocoabutter · Answer

So both continuous and simple forms in the above sentences are correct, tight? Thank you for your comments.

Continuous or simple

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