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Supercat Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Simple present?

The nearby shop is selling tropical fruits (now).

I think this is describing a temporary action using the present countinuous.

That company sells coffee.
This is not a temporary action. What do you say? I forgot an English word to say this usual action.
  

Top answer

", would depend on the context in which it appears. With no further context, it would generally mean that the shop has just recently started selling them - there would be no implication that the sales are only temporary. If the shop is in a cold-weather region, then the implication might be that they'll only have them until they run out.

— Anonymous

  • ", would depend on the context in which it appears.
  • With no further context, it would generally mean that the shop has just recently started selling them - there would be no implication that the sales are only temporary.
  • If the shop is in a cold-weather region, then the implication might be that they'll only have them until they run out.
  • If the shop is in a warm-weather region, then the sales would probably not be temporary.
  • ", would generally mean that the company sells coffee on a permanent basis.
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6 Answers
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(The following is US usage.)

The interpretation of the sentence, "The nearby shop is selling tropical fruits.", would depend on the context in which it appears. With no further context, it would generally mean that the shop has just recently started selling them - there would be no implication that the sales are only temporary. If the shop is in a cold-weather region, then the implicati
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Anonymous"That company sells coffee.", would generally mean that the company sells coffee on a permanent basis.
Yes, exactly. Thank you.
So, is it better to say?:
In 'That company sells coffee', I'm describing a permanent action. And is the word 'permanent' good?
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You'd more likely say something like:

In the sentence, "That company sells coffee.", you're describing a habitual action. The company sells coffee on a permanent basis.

The phrase, "permanent action", is not used in (US) English in a grammatical context.
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Yes 'habitual' is the word that I forgot. Thank you!
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I see it more as stating a fact or a general truth about something, in this case a shop.
This shop sells cheap clothes; the one across the road doesn't.
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teechrI see it more as stating a fact or a general truth
Yes, therefore we use a simple present in both, with habitual actions!
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