Which tense to use?

Question

Hello,I'm wondering what tense I should use in this sentence: Present Simple or Continuous? Maybe both are correct?Look at the man's body language. Do you believe what he says/is saying?Can you help me on this?Thank you

GPY · Accepted Answer

Both work.

Hotmale · Answer

Thank you, GPY!

Thomas Tompion · Answer

Hi Hotmale,

Good to meet you here.

They mean different things of course:

Do you believe what he says? - in general, usually.

Do you believe what he is saying? - in this instance.

As the context suggests a particular instance, I suspect you need the second.

GPY · Answer

Thomas TompionThey mean different things of course:Do you believe what he says? - in general, usually.Do you believe what he is saying? - in this instance.As the context suggests a particular instance, I suspect you need the second.

In other contexts I would agree with you, but "Look at the man's body language. Do you believe what he says?" works for me in the "in this instance" sense.

Thomas Tompion · Answer

I take your point, GPY. I wouldn't completely discount the formula you are suggesting.

The case is influenced by the fact that we don't often put to believe into continuous tenses.

Hotmale · Answer

Hi Thomas,

I'm so glad I see you in this forum

You've been always a helping hand.

Thank you for your answer.

Hotmale · Answer

Thank you both. What about this sentence? Its sense is the same but it's worded differently.
"Listen to what the man says. Do you believe him?"

Can GPY's "formula" be extended into this sentence as well?

CalifJim · Answer

HotmaleListen to what the man says. Do you believe him?

To my ear the implied scenario is that the man is going to say something very soon, and the listener is supposed to listen and decide whether he believes the man. (~ Listen to what the man says when he starts to speak.)

HotmaleListen to what the man is saying. Do you believe him?

To my ear the implied scenario is that the man is speaking at the same time that this is being said. (~ Listen to what the man is now saying this very minute.)

CJ

Hotmale · Answer

Thank you, CalifJim.
I've got one more question. In my textbook there is a sentence:

"Listen to Part1 of the talk. What does the lecturer say about psychology?"

I hope I am not overdoing my questions in this thread, but why Present Simple is used here and not the Present Continuous?
Is it because it's a part of the instruction or simply it's a mistake?

CalifJim · Answer

Hotmale"Listen to Part1 of the talk. What does the lecturer say about psychology?"... why is the Present Simple is used here and not the Present Continuous?

It's present simple because you haven't listened yet. You are being instructed to listen, so you haven't listened yet. Until you listen, you will not know what the lecturer says.

If you are listening at the time the instruction is being given, then you are hearing what the lecturer is saying (at the same time that the instruction is being given). But that would be unusual because it's so hard to listen to what a lecturer is saying at the same time that you are listening to instructions.

HotmaleIs it because it's a part of the instruction

Yes, I suppose you could say that. Instructions are usually written like this.

CJ

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