Real long time in English. Rules and exercises

The present long time in English is used in relation to actions that are not completed at the time of speech. If I am running right now or waiting for a tram, then I will need it in order to tell others what I do.

Time can be conditionally divided into three types: the present of the moment of speech, the length of time and the present actual constant. The goal of all three is to convey the current state of reality at the time of utterance.

Use

Present for a long time in the English language makes it possible to talk about processes. It is used when a person describes:

• actions that occur at the time of speech: I am waiting for breakfast;
• trends: Parents are spending less and less time with their children (parents spend less and less time with their children);
• upcoming events: I am visiting my grandmother on Sunday (I visit my grandmother on Sunday);
• actions developing in a certain period of the present (day, week, month, year): My father is living with my brother (My father lives with my brother);
• Recurring Annoyances: Why the hell are you always screaming? (What the hell are you yelling all the time?).

SOUTH. Shugailo notes that, mainly, in colloquial speech, the use of Continuous is a way to draw the attention of the interlocutor to what is happening, to attach importance to the process of action.

Building Proposals

As you can see, the described can occur at the moment of speech, or repeat, or be constant at some period of life. Often time is used to add energy, emotionality, dynamism to the text.

In English colloquial speech, approximately 70% of verbs are used in the present tense, of which 5% have a long-term aspect. Present Continuous is the fifth time out of twelve in frequency of use.

Tense and verbs

State verbs (love, know, believe, and others) are often not used with a real long time in the English language. The rule applies to the verbs of sensations, qualities, feelings and thoughts.

Some of these verbs can still appear in speech and with this time (for example, like, look, sound) to emphasize the short-term experience expressed by the verb. Other verbs (cost, feel, have, etc.) have different meanings when they are a description of a state or when they describe a process (appear - seem, appearing - participate).

Something similar can be noted with respect to verbs that speak of thought processes, experiences. In Present Continuous, such verbs reflect the process of thinking a person about something specific, formulating a speaker saying some conclusion, gradually realizing something. For example, I am regretting my decision to give her the job = I am increasingly convinced that the decision to give her a job was wrong.

What to use?

The present long tense and the present simple are often confused. In Russian, there is no separation between facts, repetitive processes, and what is happening directly; in English, there is.

Simple is used in relation to repeated actions and facts. The Continuous aspect emphasizes that the action is taking place at a given moment or period of time. Thus, Simple expresses an irrelevant present, that which is constantly presented in reality, reproducibly and not tied to a certain point on the time axis. Continuous in this case expresses the actual, attached to a certain point - the moment of the speaker's speech.

Thanks to this distinction, it is quite easy to determine in a simple or long-term aspect it will be grammatically correct to say about the event. If it does not apply to a period including a moment of speech, then you should not use Continuous.

With the help of the present long in English, plans for the future can be described. When should you give preference to him, and not to a simple future? In all cases, when the speaker is 100% sure of the plan. For example, the phrase “I'm flying to London tomorrow” is a statement of a future condition, which is almost a commitment for the speaker.

The present long tense in English is used not only in the present. It is used when stories are told (and some process is conveyed in the story) and when reviews are written about books, films or performances.

English exercises

A. What phrases in Russian translated into English is better to say using the present long?

1. Hi, I'm at the railway station, waiting for the train.
2. The cat usually sleeps on the bed.
3. Are you listening to me?
4. What are you doing here?
5. I read every night.
6. I decided to go to the park tomorrow.
7. We go to the match on Thursday.

Q. What sentences have verbs inappropriate for the context?

1. We plan to explore the moon.
2. I am checking my email every day.
3. Julie is usually working in an office, but she works from home this week.
4. I study Economics now.
5. Our cat doesn't run toward us, because it sleeps.

C. How to fill in the blanks?

1. It's over __. I __ town on a midnight train [leave, now].
2. Can I phone you __? We __ our dinner [eat, later].
3. He's unemployed. Now he __ all day on the couch [sleep].
4. (movie reviews) The main characters __, and the filmmakers are likewise improving on their craft [mature].
5. Are you __ to me right now? [listen].

In general, Present Continuous is used to emphasize an action as a process unfolding now or in a time period related to the present. Literally, the construction of the auxiliary verb and the participle can be translated (for example, the first person singular) as "I am such and such": I am leaving = I am leaving. Thus, time allows us to say about the subject / face as that which is in effect for a long period of time or right now.

Answers for exercises in English:

A: 1, 3, 4, 7;

B: 2, 3, 4, 5;

C: 1. now, am leaving; 2. later, are eating; 3. sleeps; 4. are maturing; 5. listening.