The Grammar Book | Advanced Learners’ Grammar |
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Simple aspect: describes events conceptualized as complete wholes, not allowing for further development | [Main uses] |
Tense core meanings: Complete and unchanging nature, immediate factuality | |
Habitual actions in the present | Repeated events and actions: To describe things that happen on a regular basis; Often used with adverbs of frequency |
General timeless truths, such as physical laws or customs | General truths and facts: To state truths and to describe things which we feel are facts or permanent situations |
Series of events/actions: To describe a series of events or actions (e.g., to give directions or instructions), often with impersonal you | |
With be and other stative verbs to indicate states, or even the inception of states | Rarely used in the continuous (= progressive): Verbs expressing states are rarely used in the continuous tenses |
Present speech acts (where the action is accomplished in the speaking of it) | Performative verbs (apologize) |
In subordinate clauses of time or condition when the main clause contains a future-time verb | Other uses To express the future after conjunctions of time (when, after, as soon as) |
Expresses future (scheduled event), usually with a future-time adverbial | Fixed events in the future (timetabled events) |
Present event/action (sporting events or demonstrations/procedures of some sort) | To express the immediacy of an event (e.g., in sports commentaries) Newspaper headlines (more immediacy) |
Conversational historical present | To give the events of a past narrative or an anecdote more immediacy (especially in speech) |
Formal speech or writing for certain actions (look forward to) |