4. Paco is following a low-fat diet (Simple or continuous?)
Click on the photograph and listen to the song. Notice the verbs in the Present Simple and those in the Present Continuous tenses.
In bold = continuous, in italics in simple.
Na na na na
Na na na na yeah
You are the music in me
You know the words “Once Upon A Time”
Make you listen? There’s a reason.
When you dream there’s a chance you’ll find
A little laughter or a happy ever after
Your harmony to the melody
It’s echoing inside my head
A single voice (Single voice)
Above the noise
And like a common thread
Hmm, you’re pulling me
When I hear my favorite song
I know that we belong
Oh, you are the music in me
Yeah it’s living in all of us
And it’s brought us here because
Because you are the music in me
Na na na na (Ohh)
Na na na na na
Yeah yeah yeah (Na na na na)
You are the music in me
It’s like I knew you before we met (Before we met)
Can’t explain it (Ohh ohh)
There’s no name for it (No name for it)
I’m saying words I never said
And it was easy (So easy)
Because you see the real me (I see)
As I am
You understand
And that’s more than I’ve ever known
To hear your voice (Hear your voice)
Above the noise (Ohh ohh)
And no, I’m not alone
Oh you’re singing to me (Ohh yeah)
When I hear my favorite song
I know that we belong (Yeah ohh)
You are the music in me
It’s living in all of us
And it’s brought us here because
You are the music in me
Together we’re gonna sing (Yeah)
We got the power to sing what we feel (What we feel)
Connected and real
Can’t keep it all inside (Ohh)
Reflexiona
As you have noticed we use the Present Simple and the Present Continuous tenses for completely different things. However, both are Present Tenses.
Have a look at the presentation below to clearly see the differences in form and uses of these two important tenses in English (it includes useful vocabulary, too).
What's the difference between the Present Continuous and Present Simple?
Vídeo de Bluebloc Notes (Aprender Inglés) alojado en Youtube. |
Para saber más
Remember that practising a lot is one of the best ways to improve your English.
- You will find more exercises to distinguish when to use these two tenses here.
- And click here if you want to complete a short passage instead of sentences.
Paco is following a low-fat diet. He is training hard because he has a football championship in Almería. Let's have a look at his eating habits and what he is eating now to keep fit for the competition.
Comprueba lo aprendido
Read the sentences below and fill in blanks with the suitable tense (Present Simple or Present Continuous) of the verbs in brackets. Pay attention to negative verbs (use short forms).
Curiosidad
Health: Overweight and obesity
Do you know that there are more than 1 billion overweight adults in the world? And that 300 million of them are obese?
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Imagen de Adam S en Flickr Licencia C.C. |
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) overweight and obesity pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. Experts tend to agree that the key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity. The health consequences range from increased risk of premature death, to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life.
Of especial concern is the increasing incidence of child obesity. More and more often, children stop doing physical activity and spend long hours in front of the television or the computer. In Australia, for example, children are becoming so fat that they need bigger booster seats to keep them safe in the car.
Among the fattest countries in the world, we find the United States of America, which was in the 9th position in 2007 (Spain was in position 83). In his book Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2003), Greg Critser assures that the problems began with Earl Butz, a former Secretary of Agriculture to Richard Nixon whose brief was to produce cheaper food. From then on, Ronald McDonald has become the second-most instantly recognised figure to children after Santa Claus.
Remember that one of the main uses of the Present Continuous or Progressive tense is to refer to actions that are happening at the moment of speaking. Do you think we always use a similar tense in Spanish? Let's study it in the next section.