Simple present or progressive

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JohanXXL
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Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:10 am
Status: Teacher of English
Location: Finland

Simple present or progressive

Post by JohanXXL »

So help me with a dispute that I have with one of my colleagues.

Do you say:
”He annoys the children.” or ”He is annoying the children.”

I say that you have to have this specific sentence in a progressive form because the sentence ”He annoys the children.” does not specify a habit. IF the sentence were to be ”He annoys the children every day.” it would be correct.

So my question is. Can you say ”He annoys the children.”
Victoria
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Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 4:44 pm
Status: Learner of English
Location: Trier in Germany

Re: Simple present or progressive

Post by Victoria »

Habitual actions are in the simple present tense.
For example: He annoys children.
When it is said that way it indicates that he often annoys children. It is his character to do so.
Then it is not a present action.

A present action would be when there are children close to him at the moment and he is annoying them at the moment.
E.g. : The children are screaming loudly ( at the moment) and he is annoying them by just yelling at them.
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