Simple present vs Present Continuous

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Pueblasz
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Simple present vs Present Continuous

Post by Pueblasz »

"He is always walking ahead of me and complains that I am too slow."

Why can't we just say "is complaining" instead of complains?
I am studying the simple present and present continuous right now, however, this sentence is really confusing me. :~:
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Joe
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Re: Simple present vs Present Continuous

Post by Joe »

Yes, you can. But the most idiomatic way to say this would probably be:

He is always walking ahead of me and complaining that I am too slow. :ok:

ie, not necessary to repeat "is"
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Yanina
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Re: Simple present vs Present Continuous

Post by Yanina »

The best way to say is:
"He is always walking ahead of me and complaining that I am too slow." Here is the case of parallelism in action. When you use Present Progressive in the first part of the sentence, it's best to continue with Present Progressive after conjunction "and". "is" is skipped to avoid repetition.
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