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Difference between: You always say and You are always saying

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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms

What's the damage | Is "five of" a correct time?

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Mon Jul 10, 2006 13:16 pm Difference between: You always say and You are always saying

Hi, In the example the sentence goes: That's what you always say. But I've read that we should use the present continuous tense with the word always. For example: He is always complaining about the weather. So could it be here: That's what you are always saying? Am I right or wrong? Please explain it to me.

pivosz
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Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 15
Location: Poland

Mon Jul 10, 2006 13:48 pm Difference between: You always say and You are always sa

pivosz wrote:

In the example the sentence goes:
That's what you always say.

This is correct. It means that it's your habit to say that.

pivosz wrote:

But I've read that we should use the present continuous tense with the word always. For example:
He is always complaining about the weather.
So could it be here: That's what you are always saying?
Am I right or wrong? Please explain it to me.

When you use the present continuous with "always", it means you are complaining about a situation that repeats itself all the time.

For example:
"I'm always losing my keys!" (You are upset and complaining because you lose your keys frequently.)
"He's always putting his shoes on the sofa!" (Someone is angry because he always gets the sofa dirty.)
"Polish students are always misusing the present continuous." (I am irritated because my students from Poland very frequently use the present continuous in the wrong places. The sentence doesn't really mean that they do it every time, but that they do it enough to bother me.)
"That's what you're always saying." (You never stop saying that! I think you're wrong, and you should stop saying that.)

The biggest problem with this for students from Poland and other Slavic countries is that they get English simple and continuous tenses mixed up with their own perfective (dokonany) and imperfective (niedokonany) aspects, and they are not equivalent.

Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

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What's the damage | Is "five of" a correct time?

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