Author: Ano Sensei
Format: Video
Subject Matter: adjectives, adverbs, emphasis, negatives, object, present simple, pronouns, questions, sentence structure, subject, transformational grammar, verb
Related content:
🧑🎓Transformational Grammar: A basic introduction. The present simple 👀
0:10 Lesson 1: "The basic pattern"
0:20 Subject / verb / object
0:52 Model sentence: The boy reads the book
1:13 Verbs
2:04 Nouns
3:08 Determiner "the"
3:28 Verb inflection "-s"
4:04 Lesson 2: "Let's get ...cracking!"
4:15 Model sentences
5:28 Make your own sentences
6:40 Use a dictionary
7:08 Lesson 3: "A couple of simple tricks..."
7:18 Review
7:50 Variations in verb inflection "-s"
8:45 Indefinite article "a"
9:42 Plural nouns
10:12 "Some" and "null" determiner
10:52 Transformation preview
11:24 Lesson 4: "The first transformation..."
12:02 Auxiliary verb "do/does"
12:44 Emphasis
13:32 Negative
13:50 Questions
14:28 Practice
14:50 Lesson5: "Practice makes perfect"
15:15 Part 1: Basic practice
15:27 Emphasis practice
16:09 Negative practice
16:23 Question practice
16:34 Indefinite article practice
17:42 Lesson 5, Part 2: Plural practice
18:31 Determiner practice
20:33 Limits of TG
21:10 Lesson 6, Part 1: "A few more bits and pieces"
21:35 Review
22:06 More sentence parts
22:48 Quantifiers
23:14 Adjectives
23:24 Combining quantifiers and adjectives
24:08 Lesson 6, Part two
24:19 Pronouns
25:17 Proper nouns
25:56 Uncountable nouns
26:39 Adverbs
27:26 Intransitive verbs
27:52 Further reading
This unit can also be viewed as separate episodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RW6151XGJ0&list=PLzVb6yL_jY6_dD6H4Wz-VEHwpTU2meOfq
Information and background (for teachers, etc.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RW6151XGJ0&list=PLzVb6yL_jY6-LgNMk7dCjsiNc-i_2fUC6
Acknowledgement: A special "thank you" to Fabio Bustamente (https://www.fiverr.com/fabiobustamate) for the wizard animations!
If subltitles / captions are not available in your language, please let me know and I will add them.
If you find errors in the subtitles please let me know and I will correct them.
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6 Comments
Have a good day Sir! Thank you for the lesson. I’m wondering about the present continuous used together with adverbs like “usually” and “sometimes”. What’s the difference between :
1. I usually play tennis every Friday
2. I am usually playing tennis every Friday
If the second sentence is correct, what’s the difference between those two sentences ?
Besides that I love watching your educational videos!
The present simple focuses more on playing tennis as an action or event, and implies that it is generally true, We’d use it if we were talking about our habitual routine. The continuous focuses more on playing tennis as an ongoing activity and implies that it is true at or around the time of speaking. The continuous form is also used for a plan or intention. For example, we might use it to explain why we can’t do something else, such as meet up with a friend for coffee, on that day. I’d say the simple form is the “default”, and the continuous is used in contexts where we want to specify what we plan to be doing at a particular time.
Adding “usually” blurs the distinction between habits and plans, but basically the present simple would answer the question, “What do you do on Fridays?” (“I usually play tennis”) and the continuous could be used to answer the question, “What are you doing on Friday?” (“I’m usually playing tennis, but I can cancel it if you like”, or “I usually play tennis, but…”).
BTW, I think a native speaker would be more likely to say “on Fridays” than “every Friday”.
@anosensei That’s quite a good explanation. But if we were to talk about the present. What’s the difference ? The explanation you’ve provided is using the present continuous to talk about the future.
But if i were to say “i am usually playing tennis on Fridays” and i mean the sentence “now” , I’m not talking about the future, Is that possible ?
If so what’s the difference between the continuous form and the simple form in this context ?
For example , I say I’m usually playing on Fridays and it’s about the present and I’m not talking about the future.
@sarahlaura1552 We’re not entirely talking about the future in my example; we’re talking about what we’re usually doing on Fridays. It relates to the future in that we might well use the continuous form to explain what we expect to be doing next Friday. That’s a context in which we might use the present continuous to talk about what we “are usually doing”, but it’s not the only context. A good way to find out how native speakers use expressions like this one would be to check on Google Ngram or do an exact phrase search on Google: https://youtu.be/16-froioFwI?t=770.
@anosensei I see and thanks for the link.
Since I’m focusing on the present, If using the present continuous with “usually” to talk about the present is possible, then what’s the difference between : I am usually playing tennis on Fridays and i usually play tennis on Fridays, I’m trying to work out the difference.
@sarahlaura1552 Language is more of an art than a science. Nuance and personal preference also play a part. Read my first reply again and note that I said *both* constructions would be OK in some contexts. There are times when we *have* to use the simple form (as an answer to “What do you do on Fridays?”, for example), but the continuous form can *optionally* be used in some contexts. Don’t forget to check examples of native-speaker usage (note that I changed the URL on the video link to take you to the exact part of the video where we talk about this).