PRESENT HABITS

1. PRESENT SIMPLE
Habitual
actions
or
permanent
situations in the present.
I go for a run twice a week.
She lives near the park.

 2. FREQUENCY ADVERBS to indicate how often an

action occurs.
Position:

Before the main verb.

I always go to bed before midnight.

After the verb TO BE or an AUXILIARY VERB.

She is very often late for work. They have rarely been
seen together.

USUALLY, NORMALLY, FREQUENTLY, SOMETIMES,

( very/quite ) OFTEN, OCCASIONALLY can also be placed
at the beginning of the sentence or clause.
Occasionally we go out to the cinema, but usually we
stay in and watch a DVD.

.ALWAYS, RARELY, SELDOM, HARLDY

EVER and NEVER can never be
placed at the beginning.
SOMETIMES
and
QUITE / NOT
VERY OFTEN can be placed at the
end of the sentence or clause.
Farm vets have to do some pretty unpleasant things sometimes.
Farm vets sometimes have to do some pretty unpleasant things.
Sometimes farm vets have to do some pretty unpleasant things.

 Adverb phrases such as NOW AND

AGAIN, FROM TIME TO TIME, TWICE
A WEEK, EVERY DAY are placed at
the beginning or end of a clause
or sentence.
I see Paul at work every day and
from time to time we have lunch
together.

 PRESENT CONTINUOUS + ALWAYS:

to talk about things which occur
frequently and which the speaker finds
annoying.
Hes always complaining about
something!
RARE / NORMAL / (UN)USUAL can be
used as an alternative to adverbs.
Its rare / normal / (un)usual for him to
eat meat.

 TEND TO + infinitive: to make

general statements about the
habitual actions and situations of
groups of people or individuals.
British people tend to drink tea
rather than coffee.
I tend not to get up very early on
Sundays.

 WILL + infinitive: to talk about habitual

behaviour ( with or without frequency
adverbs).
Shell sometimes spend the whole day
reading.
ITS NOT LIKE SB TO DO STH: to
suggest that the way a person has
behaved is not typical of their character.
Im surprised Grahan didnt send me a card.
Its not like him to forget my birthday ( he
doesnt usually forget it ).

PAST HABITS

 PAST SIMPLE + FREQUENCY ADVERB: regular

action or habitual behaviour in the past.
I hardly ever went away on holiday when I was
young.
USED TO + infinitive: past habits or situations
which no longer occur or exist now. Frequency
adverbs can be used for emphasis and are placed
before used to.
We used to have a cat, but he died last year.
I always used to walk to work until I bought a car.
I didnt use to like cheese.
Where did you use to live?

 WOULD + infinitive: past habits but not

past situations. Frequency adverbs can
be used for emphasis and are placed
after would.
My father would often read to me
when I was a young boy.
I used to would have a bicycle.

STATIVE VERBS + USED TO (WOULD):

have (=possession) be
think (=have an opinion) live
understand like
know believe

PAST SIMPLE vs USED TO

We use PAST SIMPLE, not USED TO, for:
1. PERIODS of TIME:
They lived used to live in London for six years.
2. A NUMBER of TIMES:
We visited used to visit them there three times.

BE USED TO
GET USED TO + NOUN / -ING

 BE USED TO = BE

ACCOSTUMED

TO.

She is a nurse so shes used to seeing sick people.

He wasnt used to criticism and found it hard to
accept
( = people hadnt criticised him before so he didnt like
it).
He wasnt used to living on his own.

GET USED TO = BECOME

ACCOSTUMED TO.

I want to leave Athens; I cant get used to the heat.