004491ac...
083d18b4...
da9e62af...
f30d5bb0...
24b155a7...
1a573751...
714bcdef...
Learner chooses the simple form for a general truth and the continuous for a change in progress, and knows that the choice is a claim about the situation.
Preview · progress not saved — Chapter 1 is free
Six pairs. Both forms are correct; the context decides.
Opening a paragraph about urbanisation as a long-standing fact. Cities grow or Cities are growing?
Simple states, continuous moves, and how the paragraph decides.
Cities grow.
The population rises each year.
A stable fact, with no beginning or end in view.
The reader takes it as background and does not expect a story about it.
Twelve contexts. The context decides, not the verb.
Sort each item into the correct category
Eight sentences. Two work either way.
Background paragraph. Cities [grow] fastest where land is cheap.
A trend the next sentence will measure. The population of the centre [fall] for the first time since 1970.
A stable fact. Free services [attract] more users than paid ones.
A shift the paragraph is tracing. Rents [outpace] wages in every major city.
A state verb. The council [own] the site outright.
A settled annual pattern. The figure [rise] every January.
A movement with a direction. Manufacturing [shed] jobs at about four thousand a year.
The writer could be describing a background fact or a change; both readings work. Attitudes to car ownership [shift] among younger drivers.
One stable fact, one change under way.
Topic: housing in large cities.
Sentence 1: a stable background fact. Sentence 2: a change that is happening now.
The aspect you choose is the claim. Make it deliberately.
One per line.
What does the continuous promise your reader?