Continue/Continuing

Hello all.


Is it possible to use the word "continuing" when it is happening these days, now or it is just more common to use "continues" even if it has a temporary status?

I have seen/heard the following examples and was a bit confused because I would personally used there present continuous. The other thing is I am not sure about if there is present simple because of newspaper "style". But e.g. during a tennis match it is hard to recognize for me what is "special" and what is "normal" as commentators are skipping from one style to other.

My teacher thinks that in the following examples the word "continuous" is used just because it is more commonbut she wasn´t sure at all.

1)

The best rivalry in professional men's tennis history to unfold -- It's Federer against Djokovic. (Article about their rivalry- first paragraph)

2)

The show . (Commentator during a tennis match)

Thank you!

Hello, In those two examples you are using continue as a verb: Continues.

You could say "is continuing" in both 1 and 2, but this is a special use of present simple, describing events as they happen. Another example is "And this year's award goes to ...."

This type of present simple becomes historical present as soon as the statement is uttered.

Forero said:

You could say "is continuing" in both 1 and 2, but this is a special use of present simple, describing events as they happen. Another example is "And this year's award goes to ...."

This type of present simple becomes historical present as soon as the statement is uttered.

I thought I could find it only in headlines. It surprised me in the article below as it is the only use of "historical present" in the whole article. I wouldn´t expect it to be there for this reason as it is not in the headline.



The Greatest Rivalry In Men’s Pro Tennis History Is Happening Now


By CARL BIALIK

The best rivalry in professional men’s1 tennis history — and it isn’t Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal.

It’s Federer against Novak Djokovic.

Federer and Nadal are probably .......

ritter66 said:

I thought I could find it only in headlines. It surprised me in the article below as it is the only use of "historical present" in the whole article. I wouldn´t expect it to be there for this reason as it is not in the headline.

Historical present has many uses, not just headlines.

But this continues is not really historical present. Trying to explain what it means to me, I said it historical present afterwards.

"Continues to unfold" is just a rather formal way to say "is still unfolding". "Continues to ..." is a traditional construction that was in use even before English ever had continuous tenses.
It is a special use of simple present, not even newspaper style. In fact, your example 2 is probably not from print but from some other broadcast medium.

Example 2 is what we call a "play-by-play" account, in which the "present" moves from one moment to the next and does not have a beginning or an end.

Thanks!

But if I wanted I could use "continuing" in both sentences and it would be grammatically correct, wouldn´t be?

ritter66 said:

Thanks!

But if I wanted I could use "continuing" in both sentences and it would be grammatically correct, wouldn´t be?

You could replace "continues" with "is continuing" in both sentences, but then you would lose the "play-by-play" nuance.

I'm not a grammar expert but to my mind "the play continues" brings up the image of a commentator returning his attention to the game after making an aside, while "the play is continuing" is just a statement that the play has not stopped.