2

I know we should use present simple when we talk about facts, but can we use present continuous too?

I'm not sure if the following is a good example.

Adaptations in the cow elephant seal allow the production of a highly nutritious milk to fuel rapid pup growth: by second week of lactation, the cow is producing milk with 40% fat content.

1 Answer 1

1

This is not normal in UK or American English. I think it is very much more common in Indian English.

(It's hard to find statistics to bear this up: a search for "Cow is producing" in the GloWbE corpus produces only three instances; of these just has this "timeless" sense, and that one is from an Indian source.)

1
  • 4
    It's not uncommon to use the continuous when speaking of stages (of development, or of a process). With growth and maturation, periods between eating are lengthened and more time is spent in wakeful activity. By nine months the infant is eating three major meals a day, with periodic snacks and sleeping approximately 10 hours at night. (Psychosocial Components of Occupational Therapy. Ann Cronin Mosey. 1986)
    – TimR
    Commented Feb 20, 2017 at 13:15

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .