Unit 2: English In A Minute
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Session 5
Welcome to English In A Minute. Give us a minute and we'll give you a hot tip about English. Grammar, vocabulary... there's so much to learn! And all taught by your favourite BBC Learning English staff!
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- 0 / 3Activity 1
Activity 1
Continuously vs continually
Do you have a minute to spare to learn some English? Roy's ready to reveal the difference between continuously and continually. Give us 60 seconds and we'll give you the English.
Watch the video and complete the activity
Roy
Hi! I'm Roy, and today I'm going to tell you the difference between continuously and continually.
Both of these words are adverbs, and they can be confusing. They look similar, but they have different meanings.
Continuously means that something 'doesn't stop or end'. He spoke continuously for 15 minutes. That means he spoke for 15 minutes without stopping.
Continually is a 'repeated action that happens over a period of time' – so something starts and stops over some time. I continually tell my dog I love her. That means it's a repeated event. I say it many times.
Well, that's all for today, but we here at BBC Learning English continually make new videos so keep watching! Bye!
Continuously vs continually
Both
Both continuously and continually are adverbs, but they have different meanings.
Continuously
Continuously means that something 'doesn't stop or end'.
- He spoke continuously for 15 minutes.
- Trains run continuously until midnight.
Continually
Doing something continually means 'doing it repeatedly over a period of time'. The activity starts and stops many times over a particular period - a week for example.
- I continually tell my dog I love her.
- They continually argue, fall out, make up and then fall in love again!
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Not sure? Go back and look at the example sentencesQuestion 1 of 3
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Does the shower go off at all?Question 2 of 3
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It sounds like something someone does repeatedly over a period.Question 3 of 3
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