Functions and notions

Characteristic behavior

Present and past simple

Simple verb forms are the most common way to describe characteristic behavior. They are often used with adverbs of frequency.

• They eat organic vegetables.
• Yuppies invested their money in houses.
• He always has lunch in a restaurant, but he doesn't usually eat out in the evening.

Present continuous

We use continuous verb forms to describe characteristic behavior when it is part of a new trend.

• More and more women are having children in their 30s.

We can use the adverbs of frequency always and forever with the present continuous to criticize someone's characteristic behavior.

• Jon's always getting into trouble and fighting.
• My sister is forever complaining about her boyfriend.

Used + infinitive

We use used + infinitive to talk about characteristic behavior in the past.

• They used to eat meat, but they don't now.

Will and would

We use will and would to talk about characteristic behavior in the present and in the past.

• He'll spend hours at a time on the Internet.
• Tom won't get home before sunrise on the weekends.

Keep

We use keep followed by the -ing form of the verb to talk about (and criticize) habitual behavior.

• The kids keep doing dangerous things.
• He keeps telling me what to do.

Expressions

Tend + infinitive, be (un)likely + infinitive

We use tend + infinitive and be (un)likely + infinitive to talk about what is frequently true, and therefore characteristic, about a person's behavior.

• I tend to use my cell phone for sending text messages.
• These days, retired people are more likely to spend their money than save it for their children.

Be in the habit of + -ing

We use be in the habit of + -ing to talk about characteristic behavior.

• We're not in the habit of spending much on clothes.