Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to advanced English lessons with Harry. And in this
particular lesson, we're talking about habits. And we're talking about habits in English. So we'll
go down through some expressions and words and phrases you will use and how you will use those
when you're talking about habits. And of course, habits are something that we do on a regular
basis, you know, we get up at the same time, every morning habit, we have our meals at the same time,
generally every day, habit, we go to visit parents or grandparents or somebody else on a regular day,
each month each week. Again, habits so we'll talk about the tenses and the way we can use those
tenses when we're talking about habits. Okay, and at the end, I'll give you my address, and you can
contact me should you have a need to do so or there's any information that you would like to
have. Okay, so advanced English lesson and in this particular lesson, we're looking at the grammar
rules and the way in which we can talk about habits in English. Okay, so let's get started.
So, usually when we talk about habits, we tend to use the present simple tense. Mum
prepares lunch every day before we go to school. Dad takes us to school every
day in the car habits. So we're using that present simple. Dad brings or takes us to
school every day, Mum prepares or makes lunch every day, present simple tense.
That we can also use will and the infinitive when we're talking about habits. For example,
she'll disagree with everything you say. She'll always tell you what's on her mind. Okay,
so these are two examples of how we can use will plus the infinitive when we want to talk about
habits as well. So we've got the present simple, and then we've got will plus the infinitive.
Now, we can always use always with ing. Adam is not a tidy boy, he is always leaving things lying
around. His mother is always telling him to tidy up. His father is always
telling him to mind his language is always telling him to do his homework. So again,
here are examples of habits using always plus, ing always telling, always doing always waiting,
okay. And we can also use keep, either keep on or just keep on its own plus the -ing. For example,
a regular mobile phone number keeps calling me so you get this number ringing all of the time.
So someone keeps on calling me or someone keeps calling me every day trying to sell me something,
you know, what happens when you're sitting there and your phone rings and you don't recognise the
number. So it's a regular mobile phone. Someone keeps on calling me. Someone keeps calling me so
we can use that to keep on or keep. Okay. But it's all again about those habits.
So there are other phrases that we can use to describe present habits. I have an inclination
to or I'm inclined to do something. So I have an inclination to go on too long. Okay,
I have an inclination to talk too quickly, somebody might say, I'm inclined to go on a
little bit too much, or I'm inclined to talk too quickly. So these will be ways in which I could
talk about me and certain habits. And people might say, oh, yeah, your causes are great,
but sometimes you talk a little too quickly. Or sometimes you go on a little bit too much. So I
can have an inclination to talk too quickly. Or I'm inclined to talk or speak too quickly.
Okay, and if you happen to like this particular lesson, then make sure you like the video. And if
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We can also use the expression as a rule and this will talk about habits. As a rule,
I try to get to bed before 1030 In the evening. As a rule, I usually get up at six o'clock in
the morning. As a rule, I will record my lessons on a Saturday afternoon. Okay,
so these are things I do as a rule. We can use that expression as a rule when
we're referring to habits as a rule, she goes to the hairdresser's once a month. As a rule,
we usually have turkey in ham for Christmas dinner. So doesn't have to be every week because
Christmas is not every week of course, but it is a habit. And we can use that expression as a rule.
Also, we can say I'm prone to or I tend to, I'm prone to getting a little sick during the winter
when the weather gets colder. I tend to get a little sick during the winter when the weather
is colder, so prone to do something, or tend to do something, okay. Prone to or tend to.
Nine times out of ten. Another expression we can use again to express this issue of habit. Nine
times out of ten he comes home at six o'clock in the evening. Nine times out of ten he'll sit down
in front of the television and watch the football if it's on the TV. Nine times out of ten he'll
buy a perfume for her birthday or for Christmas. Okay, habit, habit habit nine times out of ten.
So just showing the consistency of the regularity or the habit in which the person does something.
Now if we want to talk about past habits, because the what we previously looked at our present
habits but want to talk about past habits, we can use words and expressions like I used to, okay,
as I used to with the infinitive, I used to visit my grandmother. Every Saturday when I was young,
I used to visit Okay, so used to plus the infinitive, I would visit my grandmother
every Saturday when I was young. Now, when it's a habit, and we use used to,
we can substitute it with would, provided it is a habit, okay. So I used to visit my
grandmother every Saturday when I was young. I would visit my grandmother every Saturday
when I was young. There's no difference in the meanings are used to or would. However,
if I said I used to work in a bank, I can't say I would work in a bank because I used to
work in a bank is not the habit. It's just a fact, I used to work in a bank. But I used to
play football every Saturday with my friends. I would play football every Saturday with my
friends habits so we can use either used to or would and that's about habits in the past.
Now, we can also use a kept on doing something before we refer to keep so here we put it in
the past I kept on he kept on reading books well into his 90s. So perhaps your grandfather when he
was really old, he still had the habit of reading books, he kept on reading books well into his 90s.
Even when he was 91, 92 he would still have a book beside him to read perhaps a little more slowly,
but he would still read. I kept on eating pizzas. Even though my doctor told me it was bad for my
health. I kept on eating pizzas, even though the doctor told me they were bad for my health.
Or I was always doing. I was always getting into trouble with my math
teacher at school. I was always getting into trouble with the sports teacher at
school because I wanted to do it my way. So always getting I was always so again,
that habit and using past tenses relating to past habits so and other phrases that we
could use to describe past habits are I was forever. I was forever forgetting to do my
history project. I was forever getting into trouble with my parents for being late home.
Or I was prone to. I was prone to bad colds and flus when I was you young boy. So prone to again,
I was prone to as a habit. Okay, so let me give it to you one more time.
So we're looking at habits and the first ones we're looking to is about present
habits and what tenses we use for those. So we can use the present simple, okay,
or we can use will and the infinitive. We can use always plus ing. We can use
keep on or keep doing something ing. Or I have an inclination to or I'm inclined to,
as a rule, I do this or as a rule I do that I'm prone to or I tend to and then nine times out
of 10 so they're all the examples of talking about habits using present tenses or present
habits present tenses. Now if we talk about past habits, we can say you used to or would, okay,
provided it's about habit kept on doing something again with that ing or kept doing something. I
was always doing something. And then finally I was forever doing this or forever getting into trouble
or forever forgetting. And then finally, I was prone to prone to certain sickness.
Okay, so all about habits, both present and past tense is how we use them. So give them
a little bit of practice, read them and listen to it once or twice. If you have any problems,
come back to me. Very happy to help you and give you some other examples. Okay, practice those
habits. And as always, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Join me again soon.