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Can present tense be used without an adverb like "usually" or "always" when describing a habit?

English Language & Usage Asked by user286503 on July 31, 2021

I understand we use the present tense when we describe habits.

“My dog always sleeps under the bed.”
“It usually sits on the sofa.”

Does it make sense if I leave ‘always’ and ‘usually’ out? as in the sentences below, without any background information?

“My dog sleeps under the bed.”
“It sits on the sofa.”

Are they complete sentences? or grammatically correct?

3 Answers

My dog always sleeps under the bed

and

My dog sleeps under the bed

both convey the notion in both being that your dog habitually sleeps under the bed.
If you intend to completely precise, and your dog occasionally sleeps somewhere other than under the bed, then

My dog sleeps under the bed

will be more appropriate.

It usually sits on the sofa

is fine. There is an excellent chance the dog sits somewhere other than on the sofa.

It sits on the sofa

is also OK As far a grammar goes, both example sentences are fine. The adverbs would serve to create a fine, exact meaning. If that is desired, the adverbs should be used.

Answered by J. Taylor on July 31, 2021

Yes. Complete, grammatically correct sentence. Basic SVO structure with dependent clauses (led by prepositions "under" and "on"). Can come across as awkward in some contexts, but is actually a common construction. Listen carefully in conversation and you'll hear it.

Answered by Carly on July 31, 2021

Yes. Not only is it OK to leave off the unnecessary adverbs, I find it preferable to avoid useless words. The exception would be when the adverb is important. For example, if you are going to continue the sentence about your dog usually sleeping under the bed with a story about a time he didn't, then using the word "usually" would play an important role in introducing the following sentences.

Answered by Reed Farnsworth on July 31, 2021

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