Routines, habits and adverbial time

Routine or habitual actions are expressed with the present simple, while actions that are in progress at the moment are expressed with the present continuous.

Routine (present simple): He talks to colleagues at lunch time.Right now (present continuous): I am talking to a colleague at the moment.

Routine actions are often indicated with adverbial time phrases:

after school	after work
at lunch time	at night
every morning	every day	every night
in the morning	in the afternoon	in the evening

For example:

In the morning, she has a meeting at work.Nathan writes e-mails every morning.

At night, she likes to chat on the phone.Sally and Nathan play tennis at night.

The adverbial time phrase can usually be placed at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

Every day, she has lunch with her boyfriend.He tidies his desk every day at 5:00pm.I have a meeting at 4:00pm every day.

When a time phrase is given, this often indicates routine action. For example:

They have a break at 3:00pm.

Routines can also be expressed with frequency adverbs such as usually. For example:

I usually go window shopping with my friends on Friday night.

When a time is given, usually can be used with the present continuous to indicate routine action. For example:

At this time of night (11:30pm) she is usually sleeping.

The pronunciation of the -s on third-person present simple depends on the sound at the end of the verb. If there is a voiceless sound such as / k /, / t / or / p / at the end, then the -s is pronounced as / s /. If there is a voiced sound such as / m /, / r /, / d / or a vowel, then the -s is pronounced as / z /. If the verb ends with a fricative like / s /, the -s is pronounced as / iz /.

voiceless	voiced	fricatives
/ s /	/ z /	/ iz /
makes	tidies	Dances
knocks	performs	watches
talks	plays	catches
writes	goes
meets	photocopies
surfs	hangs
sleeps