[shun]

I have pointed out three customs:
Ex1: I walk 3 miles every day.
Ex2: I am walking 3 miles every day.
Ex3: I have been walking 3 miles every day.
== In many other forums, they often asked about the difference between Ex1 and Ex2, and I pointed out there is Ex3 that is also confused with them.

As for Ex1 ("I walk 3 miles every day"), you wrote:
<<Ex1: This is a neutral statement of a regular or habitual occurrence.>>

My reply: Please be reminded that, since all three of them are now done every day, they are neutral statement of a regular or habitual occurrence.

Now as you have found out "habitual" is not enough, you instantly usher "neutral' for help. Of course, you may choose many other Meanings for other tenses that express "habit", because you know there are many synonyms for "habit". As I say, people use Meanings to explain tenses; they don't think of time anymore.

We will surprise people to a high degree if we remind them we have an agreement that tense is used to express time. Are you aware of the agreement at all? Are you aware that Simple Present can express other meanings such as "love"? If you can deny "love" for Simple Present, I can deny "habit".

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As for Ex2 ("I am walking 3 miles every day"), you wrote:
<<Ex2: This draws attention to the nature of the routine. The present progressive conveys an action in progress; it does not in itself suggest habit (unless habit is part of the verb's meaning). >>

My reply: What a confusion it is! If it is not a routine or habit, how can we draw attention to the routine or habit? Or do you mean Habit is not Routine at all? Are we using tenses to tell such a nuance between routine and habit? I can't believe my eyes even I have seen your words.

The fact is, as for the three examples, because you have found out "habit" has been occupied by Simple Present, so you use "routine" to help explain Present Progressive. However, as three of them are doing every day, they are all in the nature of a routine or habit.

Why haven't grammar books stipulated there are many kinds of habits, and some of them are for Simple Present, while some of them are not?

If according to Time, it is a simple logic that different tenses are used to say different time spans of a habit.

However, if according to Meanings, you have to say different tenses are used to tell the difference between Habit and Routine. How ridiculous it is!!

People have always agreed that tense is used to express time, but why have they always violated the agreement without mercy?

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As for Ex3 ("I have been walking 3 miles every day"), You wrote:
<<Ex3: The present perfect progressive conveys a action in progress, which began in the past, and has some relation to the present. Again, it does not in itself suggest habit.>>

My reply: Here you want to link Present Perfect Progressive to Present Perfect, thus relating "has some relation to the present".

Are you aware that, as I have pointed out to Mr Riverkid, the standard of "has some relation to the present", being used to explain Present Perfect, makes many students wailing?
As the following would-be teacher has pointed out, everything we say now of course "has some relation to the present":

Several years ago I received a call from a friend. She was hoping for a place on a TEFL Certificate course, and she had a problem. 'Help me' she said. 'I can't get my head round the present perfect.' Easy, I thought. I was wrong. 'But everything has current relevance' she protested. 'Otherwise we wouldn't bother saying it...
== http://www.developingteachers.com/ar...g/pp4_sarn.htm

My three habits in three tenses above are used to point out that people have no idea of defining either present time or habit. More precisely, it is "every day" that expresses habit or routine. Habit or routine has nothing to do with tenses.

Any tense can express Habit, and Simple Present can express any meanings like Love. Can you see something here? The tense has nothing to do with any meanings.

Please understand that "I have been walking 3 miles every day" can be conversed in a restaurant to a friend who claims "I walk 3 miles every day". That is to say, their actions are NOT necessarily in progress. All three examples can be said while in the walking or not.

Please be reminded that all three habits "began in the past, and has some relation to the present". It is absurd to claim that the habit in Simple Present and the one in Present Progressive have no relation to the present. This reasoning is obviously illogical and not true.

Again, what is the term for the habit in Present Perfect Progressive? Why did you avoid it? If something in Perfect Progressive is done every day and "began in the past, and has some relation to the present", is it a routine or aspect that is "habitual"? You didn't speak out clearly. Or do you think it is neither a habit nor routine? How will you call Ex3, if it is not a habit nor a routine?

In a nutshell, I am afraid that, by way of Meanings like habit or routine, you have totally failed to tell the nuances between the three tenses.

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Originally Posted by MrPedantic

You might use it in this context, for instance:
4. I've been walking three miles every day, but my doctor says it's making my knee worse. So I may have to stop.

My reply: Are you telling me that in this example we might not use Simple Present or Present Progressive? Or what is the point of the example?

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Originally Posted by MrPedantic

So your Ex2 might occur in this context, for instance:
3. I'm walking three miles every day at the moment; but when my knee gets better, I hope to do ten.

My reply: Do you mean we might not use Simple Present or Present Progressive here instead? If all three tenses are allowed here, as they are, what is the point of the example showing only one of them? Any difference between the three tenses in the three examples?