used when you describe/are describing ...

[kadioguy]

literally
ADVERB

1. used for showing that what you are saying is really true and is not just an impressive way of describing something

Now there are literally thousands of companies using our software.

1a. used when you are describing something in an extreme way that cannot be true

When I told him the news he literally exploded.

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/...tish/literally

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effectively
adverb

used when you describe what the real result of a situation is

His wife left him when the children were small, so he effectively brought up the family himself.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...al/effectively

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Questions:

1. Why are the red parts in the -ing form, while the blue part in the present simple? What effects exist between them?

2. Can the two uses be exchanged and still make sense? (i.e., the red parts in the present simple, and the blue part in the -ing form)

[Rover_KE]

In the context of defining a word, I see no effective difference between the two tenses.