it continues to decrease/it continues decreasing

C

chinco

Member
Espagne-espagnol
Hi,

In general when writing, I have some troubles with the use of infinitives and gerunds.
For instance, in a technical report, to describe a curve pattern, there is any difference between 'it continues to decrease ' and 'it continues decreasing'?.

Are correct both of these sentences?

There is any simple rule?

Thanks for your help
chinco
 
    • Use 'continues to decrease': this is much, much more common*. Unfortunately there is no rule that covers many words, because 'keep' in the exact same meaning never takes 'to'.

    * Google shows about a 100:1 difference for 'continues to grow' vs 'continues growing'.
     
    For instance, in a technical report, to describe a curve pattern, there is any difference between 'it continues to decrease ' and 'it continues decreasing'?.
    Click to expand...

    'it continues decreasing' is highly unnatural
     
    Both alternatives are valid and good. I see little difference in meaning. Google offers over 23,000 hits for 'continued decreasing' and more again for 'continue' and 'continued'.
     
    As I understood, both sentences are correct, but 'It continues decreasing' sounds unnatural to a native English speaker. Therefore, I will use 'it continues to decrease'

    Thanks all of you for your help.
     
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