Continuous Tenses and Meaning continuous tense: any tense, past, present, or future, formed with the auxiliary verb be and the main verb in -ing form (for example he is speaking, they have been working ) There are some verbs that we do not normally use with continuous (or progressive) tenses. And there are other verbs that have one meaning with simple tenses and a different meaning with continuous tenses. Non-continuous Verbs Non-continuous verbs are verbs that we do not normally use with continuous tenses. These "stative" verbs are about the state, not an action, and they cannot express the continuous or progressive aspect. Here are some of the most common non-continuous verbs: feeling : hate, like, love, prefer, want, wish senses : appear, feel, hear, see, seem, smell, sound, taste communication : agree, deny, disagree, mean, promise, satisfy, surprise thinking : believe, imagine, know, mean, realize, recognize, remember, understa...