Continual and Continuous

There is some confusion between continual and continuous. I remember them this way:

Continual refers to something that happens again and again. It happens, then stops, then happens again, then stops, then happens again, etc. The word’s suffix, -al, begins with an A, which is the first letter of again.

Continuous refers to something that happens without stopping. The suffix -ous begins with an O, which is a circle, which is something that never ends.

Continual: – – – – – – – –
Continuous: ____________

– Your Friendly Neighborhood Grammarian

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