Habits and Annoying Behaviour

• We use specific structures to express predictable actions, repeated habits, and frustrating behavior in the workplace. Using 'will', 'would', 'be always + -ing', or 'keep (on) + -ing' adds emphasis to these recurring actions.
• Structure
• Usage
• Example
• be always + -ing
• Annoying or repeated habits that cause frustration
• He is always criticizing my pull requests.
• will / would
• Predictable, typical present (will) or past (would) habits
• She will leave comments on every single line of code.
• keep (on) + -ing
• Persistent or repetitive continuous actions
• They keep on interrupting the sprint planning in London.
• Remember
• Use 'be always + -ing' (or 'constantly / continually') to show mild irritation or frustration about repeated actions.
• Use 'will' (present) or 'would' (past) to describe typical, characteristic, or predictable behavior.
• Use 'keep' or 'keep on' followed by an -ing verb to highlight an action that continues repeatedly.
• Do not use simple present tenses when you want to strongly emphasize the repetitive or annoying nature of a habit.
• Examples
• He will constantly reformat the codebase without consulting the team in Austin.
• Why are you always interrupting me during retro meetings?
• Our tech lead keeps on changing the architecture requirements.
• Common mistakes
• He is always criticize my pull requests during reviews.
• He is always criticizing my pull requests during reviews.
• She keeps to bikeshed about minor UI details in Seattle.
• She keeps bikeshedding about minor UI details in Seattle.

Complete the sentences

• Our senior developer (always / criticize) ____ the backend code during reviews.
• Every morning, he (will / complain) ____ about the legacy system in our Seattle office.
• Why do you (keep / interrupt) ____ the engineering manager?
• When we worked in Chicago, she (would / ignore) ____ all team messages.
• The DevOps team (keep on / change) ____ the deployment pipeline without notice.
• They (always / point) ____ fingers at each other when bugs occur.

Sources: photo by Edalisu . on Pexels