If your neighbor’s dog barked all night, was the noise “continual” or “continuous”? It depends. Did the dog bark, then stop, then bark awhile again? Then the dog barked continually — that is, off and on, or repeatedly. If the dog truly never stopped barking all night, then the barking was continuous — that is, unbroken or uninterrupted. The two words are not interchangeable, although they are close to each other in meaning.
Here are a couple of recent instances of these words used correctly in The N&O:On Greenspan’s watch, the U.S. economy grew from March 1991 to March 2001, the longest continuous expansion in history. (The expansion never slacked.) Oct. 25
And as he watches the continual news of Hurricane Rita, he wonders whether federal government has time or money for victims of a Category One storm. (The news did go off sometimes.) Sept. 26
One usage guide from the University of Victoria defines the two words this way: continual means “frequently,” and continuous means “constantly.”
The Online Writing Support site from Towson University has a good explanation of the distinction between “continual” and “continuous.”
This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right to remove this post.