Writing tip 4: 'Continual' or 'continuous'?

Use continuAL to refer to events that occur frequently but with intervALs in between.

Example
The field was a sea of mud because of the continual bad weather.

Use continUOUS to refer to anything that happens all of the time without a break.

Example
The new cylinder provided continuous hot water to all residents day and night.

In practice these words are often confused, so if you want your meaning to be quite clear, it might be best to use a synonym instead.

For continual, try recurrent or even intermittent.
For continuous, try unbroken or uninterrupted.

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