1. continue 后可直接跟名词作宾语，而 go on 后需借助介词再接名词作宾语。如：

He continued the story. = He went on with the story.

2. continue 后接不定式或动名词均可，含义大致相同，均表示“不停地做某事”；而 go on 后接不定式或动名词含义区别较大，即 go on doing sth 意为“不停地（不中断地）做某事”或“（中断后）继续做某事”，go on to do sth 意为“做完某一件事后接着或继续做另一件事”。比较：

The baby continued to cry/crying all night.

You can’t go on working all night without a rest.

She nodded, smiled, and went on stitching.

Go on to do the other exercise after you have finished this one.

注：按传统语法，continue doing sth 只能表示不停地做某事，不能表示中断后继续做某事，但现代英语似乎已不完全遵循此规则。如 1995年出版的《朗文当代英语辞典》就有这样一句：

They continued talking after the meal.

3. continue 可用作连系动词，go on 不可这样用。如：

The weather continued fine.

The boat continued east.