Timeline for 'seeing' in the progressive?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 30, 2023 at 21:25 | comment | added | solublefish | @daemang when it comes to English, if someone says you "CAN'T", they' probably wrong. English is very flexible. Of course it's true that some forms are less common, natural or easy to understand - Sanchises's example of "am knowing" is a good one. But in a lot of cases it's perfectly fine and fluid to use either form. In your 5 examples I don't object to either "a" or "b" versions, though I agree with Sanchises that 2a and 2b have a more substantive difference in meaning. | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 16:43 | comment | added | Sanchises | Yes - for example, you can't say "I am knowing a few English idioms" - the verb 'to know' implies a longer-lasting action in itself. | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 11:47 | comment | added | daemang | Thank you very much. I've been really wanting to know the reasons, because we are taught some verbs CAN'T be used in the progressive, but I've been seeing so many counterexamples. I'm going to read your answer all over again, and if some more questions pop up, I'll put them up on here. Thank you again. | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 11:44 | vote | accept | daemang | ||
| Sep 29, 2014 at 11:31 | history | answered | Sanchises | CC BY-SA 3.0 |