English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Does it sound ok to use the ‑ing form of the intransitive verb ache meaning hurt?
instead of the simple verb:
In other words, can we use the verb ache verb in to be aching continuous constructions such is/was aching, has/had been aching?
If the progressive and the non-progressive forms of the verb can both be used, which of the two is more common and comes more naturally to native speakers?
Yes, you can.
In The Gondoliers, W.S. Gilbert has the chorus of girls sing:
By a law of maiden's making,
Accents of a heart that's aching,
Even though that heart be breaking,
Should by maiden be unsaid.
Idiomatically I'd say "I have a stomach ache", using "ache" as a noun.
You can use "is aching" to suggest that the ache is temporary.
