Day 9: Grammar nitty gritty: ‘state/stative’ verbs.

When the Macydees (McDonalds) first came out with “I’m loving it” slogan, I thought to myself, can you say that? Isn’t it grammatically wrong?

It turns out you can, but firstly here’s why I thought it was wrong. Some ‘state’ verbs e.g. ‘to love’ are rarely used in the present continuous form (to be + verb-ing), which is true. But, and there’s always a but, the verb ‘love’ is special. We can use it in the continuous form too, especially to emphasize the situation is temporary or for a period of time around the present.

Take this example:

Alma often stays with us. The kids love having her here. (present simple)

Alma’s with us at the moment. (Temporary!!!) The kids are loving having her around. (present continuous)

Did you know that there is a whole list of verbs so-called ‘state’ verbs, which are NOT NORMALLY used in the present continuous, because they describe ‘states’ that last for some time? Check out this list and examples @ the FREE PDF section: List of state verbs.

In the meantime, the Macydees slogin has grown on me just like the BigMac and my waist.

to turn out (sich herausstellen), to emphasize (etw betonen), temporary (vorübergehend), in the meantime (mittlerweile), to grow on sb (jdm ans Herz wachsen), waist (Taille)

Advanced Grammar in use book.

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To recommend (empfehlen), commission (Provision),

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