I am liking/I am enjoying

benji said:

Thanks a lot for the replies they’ve been very helpful.
How would you explain why this is to someone before simplification?

I think I would say that “I like that flower” expresses a whole fact about part of me, my state of mind. It’s not a changing process with a beginning, a middle, and an end or something that I am doing to the flower.
Thanks again.
-Ben

Click to expand…

There’s no action involved in liking something. There’s no movement of any kind physically in a concrete way, nor mentally in an abstract way.

I’m thinking about it. Here, the verb “think” means “consider”. There’s activity going on in someone’s mind. So we can use “think” as a progressive verb.

I think this CD is great. – Here, the verb “think” is used to express an opinion. When one has an opinion, there is no activity going in one’s mind, so “think” is a stative verb in such cases.

I’m thinking this CD is great. – This is not typical and usual, though one could hear native speakers say it.

In the list of stative verbs, there are a number of verbs that are both stative and progressive. Here’s one example: see.

The doctor is not seeing any patients today. see – for accepting appointments or receiving visitors – see used progressively to mark an action or event as temporary, as in “I think you’re seeing things. Why don’t you sit down and relax? There are no pink elephants in the garden.”

I see something going on in the distance. – see for vision – typically not used as a progressive verb. One is not active in any way when one sees something, which is unlike “look” and which also involves visoin. However, “look” is voluntary and one can think there is motion of some sort. If you see something, it’s not voluntary – there’s no motion or action involved in seeing something.

I’m seeing something in the distance now – wait. – It wouldn’t surprise me if a journalist said this while reporting on a war in a live broadcast. A journalist might use a stative verb as a progressive verb to intensify what’s happening at that moment. I’ve heard it on the radio and in the news before. It’s not often that it happens, I don’t think, but it can happen.

There’s no action involved in liking something. There’s no movement of any kind physically in a concrete way, nor mentally in an abstract way.I’m thinking about it. Here, the verb “think” means “consider”. There’s activity going on in someone’s mind. So we can use “think” as a progressive verb.I think this CD is great. – Here, the verb “think” is used to express an opinion. When one has an opinion, there is no activity going in one’s mind, so “think” is a stative verb in such cases.I’m thinking this CD is great. – This is not typical and usual, though one could hear native speakers say it.In the list of stative verbs, there are a number of verbs that are both stative and progressive. Here’s one example: see.The doctor is not seeing any patients today. see – for accepting appointments or receiving visitors – see used progressively to mark an action or event as temporary, as in “I think you’re seeing things. Why don’t you sit down and relax? There are no pink elephants in the garden.”I see something going on in the distance. – see for vision – typically not used as a progressive verb. One is not active in any way when one sees something, which is unlike “look” and which also involves visoin. However, “look” is voluntary and one can think there is motion of some sort. If you see something, it’s not voluntary – there’s no motion or action involved in seeing something.I’m seeing something in the distance now – wait. – It wouldn’t surprise me if a journalist said this while reporting on a war in a live broadcast. A journalist might use a stative verb as a progressive verb to intensify what’s happening at that moment. I’ve heard it on the radio and in the news before. It’s not often that it happens, I don’t think, but it can happen.