Settling a state verb bet

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I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is learning English. She told me that I can't use the sentence: "He apologised for not knowing the answer to the question". Her concern was with 'knowing' she mentioned something about it being a state verb (??) (actually, this is new to me) and compared it to the Mcdonald's slogan, 'I'm lovin' it'...now the original sentence sounds just fine to me. If someone could settle this bet, I'd be most grateful. Plus, what is a 'state verb' anyway?

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"lee" (Email Removed) schrieb im Newsbeitrag
[nq:1]I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is learning English. She told me that I can't use ... fine to me. If someone could settle this bet, I'd be most grateful. Plus, what is a 'state verb' anyway?[/nq]
A state verb is a verb that describes a state. That's not a very accurate description, though: it's a bit strange to think of "to know" as referring to the state of possessing knowledge, but it falls into a particular category.
That category is verbs that cannot normally be used in the present progressive. So we can't usually say, "I am knowing that" that construction is just not used with that verb. "To love" is another verb that normally cannot be used in the present progressive. Verbs in this category often refer to states or emotions.
There are two points here:
1. "Not usually" does not mean the same as "never". The McDonald's sloganis perfectly acceptable English, and means the same as "I am enjoying it very much". Here, of course, "love" is being used in a slightly different sense from the sense conveyed in "I love you, bunnikins" (or whatever).
2. Just because you can't use the present perfect does not mean you cannever use the -ing form. The -ing form of a verb (sometimes called the present participle) can be used in other ways as well, and your original sentence is an example of this: "He apologised for not knowing..." is not the present perfect.

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[nq:1]2. Just because you can't use the present perfect does not mean you can never use the -ing form. The ... well, and your original sentence is an example of this: "He apologised for not knowing..." is not the present perfect.[/nq]
The common label for an "ing" form used in this sort of structure is "gerund." It's the object of a preposition ("for), just like a noun, and it takes an object (whatever followed "knowing" in the original) just like a verb. This hybrid noun-verb has the same form as the present participle but is NOT functioning like a participle. There are inconsistencies in the terminology, but the point is that the "ing" form of almost any verb can be used as the object of some preposition or other or many. Whether it's a "state verb" has nothing to do with it.
The original sentence (said he, cutting and pasting) was "He apologised for not knowing the answer to the question."(1) It is fully idiomatic in every variety of English I have any acquaintance with.
(1) Note that the period (full stop) goes inside the quotation mark in both UK and US usage, because what is between the quotation marks is a full sentence. (In the original posting it followed the quotation mark.)

Bob Lieblich
The Gerund King

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[nq:1]I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is learning English. She told me that I can't use ... fine to me. If someone could settle this bet, I'd be most grateful. Plus, what is a 'state verb' anyway?[/nq]
The category "stative verb" contrasts with "dynamic verb." Such verbs express statea rather than actions. They are rarely used in the progressive and not often in the imperative. Your "Mcdonald's slogan" sounds more like Maxwell Smart ("...and loving it!). Actually, there are few purely stative verbs, but rather stative and dynamic usage.

In any case, none of this has a **** thing to do with "He apologized for not knowing the answer to the question," in which "knowing" is a gerund. Your friend is being a fool who is knowing only partially digested lessons in grammar. She is needing to not be "correcting" correct usage.

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[nq:2]I had a conversation with a friend of mine who ... be most grateful. Plus, what is a 'state verb' anyway?[/nq]
[nq:1]A state verb is a verb that describes a state. That's not a very accurate description, though: it's a bit ... "love" is being used in a slightly different sense from the sense conveyed in "I love you, bunnikins" (or whatever).(snip)[/nq]
I'd argue that the "I'm lovin' it" jingle is a bit different from "I am enjoying it". In Standard American English other standard dialects, the use of the progressive form in "I am enjoying it" indicates that the act of enjoyment is temporary, not a habitual emotional state. In African American Vernacular English, however, many stative verbs can take the progressive form (inflected "be" + V-ing) without implying temporary duration. Besides "lovin' it", contemporary AAVE also has "diggin' it" and "feelin' it", all expressing a habitual state of enjoyment.

See these threads for more on the cooptation of AAVE by the McDonald's ad campaign (with the help of Justin Timberlake):
Removed) Removed)

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Andrew Bossom:
[nq:1]2. Just because you can't use the present perfect does not mean you can never use the -ing form. The ... well, and your original sentence is an example of this: "He apologised for not knowing..." is not the present perfect.[/nq]
For "present perfect", read "present progressive" in both cases.
Mark Brader, Toronto "... people are always doing stuff ... (Email Removed) that I wish were typos" Marcy Thompson

Settling a state verb bet

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