Usage of continuous tenses
A friend from Australia in an e-mail wrote:
"I am feeling much better, and have been trying to ...
Jane is also doing much better. ..."
His native language is English, so I don't believe that the usage of continuous tense is his mistake.
When we were studying continuous tenses, we were taught that verbs such as "feel" are non-continuous.
Could you please explain the usage of continuous tense in this case?
Thanks in advance!
Top answer
Stephanie 1 When we were studying continuous tenses, we were taught that verbs such as "feel" are non-continuous. Sometimes teachers focus only on the situations that we see most of the time; they teach only the basic idea and skirt around the exceptions. A lot of verbs that are classified as "non-continuous" can actually be used in a continuous tense in certain contexts.
- Stephanie 1 When we were studying continuous tenses, we were taught that verbs such as "feel" are non-continuous.
- Sometimes teachers focus only on the situations that we see most of the time; they teach only the basic idea and skirt around the exceptions.
- A lot of verbs that are classified as "non-continuous" can actually be used in a continuous tense in certain contexts.
- The continuous form may suggest something temporary or in progress.
- "feeling much better" suggests an on-going improvement toward a goal.
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Stephanie 1When we were studying continuous tenses, we were taught that verbs such as "feel" are non-continuous.
Sometimes teachers focus only on the situations that we see most of the time; they teach only the basic idea and skirt around the exceptions.
A lot of verbs that are classified as "non-continuous" can actually be used in a continuous tense
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