You may think / You may be thinking

0 And similarly, when do you use02br
02br
00"I should go" and02br
00"I should be going"02br
02br
00I'm a bit confused by this "be", what kind of difference does it express?02br
02br
00Regards,02br
00Paul 0-

0You may think that ... -- You may have the opinion that ...02br
00You may be thinking that ... -- It's possible that at this very moment you are beginning to believe that ...02br
00 CJ0-

0 In general 01i00be02i00 followed by an 01i00-ing02i00 word forms the progressive, also called the continuous.02br
00Simple: 01i00go, see, do, work, ...02i02br
02br
00Progressive: 01i00be going, be seeing, be doing, be working, ...02i02br
02br
00The progressi

0 Okay, thanks very much, I got the difference now. But I cannot relate this to02br
02br
00I'll have a drink.02br
02br
00I'll be having a drink.02br
02br
00Because the latter sounds very much direct to me, too, and does not, at least in my understanding, soften. Even more, I feel it's more definite. Is that right?02br
02br

0Note the underlined words. 01blockquote

01u10In the specific case12u10 of 11i10should go / should be going12i10, the use of the progressive softens the message.12br
11i10I should go12i10 sounds more abrupt than 11i10I should be going12i10.12br
10This means that the soft

0 Thanks CJ! I think I got it now.02br
02br
00Would you say it's similar with this one:02br
02br
00It started raining02br
00It started to rain.02br
02br
00Progressive - When I came home, it started raining (ongoing action).02br
02br
00Oh, I can't really think of an example with started to rain. Maybe "It

0The contrasts I gave you earlier in this thread are more appropriate for the conjugated forms, as, for example, when 01i00to be02i00 or a modal (01i00will, may02i00, etc.) is present.02br
00For the case of infinitive (01i00to rain02i00) and gerund (01i00raining02i00), there is barely any diff