verb tense

Why is "I am thinking she likes you," grammatically wrong?

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Why is "I am thinking she likes you," grammatically wrong?

There's nothing wrong with using the verb 'think' in the progressive/continuous:

I'm thinking. (an act)

However, in cases where the verb 'think' is used as a synonym for 'believe', a state of mind, that's when we run into trouble.

I think she likes you = I believe she likes you. (a state)

All the best,

[RonBee]

Anna: I am thinking.
Bob: What are you thinking?
Anna: I am thinking she likes you.

:wink:

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by RonBee

Anna: I am thinking.
Bob: What are you thinking about?
Anna: I am thinking she likes you.

:wink:

It's still ungrammatical. :(

Anna: I'm thinking about what you said. I think she likes you.

:D

[RonBee]

It may be ungrammatical, but I believe it is natural speech. (I'm beginning to sound like Milkerman. )

:)

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by RonBee

It may be ungrammatical, but I believe it is natural speech. (I'm beginning to sound like Milkerman. )

:)

'think' is stative, 'thinking' is dynamic. By 'natural', do you mean making stative verbs into dynamic has been done before (e.g. *I am liking you, Ronbee. *You are being liked by me)?

:D

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

'think' is stative, 'thinking' is dynamic. By 'natural', do you mean making stative verbs into dynamic has been done before (e.g. *I am liking you, Ronbee. *You are being liked by me)?

:D

Something like that. :)

Here's an example:

• I'm lovin' it.

:wink: