''You are imagining things''

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.

''You can't really have seen a UFO. You imagine/are imagining things.'' My option ''You imagine'' was wrong. The book English Grammar in Context says ''imagine'' can sometimes be used in the progressive. Why can't I use the simple present tense?

 

[Rachel Adams]

The present simple would suggest repeated actions. The present progressive suggests an activity of limited duration.

So using the present simple would be wrong. But they can be sometimes interchangeable, can't they? For example, ''I am always forgetting her name'', ''I always forget things''. ''I always lose my phone'' and '' I am always using my phone.'' Am I right?

 

[probus]

Yes. I presume you meant losing rather than using in your last example.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Yes. I presume you meant losing rather than using in your last example.

Yes, I meant ''losing''.

 

[Tarheel]

"I am always using my phone" does seem more likely.