[Grammar] continue to discussing or continue to discuss?

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Heidi

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Dear teachers,

The following sentences is what I heard from a teacher on a radio program that teaches English. Is it appropriate or common to say "let's continue to discussing something" instead "let's continue to discuss something"? (I hope I wasn't listening wrong:lol:. If I was, please do correct the mistakes for me. Thank you. )

---The word 'resolution' brings with it the meaning of being determined and having a strong will. You will need both of those things if you want to keep your new year's resolutions, because, well, let's face it, giving up is easy. Also, it's difficult to keep resolutions, because keeping them involves changing the way we act. Let's get back to the lesson and continue to discussing why as hard as it is to keep them, making new year's resolutions is still a good idea.
 

phrasemix

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Hello Heidi,
You're correct, this is a mistake. "continue to discussing" is incorrect.

However, you may have mis-heard what was being said. "continue discussing" (without "to") is an acceptable phrase.

The differences between "continue to discuss something" and "continue discussing something" are very minor, but in the situation that you described above, "Let's continue discussing.." is the slightly more natural choice.
 

Heidi

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Hello Heidi,
You're correct, this is a mistake. "continue to discussing" is incorrect.

However, you may have mis-heard what was being said. "continue discussing" (without "to") is an acceptable phrase.

The differences between "continue to discuss something" and "continue discussing something" are very minor, but in the situation that you described above, "Let's continue discussing.." is the slightly more natural choice.
Dear phrasemix,
Thank you so much for your reply!

Is it possible that 'let's get back to the lesson and continue to discussing...' is common in spoken English, although it's incorrect grammatically?
I have asked an English teacher about the correctness of the sentence 'there is a lot of different kinds of watches sold at that store', and he told me that it's not correct but very common in spoken English. Do you agree with him?
 

phrasemix

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Heidi, that's an excellent question. I agree with your teacher that there are certain forms that are considered incorrect but are often spoken.

Regarding the example that your teacher gave, I agree that people often don't say "there are..." simply because pronouncing two "r" sounds one right after the other is difficult. But I think it would be a lot more common to say "there's a lot of..." rather than "there is a lot of..."

And as for "continue to discussing", no, I can't remember ever having heard that used. I think it was either a mistake where the person started to say it one way and then changed directions in the middle, or you may have mis-heard it.
 

Heidi

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Heidi, that's an excellent question. I agree with your teacher that there are certain forms that are considered incorrect but are often spoken.

Regarding the example that your teacher gave, I agree that people often don't say "there are..." simply because pronouncing two "r" sounds one right after the other is difficult. But I think it would be a lot more common to say "there's a lot of..." rather than "there is a lot of..."

And as for "continue to discussing", no, I can't remember ever having heard that used. I think it was either a mistake where the person started to say it one way and then changed directions in the middle, or you may have mis-heard it.
Dear phasemix,
I was just about to modify the sentence as 'there's a lot of...', and indeed this is what the teacher have said. :lol:
I'm so excited to learn something I didn't know before. Thanks again!:lol:
 
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