wanting

[Anatoly]

Hello, dear teachers
Could you explain to me, please, what is meant by the “you are wanting” in the following sentence: ‘Anyway, if you are wanting to do some extra reading on Securities Regulation and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, you have the materials’. :shock: I’ve been taught it’s impossible to use such verbs as ‘want’, ‘like’, ‘hate’ etc. in the progressive tenses. May be it is another form which I don’t know?
Thanks in advance!

 

[RonBee]

The phrase "if you are wanting" there means the same as "if you want". I don't think it is a common usage.

8)

 

[Anatoly]

Thank you very much, RonBee! Microsoft Word underlines this phrase as a mistake too and I haven't found out anywhere another explanation.

 

[RonBee]

I wouldn't rely on Word's grammar checker. It is, at the very least, undependable. Some of the suggestions it offers are downright ridiculous. The advice you get right here on this forum is more dependable and it's free to boot. ;-)

(How's that for a shameless plug? _;-)_)

:wink:

 

[Anatoly]

The advice you get right here on this forum is more dependable and it's free to boot.

There's no doubt about it! 8) :wink:

 

[Anatoly]

BTW, http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...intext:++"you+are+wanting"&btnG=Google+Search, but Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary says that "want" is 'not usually used in the progressive tenses’, so
as here in Russia we say ‘If it’s forbidden, but you want it very much, it’s a little bit allowed’, isn't it? :roll:

 

[RonBee]

I would have said before looking at the results of that Google search that that form isn't used often, but I think its meaning is understood when it is used.

"you want" = 7,820,000
"you are wanting" = 52,400

That's an interesting saying you have.
:wink:

 

[Tdol]

'Wanting' can be an adjective meaning 'in need' or 'falling short' in BE. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

'Wanting' can be an adjective meaning 'in need' or 'falling short' in BE. ;-)

That's true in AE too (although I don't think it's used very much). It seems to come up most often in the phrse found wanting.

8)

 

[Tdol]

It's not that common here, either, and we'd use 'found' a lot as well. ;-)

 

[comicer]

I'm not a native English speaker.
May I conclude that we should use Simple tenses rather than Progressive tenses when using verbs of perception such as "want", "hate", "like", and etc.

 

[Tdol]

Generally, yes. You will see progressive forms used occasionally.

With 'like' we have the alternative of 'enjoy', which does have a progressive form- a waiter will ask if you're enjoying your meal, so the rule isn't 100% concrete, but it is a tendency.

Some have different forms according to use:
The cheese smells delicious. (Giving of a smell doesn't have a progressive form)
He's smelling the flowers. (the action of taking smell into the nose does)
;-)